Hear Gucci Mane, Lil Pump’s Swaggering New Song ‘Kept Back’

Gucci Mane released a boastful single, “Kept Back,” on Thursday. The song features a verse from Soundcloud rapper Lil Pump and production from Murda Beatz, who also produced Drake’s Number One single “Nice for What.”

A recorder worthy of a renaissance fair drifts lazily through the song, coasting on top of a crushing bass line. Gucci Mane raps in a straightforward monotone, filling his lines with references to famous figures in popular culture: Cher, Bono, Nelly Furtado, Marge Simpson and Ben Simmons. Lil Pump is a bracing addition to the track, delivering needling lines in double-time.

“Kept Back” is the second song that will appear on Gucci Mane’s next album, Evil Genius, which follows December’s El Gato: The Human Glacier. “I really just been compiling a bunch of songs, listening to beats,” Gucci Mane told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “I went in with Metro [Boomin], I did a bunch of songs with Southside, C.N.O.T.E. [I] just really wanted to just have a chance to almost make a mixtape worth of songs with all the producers that I like. I picked maybe, like, 60 or 70 songs. I usually just take 20 songs and put them out, but this time I really recorded a bunch of songs and then picked through them.”

The lead single from Evil Genius, “Solitaire,” featured Migos and Lil Yachty. It came out in March but failed to crack the Hot 100.