It’s said that art mirrors life. In hip-hop’s case, there’s always been a deliberate entanglement of perception and reality. Fans demand their MCs be real…but never too real. Successful hip-hop is about the hint of the danger, the tease of it, the mystique. Hip-hop is about balance.
Gucci Mane is an artist striving for that balance, volatility versus musicality. Controversy, including a feud with former collaborator Young Jeezy, has grabbed the headlines, with insufficient regard paid to his considerable mic skills, raw talent, and business acumen. Gucci is looking to wrest his name from public speculation and let his own words do the talking.
“I wish everybody well who’s making money in this rap game,” the Atlanta-raised rapper says, dismissing the controversy that followed him in the past. “My own rap game is going so good, I’ve got so many things on my plate at my label, that I don’t got time for other people’s business.” With a deal with Asylum Records as the boss of his own label, So Icey Entertainment, Gucci does indeed have a full schedule with no time to dwell on the past.
“I live my life with no regrets. I just wish that a lot of things never happened, but anybody can wish,” says Gucci. Sounds like a man with his eyes on the prize. And you’d expect nothing less from an artist who ground his way to the top via the hustle of independent records. Signing to Big Cat Records in the wake of his local single “Black Tee,” he dropped his debut record, Trap House, in May 2005. The independent album moved an impressive 140,000 units, largely on the strength of the “Icy” single, featuring Jeezy. Clamor over song rights sparked dispute, and the resulting rift grew.
Controversy notwithstanding, Mane’s independence was cemented: “I was on the independent scene for about two years,” he recalls. “It’s crazy! You gotta go into your own pocket to support your craft. You need other avenues to have money coming in, to support your stuff. You might win, you might lose, and it’s a gamble out there with the independent circuit. One thing you’d better have is good music because without that, you go downhill fast in the independent game.”
Good music firmly in hand, Gucci was fast approaching stardom when more tragedy befell him. But let’s backtrack; how did the man born Radric Davis in Bessemer, Alabama, become Gucci Mane, mouthpiece for Atlanta stuntin’? Mane remembers little from his time in Alabama, just that it was rural, and that it’s changed dramatically since he left at the age of nine. “I gotta shout out Alabama though, because they holdin’ it down,” he affirms. “Every time I go there to do a show, I’m impressed with how hip-hop culture has taken root.”
Mane’s identity coalesced when he moved with his mother to Atlanta. “I lived all of my adolescent and adult life in Atlanta,” he explains. “I’m from East Atlanta Zone Six; it was hard, man, it was real rough. I grew up in the Starter jacket era: they’d take your Starter jacket, your 8Ball jacket, they’d take your hat, your shoes. It was just no holds barred on the streets, dog eat dog. If you missed the bus, you had to be crewed up or you’d get jumped. It was wild when I came up.”
It’s a bleak portrait. When asked to describe his home life more vividly, Mane offers a look into his contemplative side, a side honed as a schoolyard poet. “I was just a young dude in a single parent house most of my life. I can’t complain that much. I would guess it’s like any black child growing up in a single parent household. There are a lot of people who know how that is. I didn’t have a lot coming up; but what I did have, I appreciated. I was blessed to have a caring mother to raise me right and to help me with my business ventures; she’s been there through the whole struggle. There’s a lot that goes along with that; it made me who I am today.”
A stepfather would enter the picture during Mane’s adolescence, introducing not only a male figure, but also inspiration for Mane’s unusual moniker. “My father came in, the original Gucci Mane; that’s what people in the neighborhood called him, and that’s where I get my name from. From then on, I grew up the son of a hustler and a schoolteacher; it was the best of both worlds because I was educated twice.” Drawing inspiration from a pantheon of rappers before him –Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A—Mane went on to release Trap House, a lethal brew of his signature sound: “I call my music straight Gucci: going hard and whatever beats you make you for me, if I’m feeling it, if I’m rocking with it, I’m gonna crush it. When you hear me, you hear a lot of pain, a lot of hood; you hear what’s going on in the inner city in Atlanta.”
