INTERVIEWSGunplay, on House Arrest, Drops Crime-Filled Single 'Drop'

Def Jam debut 'Medellin' is set for early 2013

Gunplay's troubles away from the recording studio haven't slowed down one of the year's most pulse-quickening rappers (see Gunplay: Miami's Wild Child MC Is Guided by Voices). Though the Maybach Music Group rapper is serving a stint on house arrest for charges of, um, gunplay, and brawled with 50 Cent's security at the BET Hip Hop Awards "like a lion on a wildebeest," Def Jam is still promising his major-label debut album, Medellin, early next year.

On Friday, he shared the bristling mixtape track "The Hard Way," and today he unveiled what's billed as the first Medellin single, "Drop." A blaring, aggressive track in Gunplay's usual style, it doubles down on the coke-dealing imagery of "The Hard Way," swapping Golden Girls puns for Aretha Franklin puns. It's a welcome adrenaline boost for your Tuesday, and if Gunplay's judicial overseers have a problem with it, he can cite the precedent of, well, the president, in the case of Minaj v. Romney.