Gunna has released his first new song since his release from prison last December, and it finds him on the offensive.
“Bread & Butter,” which was released on Friday (June 2), hears the Atlanta rapper address the uproar over the last six months surrounding his controversial plea deal in the ongoing RICO case against Young Thug’s Young Slime Life (YSL) collective, which prosecutors allege is a criminal street gang.
Over a sparse, speaker-knocking beat from Turbo, Omar Grand, and Cam Gryphon, Gunna responds to those who have labelled him a “snitch” for pleading his way out of the high-profile case, claiming he was duped into taking a plea deal by lawyers and the Fulton County District Attorney.
“What did I pay all those mills to lawyers for?” “Just so I don’t have to say anything to avoid a railway,” he raps before insisting he didn’t cooperate: “Never gave no statement or agreed to take no stand on ’em/ Whatever you n-ggas on, then trust me, I’ma stand on it/ Lawyers and the D.A. did some sneaky shit, I fell for it/ On my Ps and Qs because this time, I be prepared for it.”
The DS4Ever hitmaker also threatens his detractors with a “hit” and appears to pledge his allegiance to Young Thug, rapping: “Never fucked an n-gga, always stayed solid/ Kept it real with n-ggas, never lied and always stay honest/ I adore my brother and will never forget him.
Gunna’s lyrical darts become more pointed near the end of his first verse, when he appears to take aim at his Drip Harder collaborator Lil Baby for cheating on him, and even accuses him of working with a snitch.
“Peepin’ shit, I’m seein’ n-ggas fall back/ You bitch-ass n-ggas got me as the topic of the chat/ You switched on me when you know you’re in business with a rat/ And the boy that’s like your brother, and nobody speaks on that,” he spits.
“If I had to state a fact, the city sees it clearly/ You still fuck with an n-gga that got yo’ partner wacked/ I had these n-ggas talking to me, and I only knew ’em because of Slatt/ Heard he put my name on wax, you rap boys need more streams.”
Gunna appears to be referring to Lil Baby’s label boss, Quality Control Music co-founder Pierre “P” Thomas. Last month, it was revealed that Thomas had given police information about the murder of a close friend back in 2010.
The QC magnate flatly denied the allegations. “I’m a [G.O.A.T.], don’t ever confuse me with a [rat],” he wrote in part on Instagram Stories. “Now take that phoney incident report and stick it up your ass.” Stop messing with my freedom, I love it.”
Following Gunna’s plea deal, Lil Baby was one of several rappers who appeared to unfollow him on Instagram.
Regarding the ‘you still fuck with an n-gga that done got yo’ partner wacked’ line, rumours have it that Baby’s friend and collaborator Lil Marlo was murdered by an affiliate of 21 Savage, with whom the 4PF rapper is friendly.
Gunna’s venomous rhymes could also be directed at his “What Happened to Virgil” collaborator Lil Durk, who recently dissed him on an unreleased song and called him out for “telling” on Young Thug in an interview with Akademiks.
Durk said during the conversation, “You should’ve gone in there and kept your mouth shut.” “If you’re a rat, I fucking hate you ’cause I love Thug.”
Gunna (real name Sergio Kitchens) accepted a plea deal in the YSL RICO case just before Christmas and was released from Fulton County Jail, where he’d been imprisoned for about seven months.
He entered an Alford plea, which is “a formal admission of guilt towards charges in criminal court while the defendant simultaneously expresses their innocence towards those same charges,” according to Cornell Law School.
Gunna has come under particular scrutiny as a result of a video of him admitting in court that YSL is a gang during his plea deal. Legal experts say his plea — and those of his co-defendants — makes Young Thug’s fight for freedom even more difficult, as prosecutors seek to portray him as the crew’s ringleader.
Thugger is still in jail, awaiting trial on eight charges, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act and involvement in criminal street gang activity, as well as various drug and weapons offences.
Despite the intense backlash, Gunna and his legal team have repeatedly denied leaking information about Thug and the other YSL defendants.
“While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case, and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way,” the rapper said following his release from prison.