Unfortunately, Trap House was ill timed; the month of its release, Gucci was accused of murder and jailed for two days. Eventually deemed to be acting in self-defense, and without sufficient evidence to hold him, Mane was exonerated. But the ordeal left an indelible imprint on the man. “I learned to keep better company, watch where I go, and be mindful of my surroundings at all times,” he reveals. “Watch what I say, watch what I do and how I do it, just keep myself out of the wrong crowd.”
“I always stand up man,” he continues. “I’m one of the toughest guys I know. It’ll take a lot more than that to break me down.” Undeterred, Mane was back in the studio, preparing 2006’s eerily apropos Hard To Kill. The buzz from Hard To Kill vaulted Gucci Mane from regional commodity to national treasure, and major labels responded accordingly: “There was a bidding war going on, and I liked Atlantic’s approach. They made it known that they wanted me, they felt where I was going and that I could grow with them.”
Asylum/Atlantic Records welcomed Gucci Mane in early ’07, granting him his own imprint, So Icey Entertainment. With it comes an entire stable of artists, the So Icey Boyz. As the Boyz ready for their own exposure –“I got them in training; they be in the weight room, pumping iron, doing pushups, shopping at the mall, buying ice”—Gucci is focused on his magnum opus, Back to the Trap House. “I started working on the album, and by the third song, I was like ‘This is going back to the Trap House.’ I started feeling the same way I did when I made my first album. It had the same feel to it, the same freshness. And I had the same hunger and desire I had when I first started rapping.”
“Since I went major, I want everybody to know I’m still keeping it street, keeping it hood,” Gucci maintains. “I’m trying to take it back to all my fans that I had when I first started my career. And at the same time, I’m trying to open up my new album to a new fan base. So it’s a mix for everybody coming together, like my first album was.” Gucci has always prided himself on his innate ability, and his refusal to let guest appearances dictate the tone of his records. “I just want people to know I’m a great songwriter, man,” he asserts. “I’m passionate about what I do, and it’s choreographed strategically when I do it. I bring a lot of experience, creative wordplay, and a crazy style. And my albums, I record most of the songs without writing them down; it’s a God-given gift and I just get paid for it. It come from God, it’s like wondering what makes a bird fly. He made me a poet like the great poets of the past.”
But don’t mistake Gucci’s confidence for self-absorption. The vicissitudes of his career have dictated a longer view. Lyrics aside, he’s less preoccupied with visible means and more so with acting as an emissary from his under-repped block. “I’m not the one to glorify what goes on in the hood,” he insists. “We have everything there, the whole range from violence to people getting on the bus and going to work. There’s a lot more to the hood than just drugs. It’s a bigger story, there’s a big picture. I went to school in that neighborhood, I worked there, I trapped there, I hustled there, and I got my name there. I’m proud to be from East Atlanta Zone Six, and I claim there. I hold that on my back and carry that, to be the first one from there to really rock.”
And Gucci’s professional aims have matured as well. While other rappers stress platinum plaques, Gucci hasn’t forgotten the route he took to stardom. “I made a lot of CDs on my own. People fucked with me and supported me, and just made me the man I am today. That’s my blueprint right there, and I stay mindful of it. So now, my only concern is that people feel my music; at the end of the day, I do it for people to feel it. If one person feel it, two people feel it, I feel like my job’s been done.”
Fortunately for Gucci, he should be prepared to welcome an army of new fans with Back to the Trap House. But longstanding fans shouldn’t fear; they’ll recognize “Freaky Gurl,” reprised from its previous appearance from Hard To Kill. Luda, upon hearing the joint, asked for a guest spot on the remix. Said remix now appears as the lead single on Back to the Trap House, following in Gucci’s theme of mating old and new. Over a bouncing, meandering beat from Cyber Sapp, the two cook up the requisite concoction of whips, chips, and chicks. Also look out for “Bird Flu,” the album’s number two single, laced by New-York based Supa Sonics. Elsewhere, firm guest verses from Rich Boy and Pimp C of UGK round out Gucci’s regional flavor, while Bay-area producer Zaytoven (of “Icy” renown) locks down Gucci’s West Coast appeal.
