Blog: PopMatters

After an indomitable summer on the mixtape circuit, mercurial Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane returns with another uninspired, business-as-usual effort for the major labels. The Appeal is a perfect study in what it is that separates a street rapper on the cusp of extreme mainstream acceptance with a street rapper that has no interest in approaching that point. So many of the moves it makes can be traced to current pop radio or Gucci's surprise success story, The State vs. Radric Davis, and the mid-section of the album so unlike any Gucci Mane that has come before, that it...