''A Gangsta's Pain'' is the fourth studio album by American rapper

Moneybagg Yo DeMario DeWayne White Jr. (born September 22, 1991), known professionally as Moneybagg Yo, is an American rapper. He is signed to fellow Memphis rapper Yo Gotti's record label, Collective Music Group (CMG), in a joint venture deal with Interscope ...

. It was released on April 23, 2021, through

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z in 2008. The company is headquartered in Manhattan and has additional offices in Los Angeles and London. Roc Nation comprises a comprehensive talent agency, sports agency, record label, mana ...

, Collective Music Group, Bread Gang Entertainment, N-Less Entertainment, and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

. The album features guest appearances from

Kaash Paige D'Kyla Paige Woolen (born January 8, 2001), known professionally as Kaash Paige (a backronym for Kill All Arrogance, Stop Hatred), is an American singer and songwriter from Dallas, Texas. She is signed to Se Lavi Productions and Def Jam Recordin ...

, Big30,

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

, Tripstar,

Polo G Taurus Tremani Bartlett (born January 6, 1999), known professionally as Polo G, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence with his singles "Finer Things (Polo G song), Finer Things" and "Pop Out" (featuring Lil Tjay). His debut album ''Die a ...

Lil Durk Durk Derrick Banks (born October 19, 1992), known professionally as Lil Durk, is an American rapper and singer. He is the lead member and founder of the collective and record label Only the Family (OTF). Durk garnered a cult following with the ...

Jhené Aiko Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo (; born March 16, 1988) is an American singer who embarked on her music career contributing vocals and appearing in several music videos for R&B group B2K. In an effort to promote Aiko and cultivate a following for he ...

, and

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

. The album debuted atop the US ''Billboard'' 200, earning 110,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s, becoming Moneybagg Yo's first US number-one album. The deluxe edition with 6 new songs was released on October 22, 2021, with additional guest appearances from

EST Gee George Albert Stone III (born May 11, 1994), known professionally as EST Gee, is an American rapper. He is signed to Yo Gotti's Collective Music Group (CMG), Interscope Records and Warlike. His fifth mixtape, ''Bigger Than Life or Death'', rele ...

Pooh Shiesty Lontrell Donell Williams Jr. (born November 8, 1999), better known by his stage name Pooh Shiesty, is an American rapper. He is signed to Gucci Mane's 1017 Records and Atlantic Records. He rose to fame in 2020 from his collaborations with the r ...

, Big Homiie G,

Yung Bleu Jeremy Biddle (born April 5, 1994), known professionally as Yung Bleu and Bleu Vandross, is an American rapper and singer. He is best known for his 2020 single "You're Mines Still", which peaked at number 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after it ...

, Janiyah,

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

, Ashanti, and

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ, record executive, record producer and rapper. Khaled first gained recognition as a radio host in the 1990s on the radio station WEDR, 99 Ja ...

Background

In 2020, Moneybagg Yo released two projects: his third studio album, ''

Time Served In criminal law, time served is an informal term that describes the duration of pretrial detention (remand), the time period between when a defendant is arrested and when they are convicted. Time served does not include time served on bail but ...

'', and ''Code Red'', a collaborative mixtape with fellow American rapper Blac Youngsta. Both projects debuted and peaked in the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' 200, at number 3 and number 6, respectively. The former album was certified gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA).

Release and promotion

On March 12, 2021, Moneybagg Yo announced that the album was completed and ready to go with it being released in 2021, but did not have an exact release date planned. He subtly revealed the title of the album on March 26, 2021, the same day that he and American rapper

released the single "

Hard for the Next "Hard for the Next" is a song by American rappers Moneybagg Yo and Future. It was released through Interscope Records and N-Less on March 26, 2021, as the second single of Moneybagg Yo's fourth studio album, ''A Gangsta's Pain''. It samples Americ ...

", the second single from ''A Gangsta's Pain''. However, he revealed its title explicitly along with its cover and pre-order link through social media on April 14, 2021. The track listing was revealed on April 21, 2021, but was shared the previous day on

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

Singles

" Time Today" was released as the lead single of the album alongside the official music video on February 3, 2021. "

", a collaboration with American rapper

, was released on March 26, 2021, as the album's second single. " Wockesha" was sent to

rhythmic contemporary radio Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses ...

on August 10, 2021, as the third single. " Scorpio" from the deluxe edition was sent to

on November 16, 2021, as the fourth single. The first and only promotional single, " Go", a collaboration with American rapper Big30, was released on April 14, 2021, the same day Moneybagg Yo announced the album.

Critical reception

Nadine Smith of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' rated the album 6.8 out of 10, writing "At his best, the stalwart Memphis rapper excels at heart-on-sleeve, bluesy songwriting, and his new album shows him deepening and opening up." Writing for ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'', Josh Svetz rated the album 3.8 out of 5, saying "Atlanta trap, Southern pain rap, etc., Moneybagg possesses an innate ability to ride on all the trending sounds and help boost a song with his presence: a welcome addition to any single."

Commercial performance

''A Gangsta's Pain'' debuted atop the US ''Billboard'' 200 dated May 8, 2021, earning 110,000

s in its first week, with almost all of this figure coming from streams. In its second week, the album dropped to number two on the chart, earning an additional 70,000 units. The album returned to number one on the chart in its third week, earning an additional 61,000 units.

Track listing

''A Gangsta's Pain: Reloaded'' track listing adds these seven tracks to the beginning of the original album: #"Switches & Dracs" (featuring Lil Durk and

) – 2:13 #"Wat Be Wrong??" – 2:11 #"Gave It" (featuring Big Homiie G) – 2:52 #"This Feeling" (featuring

and Ja'niyah) – 3:28 #" Scorpio" – 2:45 #"Another One" (with

) – 3:40 #"Wockesha" (Remix with

and Ashanti) – 3:37 Sample credits * " Wockesha" contains samples from " Stay with Me", performed by

DeBarge DeBarge was an American musical recording group composed of several members of the DeBarge family. In addition to various solo projects completed by members of the family, DeBarge was active between 1979 and 1989. The group originally consisted ...

. * "

" contains samples from " Differences", performed by

Ginuwine Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (born October 15, 1970), better known by his stage name Ginuwine, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. He began his career as a member of Swing Mob in the early 1990s. Signing to Epic R ...

. * "Scorpio" contains samples from "

How's It Goin' Down "How's It Goin' Down" is a song by American rapper DMX, released as the fourth single from his first album, ''It's Dark and Hell Is Hot''. The song features R&B singer Faith Evans and was released to radio on June 9, 1998. The song was a modest ...

", performed by DMX.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– rap vocals * Anjae Rayford – additional vocals * Trenten DeWick – additional vocals *

– background vocals * Colin Leonard –

mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...

* Ari Morris – mixer * Real Red –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

* Mike Larson – recording engineer * Logan Schmitz – assistant mixer * Ben Sedano – assistant recording engineer * Morgan David – assistant recording engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gangstas Pain 2021 albums Moneybagg Yo albums Collective Music Group albums