Gucci Mane has something for everyone, and with the struggles of the past in his rearview, Gucci is settled in for his ride to the top. “I’m best known for controversy but I’m trying to gain respect as a songwriter and entertainer. I plan to hit them so hard with this album; who knows what the future will bring. I’ll be banging them out till I can’t bang no more.”
Big Boy Diamonds feat. Kodak Black
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm that big boy stepper, I'm that stepper
All my steps calculated, I'm that stepper, nigga (free Kodak, ASAP)
Remember that, I'm the one that's stepping, nigga
I'ma step, one thing about me, yeah
I'm in London, got my beat from London (go)
Big boy diamonds
She like the way I be vibin'
This ain't a grill
Ice on my teeth, yeah, it's permanent
Bought a new gun and I dirtied it
I'm a burglar and a murderer, try me
I'm a burglar and a murderer, try me
Big boy diamonds
Ice on me changin' the climate
She like the way I be vibin'
Big boy diamonds
Beat down your lady vagina, rockin' the latest designer
Pull off like abracadabra, boo-hoo
Pull right back up in a Jag' with voodoo
Milkin' these bitches like Yoo-hoo
Shit on these niggas, I doo-doo
I'm passin' gas like I farted
Boy, if you smelled it, you dealt it
Water on me like I'm meltin', water
Fuck on your daughter, don't call her, water
Come here, lil' bitch, I'm your father, water
Call me daddy, I'm your papi
Comin' over, drop the addy
I was on Xannies already, I be on mollies already
Fuck all the talkin', I been done shot 'em already
Big boy diamonds
Ice on me changin' the climate
She like the way I be vibin'
This ain't a grill
Ice on my teeth, yeah, it's permanent
Bought a new gun and I dirtied it
I'm a burglar and a murderer, try me
I'm a burglar and a murderer, try me
Big boy diamonds
Ice on me changin' the climate
She like the way I be vibin'
Big boy diamonds
I'ma be icy in Heaven
Diamonds on me and they white like a wife at the wedding
I done shot dice with my celly
I taught a lifer a lesson
I put that knife on the peasant (huh)
I bought the choppers already
Gucci the G.O.A.T. but you know it already (G.O.A.T.)
Scope on the rifle, I'm holdin' it steady
Diamond AP like Elvis Presley, dancin' (Wop)
Play like you hard, but you sweeter than jelly
Bitch, I'm the shit, it ain't shit you can tell me (huh)
Her stomach on flat 'til my dick in her belly
Think I'm a lick, spend a brick on a presi'
Christmas, I want a stick for a present
Baguette Chopard, it's factory setted (bling)
Run up on Wop and you'll never forget it
I broke the dam, I told 'em to flood it
I want the cash, I don't want the credit
Went in my stash and gave me a budget
My pockets so budgy that bitches is callin' me handsome
That then, was callin' me ugly (huh?)
I caught a rash from countin' the money
I'm changin' the climate like global warming (bling)
She seen the charm and said I'm charming
The watch on my arm, it come with an army
Big boy diamonds
Ice on me changin' the climate
She like the way I be vibin'
This ain't a grill
Ice on my teeth, yeah, it's permanent
Bought a new gun and I dirtied it
I'm a burglar and a murderer, try me
I'm a burglar and a murderer, try me
Big boy diamonds
Ice on me changin' the climate
She like the way I be vibin'
Big boy diamonds
In Gucci Mane's song, "Big Boy Diamonds," he boasts about his extravagant lifestyle, particularly the jewelry he wears. The song features Kodak Black, and the two rappers go back and forth about their wealth and success. The song opens with Gucci Mane saying "I'm that big boy stepper," which he repeats throughout the song to emphasize his confidence and status. He also mentions that all his steps are calculated, implying that he doesn't make any reckless moves.
