''By Any Means 2'' is the fifteenth mixtape by American rapper

Kevin Gates Kevin Jerome Gilyard (born February 5, 1986), better known by his stage name Kevin Gates, is an American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur. He is currently signed to Bread Winners' Association with a partnership with Atlantic Records. His debut ...

. It was released on September 22, 2017, by his own independent

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Bread Winners' Association and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. It was released while Gates was incarcerated. Unlike his other mixtapes that were released both for free and for retail, this mixtape was strictly for retail.

Singles

The first single is "What If". It was released on April 4, 2017. The music video was released on September 6, 2019. The second single is "No Love", which was released on July 20, 2017.

Promotional singles

The first song is "Had To", it was released on September 7, 2017. The music video was released on October 12, 2017, and features Gates' wife along with a Kevin lookalike. The second song is "Beautiful Scars". It's the only song on the mixtape to have featured guest vocals, which are from

PnB Rock Rakim Hasheem Allen (December 9, 1991 – September 12, 2022), better known by his stage name PnB Rock, was an American rapper and singer. He gained a large following in 2016 with his song "Selfish", which peaked at number 51 on the US ''Billbo ...

. The song was released on September 14, 2017. The third song is "Imagine That", it was released along with the mixtape on September 22, 2017. The music video was released on September 25, 2017. It features solely Gates' wife and two kids.

Commercial performance

''By Any Means 2'' debuted at number 100 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. In its second week, it rose to its peak position of number 4.

Track listing

Credits adapted from

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Singles

Promotional singles

Commercial performance

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References