Image it: Kevin Gates cuddles a miniature bulldog earlier than strolling previous an unique automotive assortment and getting into an elevator. Two flooring up, the doorways open to a Beyoncé live performance, and Gates has a ticket. As Adderall meets alcohol, the Baton Rouge rapper leans into the giddy delirium, tearing off his shirt and singing with the gang, lyrics be damned. The vivid celebration scene Gates conjures on “Yonce Freestyle,” a single from his new album The Ceremony, hovers as excessive as his most notorious efficiency picture. So why does the file sound so firmly rooted to the bottom?

The totally different failures to launch throughout these 17 songs are, partly, an unlucky consequence of a fair keel. Anguish has been a key pressure stringing collectively Gates’ weathered bleeding-heart mix of Soiled South beats and unflinching “up-North” lyrics. However grizzled road raps aren’t commonplace on The Ceremony. Earlier than the lyre-textured album opener unfurls, Gates ad-libs “Actual medication music.” The theme right here is certainly therapeutic: by reflection, redemption, and loads of make-up intercourse. Telephone calls from outdated off-the-porch contacts ring in his ears as a symphony of birdsong (“Birds Calling”). Typically, issues get a bit of hokey. On the minimize really titled “Therapeutic,” Gates is proudly “doing yoga and attracting my twin flame by meditation.” Elsewhere, he cleanses his Mercedes Benz with sage (“God Slippers”).

Nicely-documented goofiness apart, Gates by no means aspired to be a meme rapper, and he’s spoken about growing a signature poring over Tupac, Nas, and JAY-Z. Fellow Louisiana gentleman Lil Wayne finally plucked Gates from a prolific mixtape run to be a bubble participant on Wayne’s YMCMB roster, however Gates by no means popped. After he cultivated an underground following on his label Bread Winners’ Affiliation, Atlantic caught up. Gates had already been mining Taylor Swift melodies for needle drops. His mainstream crossover felt destined, regardless of the turbulence of his early profession.

However over a decade since inking a big-time deal that nearly instantly misplaced momentum attributable to a devastatingly timed jail sentence, which he addresses on “Letter 2 My Followers,” Gates sounds weary of radio rap. He’s a hall-of-famer so far as major-label debuts go—2016’s Islah exemplifies the spoils of corporatization with minimal compromise in each belted hook. However the place a extra polished, pop-minded sound was jet gasoline for Gates there, it’s quicksand on The Ceremony. The writing is all about transferring ahead, however the sonics maintain Gates frozen in time, fused to an outdated Scorching 100 sound that’s incongruous together with his matured, quieter stylings.