July 2020’s So Icy Summer compilation was something of a coming-out party for Foogiano. The Greensboro, Georgia, MC appears on nine of the project’s 24 tracks, spitting verses alongside some of rap’s most bankable stars, like Future, Lil Baby, and his The New 1017 label boss, Gucci Mane. Some four months later, the man who also informally goes by “The Mayor” delivers his debut solo outing Gutta Baby in an attempt to make good on the promise he showed on So Icy Summer. On Gutta Baby, though, Foogiano is less inclined to trot out bigger-name stars—1017 labelmate Pooh Shiesty has multiple verses here—than to showcase his own croaky voice and country charisma. He includes feature-artist-assisted remixes of the songs that have given him his earliest attention (“MOLLY” and “TRAPPER”), but sounds at his absolute best when all alone on “The Plan Pt. 2,” a master class in hip-hop storytelling.
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