In December, Gunna took a plea deal in the YSL RICO case, avoiding jail time while his mentor Young Thug and other affiliates of the Atlanta label face charges alleging a sprawling network of gang activity. As soon as the news broke, Gunna released a statement insisting that he had not co-operated with prosecutors in exchange for the deal, but that didn't stop the rap world from labeling him a snitch (something which may not be entirely fair). He's remained silent publicly for months in the face of an existential threat to his career, until today: on his new song "bread & butter," Gunna addresses his legal issues and their fallout head-on.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the length of his absence from rap, Gunna leaves no stone unturned in the song. He begins with a chorus acknowledging some serious financial losses, mental health struggles, and dissolved friendships ("Yeah, I'm right back and I lost mad commas/I had been down bad inside a dark tunnel, yeah/Fuck them boys, I found out who my real partners.") From there, he repeats his denial that he cooperated with police ("Never fucked a nigga, always stayed solid") and targets specific individuals who criticized him without using names — social media is currently speculating that Lil Baby, Gunna's one-time creative partner, is a target of "bread & butter."
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Notably, Gunna also targets his own lawyers on the track in a verse blasting the court process: "Fuck I pay the lawyers all those mills for? / Just so I won't have to say a word to dodge a railroad." Later, he implies that he was somehow misled: "Lawyers and the DA did some sneaky shit, I fell for it / On my Ps and Qs because, this time, I be prepared for it, yeah." Whether or not "bread & butter" marks the beginning of Gunna's return to rap dominance or a futile gesture of resistance against his scarlet lettering as a snitch remains to be seen. For now, you can hear it in the music video above.
