[1] The song was written by Pop Smoke, known as Bashar Jackson, alongside CashMoneyAP and Swirv, who have the real names of Alex Petit and Ellis Newton, respectively.
[3] Roisin O'Connor of The Independent mentioned that the song has "minor piano keys looped" while Pop Smoke recalls "the soft danger" of Travis Scott's "5% Tint" (2018).
[5] Earmilk's Ashton Howard stated that Pop Smoke "provides what sounds like an unreleased track" from the sessions from rapper 50 Cent's debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003).
[7] NME's Dhruva Balram stated the song has a "haunting piano intro, singed synths maintain that early threat while Pop Smoke delivers his best claim yet to be the King of New York "Know what I'm sayin'?
"[13][14] Wongo Okon of Uproxx wrote that Pop Smoke "present[s] hard-nosed efforts that creep around the alleyways under the moon unfazed by the danger that lays ahead".
[19] David Arron Blake of HipHopDX said the "floating piano chords and rough bars on 'Gangstas' could have easily come from a 50 Cent or G-Unit album, and match Pop [Smoke's] proven aesthetic surprisingly well".
[20] Balram wrote the song is a "clear shot at [...] 6ix9ine's questionable self-claim to be the king of the city", and that Pop Smoke "comes back from the grave here to correct anyone who might be thinking that he won't live on in memory".
[21] In his review for Billboard magazine, Christine Werthman opined that the song "is the combo, tough on the outside, melodic on the inside, with a sub-three-minute delivery and a hometown shoutout on the chorus that'll make hearts swell".
[22] In a negative review, Paul Thompson of GQ criticized that the song "could have been pulled from any mid-period G-Unit album, with a staid piano line that gestures at menace but can't summon the energy required to sell it".