A Gangsta’s Pain – Moneybagg Yo

By: Braulio Miranda

Among many top rap stars out now the Memphis native Moneybagg Yo has yet again put out some of his greatest work with his most recent project A Gangsta’s Pain. Just from the title in itself we get a more in depth look and opening in the life of Moneybagg’s past with an emotional approach with all the tracks listed on this project. Released in April of this year, the album has done great numbers and has gotten several listens by many fans and some of the best performing ones are “Wockesha” and “Time Today” which are top in his Spotify for plays.

This is his fourth Studio Album to be released and it has some great features such as Future, Polo G, Lil Durk, Pharrell Williams and many more. And while many songs may be touching upon themes regarding trauma, money, violence, drugs Moneybagg does a great job in my opinion trying to explore new deeper issues and trying to stay relevant to the theme of the albums title. It really draws back to stories and experiences that he’s had in the past and that is why as it is a very good album to listen and vibe to, I get the idea that maybe not everyone can connect to the similar past life experiences as his but again it’s about him telling his story and that is why this approach makes the album very unique. When an artist is able to open up about their life stories and pasts I feel like that really draws and great deal to the album as they add their own sense of character into their work.

Sound wise you always seem to get that nice flowy piano melody added with some hard-hitting bass and while many of us enjoy the sound and instrumentation, a lot of the time songs tend to get repetitive and in my opinion, that does happen here but I feel like that is just the way a Moneybagg Yo track is most times. A lot of great little sound effects in the tracks really add more color to the music which is well executed in this album.

This style of music is the type one can listen to on a car ride just vibing and not going all crazy even though sometimes when I listened to it I was excited. Nothing too energetic but it is nice to sit back and listen to when you just want to listen to something low key and go on with your day. Even I have been listening to Moneybagg Yo while working out or when I’m at home cleaning up my place it’s really a nice album with a lot of chill sounds. I really enjoy the relaxing sound from “Projects”, “If Pain was a Person”, “Hard for the Next” and many more.

While I really do like the work Moneybagg did with this project, I do have to say again it does get repetitive with the sound, but I feel the thing that saves it for me is the lyrics and the stories being told which is something I’ve always been a fan of when listening to an artist’s work. Overall, I really do recommend listing to this album, I was put on this by a friend and I’ve been a Moneybagg Yo fan now for a while and this album for sure is a favorite of mine.

Favorite Tracks: “If Pain was a Person”, “Projects”, “Bipolar Virgo”

Rate: 9/10