Later in the song, Kodak Black delivers a verse where he talks about his criminal past and the dangerous things he's done. He also mentions the fact that he's wealthy and likes to have fun, bragging about his "big boy diamonds" and how they change the climate around him. Gucci Mane returns with another verse where he adds more specific details about his luxurious lifestyle, mentioning that he has a permanent diamond grill and has purchased a new gun, which he has dirtied.
Overall, "Big Boy Diamonds" is a flashy and confident song that showcases Gucci Mane and Kodak Black's wealth and success. It's a celebration of their extravagant lifestyles and touches on themes of power and dominance.
Line by Line Meaning
Big boy diamonds (burr)
Gucci Mane is referring to his large, flashy and expensive diamond jewelry
I'm that big boy stepper, I'm that stepper
Gucci Mane is confident in his ability to succeed and step to the top of the game
All my steps calculated, I'm that stepper, nigga (free Kodak, ASAP)
Gucci Mane is strategic and purposeful in his actions and wants Kodak Black to be released from prison quickly
Remember that, I'm the one that's stepping, nigga
Gucci Mane wants to remind everyone that he is the one leading and making the moves
I'ma step, one thing about me, yeah
Gucci Mane is determined to succeed and make power moves no matter what
I'm in London, got my beat from London (go)
Gucci Mane is in London and the beat for the song was produced in London
Ice on me changin' the climate
Gucci Mane's jewelry is so big and flashy that it is changing the atmosphere around him
She like the way I be vibin'
Women are attracted to Gucci Mane's style and energy
This ain't a grill
Gucci Mane's diamonds are not just in his teeth, but all over his jewelry
Ice on my teeth, yeah, it's permanent
Gucci Mane has permanent diamond teeth
Bought a new gun and I dirtied it
Gucci Mane purchased a new gun and has already used it for illegal activities
I'm a burglar and a murderer, try me
Gucci Mane is warning others not to mess with him, as he has committed crimes in the past
Beat down your lady vagina, rockin' the latest designer
Gucci Mane is boasting about his sexual prowess and expensive fashion
Pull off like abracadabra, boo-hoo
Gucci Mane is able to disappear from situations quickly and smoothly
Pull right back up in a Jag' with voodoo
After disappearing, Gucci Mane is able to return in a luxurious car with some form of 'magical' power
Milkin' these bitches like Yoo-hoo
Gucci Mane is able to easily manipulate women and get what he wants from them
Shit on these niggas, I doo-doo
Gucci Mane has no respect for his competition and does not take them seriously
I'm passin' gas like I farted
Gucci Mane is releasing music with ease and effortlessly
Boy, if you smelled it, you dealt it
Gucci Mane is making a childish joke about his success and ability to produce music
Water on me like I'm meltin', water
Gucci Mane is completely covered in expensive jewelry and diamonds like water
Fuck on your daughter, don't call her, water
Gucci Mane is boasting about his ability to sleep with other people's daughters without any consequences
Come here, lil' bitch, I'm your father, water
Gucci Mane is telling women that he is the man in charge and they should obey him
Call me daddy, I'm your papi
Gucci Mane is telling women to refer to him as their father figure or mentor
Comin' over, drop the addy
Gucci Mane is telling women to give him their address so he can come over and sleep with them
I was on Xannies already, I be on mollies already
Gucci Mane is admitting to being on drugs while producing music
Fuck all the talkin', I been done shot 'em already
Gucci Mane is cutting through the nonsense and handling conflicts by using violence
I'ma be icy in Heaven
Gucci Mane plans on continuing to wear flashy jewelry even after he dies
Diamonds on me and they white like a wife at the wedding
Gucci Mane's diamonds are so clear and brilliant that they resemble a white wedding dress
I done shot dice with my celly
Gucci Mane has played dice games with other prisoners while incarcerated
I taught a lifer a lesson
Gucci Mane was able to educate someone serving life in prison on something
I put that knife on the peasant (huh)
Gucci Mane has used a knife on someone who is of lower status than him
I bought the choppers already
Gucci Mane has already purchased firearms
Gucci the G.O.A.T. but you know it already (G.O.A.T.)
