Kevin Gates Readies 'By Any Means 2' Mixtape

Kevin Gates is staying busy while incarcerated. Yesterday, the rapper revealed his “What If” video and today, he announces his forthcoming By Any Means 2 mixtape with a new single, “Had To.”

Over a thumping instrumental, Gates sings about money, lean, and snakes in the grass, before rhyming about his street and bedroom prowess. Then, he delivers some advice for listeners. “Stack it to the ceiling,” he rhymes. “Do what you ‘posed to do / Watch everybody that you keeping close to you.”

Yesterday, Gates unleashed the cinematic video for “What If,” while also sharing a handwritten letter from behind bars. “Disallow yourselves to be troubled in my time of absence,” he writes. “All of the great ones who came before and will come after me have had to go through this. By this, I’m speaking in reference to hardship.”

Gates is currently serving time for gun possession, following a string of legal troubles for which he’s also had to serve time.

By Any Means 2, the sequel to 2014’s original, is slated to arrive Sept. 21.