Behind-the-Scenes at Gunna’s Incredible Barclays Comeback Show

Since his launch from jail amidst the continued YSL trial, Gunna has opted to let his music and the work do the speaking, addressing the controversy surrounding him across his new album A Reward & a Curse—and most significantly, getting again to creating hits. The Atlanta rapper doubled down on that mindset this previous weekend in New York, when he returned to the stage for the primary time since his Might 2022 incarceration. Acting at Brooklyn’s Barclays Middle for one night time solely, Gunna was in peak type (actually, scroll down for proof that he is taking his swole period significantly), breathlessly operating via an inventory of hits exceeding 30 songs each previous and new. He is all the time been a stable performer, however his power and showmanship on Saturday was on a brand new degree. Acclaimed band 1500 or Nothin gave his lure hits an arena-ready improve, which Gunna attacked with out the backing vocals lots of his friends depend on. Shrewd sequencing allowed him to keep up the momentum all through the night time. (These of us who had been there to witness the titanic transition from Track of the Summer season candidate “fukumean” to album standout “rodeo dr” can be speaking about it for ages.)

Gunna opened the present with a hilariously dramatic clip displaying himself and a crew of James Cameron-esque deep sea divers retrieving an enormous, submerged bust of his visage from the underside of the ocean ground, just like the one which seems on the album cowl of his earlier challenge, DS4ever. He carried out for a lot of the present with the bust as a backdrop, a fallen idol harkening again to easier occasions. It is unclear what the takeaway ought to be—is he closing the door on an older period, or signaling, as the primary track on Curse implies, that he is “again at it” like he by no means left. However with one of many 12 months’s greatest rap tasks and now among the finest stay reveals below his belt, Gunna’s momentum has arguably by no means been stronger.

Gunna gave GQ a have a look at the scene at Barclays for his massive present, scroll down for unique photographs of him making ready earlier than showtime and a number of the on-stage highlights.