Gucci Mane is confident in his status as the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.) and believes others already recognize it
Scope on the rifle, I'm holdin' it steady
Gucci Mane has a scope on his gun and is able to aim it accurately
Diamond AP like Elvis Presley, dancin' (Wop)
Gucci Mane's diamond Audemars Piguet watch is so flashy that it resembles something Elvis Presley would wear while dancing to a hit song
Play like you hard, but you sweeter than jelly
Gucci Mane believes that people who act tough and hard are actually weak and emotional
Bitch, I'm the shit, it ain't shit you can tell me (huh)
Gucci Mane has unmatched confidence in himself and his abilities. He does not want to hear criticisms or negative comments
Her stomach on flat 'til my dick in her belly
Gucci Mane is boosting about how attractive he is to women and his ability to make their stomachs feel full and satisfied
Think I'm a lick, spend a brick on a presi'
Some people may believe that Gucci Mane is an easy target for robbery, but he is willing to spend a lot of money on a new watch to prove them wrong
Christmas, I want a stick for a present
Gucci Mane is asking for a firearm as a Christmas gift
Baguette Chopard, it's factory setted (bling)
Gucci Mane has a diamond-encrusted watch made by the Swiss luxury brand Chopard
Run up on Wop and you'll never forget it
Gucci Mane is warning others not to mess with him, as his reaction will have a lasting impact on them
I broke the dam, I told 'em to flood it
Gucci Mane has unleashed his creativity and talent, encouraging others to follow suit and join him on his path to success
I want the cash, I don't want the credit
Gucci Mane is focused on making money and does not care about receiving public recognition or praise for his work
Went in my stash and gave me a budget
Gucci Mane has a large amount of money saved up and was able to allocate some of it for his creative projects
My pockets so budgy that bitches is callin' me handsome
Gucci Mane has a large amount of money in his pockets, making him more attractive to women
That then, was callin' me ugly (huh?)
In the past, people thought Gucci Mane was unattractive, but now that he has money, they see him as handsome
I caught a rash from countin' the money
Gucci Mane has counted so much money that it has caused a physical reaction on his skin
I'm changin' the climate like global warming (bling)
Gucci Mane's success and influence is spreading rapidly and changing the environment around him
She seen the charm and said I'm charming
Women are attracted to Gucci Mane's charm and charisma
The watch on my arm, it come with an army
Gucci Mane's diamond watch represents an entire army of supporters and fans behind him
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Dieuson Octave, London Holmes, Nick Seeley, Radric Davis
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sirshakii98
Kodak: I'm a burgler and murderer try me
6ix9ine: U hear that
@jacob2790
Gg
@angelican.6710
hahahahahaha i am dead!!!!!!
@Pvmjosh145
This man hell
@kennethjordan986
😂
@iancarlisle1008
Fuck 6ix9ine Snitching
@leyon4544
when he said "if you smelt it you dealt it" 2nd graders felt that
@killface69
Thats why I like him though. He's just weirdo in a special ed type way who somehow made it to the mainstream. Trust this guys perception is sooo bugged out. He cracks me up. I cant get through the first 2 seceonds without laughing when he says, "Big boy Diamond" in that voice on this beat. Classsic
@blackopsmaster1022
lol it reminds me of fortnite stink bombs. it would say so n so smelt it you dealt it
@KhalilThomas11
Lol dawk 4