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.”
Cuttin Off Fingaz
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Gucci Mane, LaFlare, yeah
(A lot of niggaz thought we couldn't have pulled it off Gucci)
(But, guess what, we here, we sellin' units)
(We doin' real big AND we eatin', the whole plate)
The whole fuckin' plate man; ain't no cuts on this shit man
Ain't no middleman in this shit, we want all the fuckin' money man
We get all the money, independent where it's at man
If you want the blueprint to this shit, watch Gucci Mane
Gucci overdooz it, does it, the boy's perfect
Neck piece flooded, it's color scattered and covered
I'm worth nine hundred God damn I spent a hundred
But that's rap money, when trappin that cash nothin
I'm internet surfin', tourin' grillin' and turfin'
Speedboat racin, jet skiing and golfin
Crazy color Jordans, same color the ballin
Bitch I bet up on it, I'm rich my dear regardless
Shrimp scampi odor every time I flaunt chick
Trap nigga conversate, with a Harvard smart bitch
I'm young rich and heartless, put you on a carton
Cartoon jewelry customized by my artist
Six months locked, got a head start bitch
I was nigga rich befo' I ever got a rap check
Yellow Corvette same color Moet
Paid twenty grand just to get every stone set
Big black hollow tips that's what the sig spit
Hataz try me they'll get shot in the kidneys (Blaow)
Dislodge bullets real fast what a chop' do (Blaow)
I'm Gucci Mane, LaFlare, I tote a glock like a cop do
We don't talk to strangers, we cop bangers
Trappin at night man, it might get dangerous
But I'm from East Atlanta where they cuttin' off fangaz
I'm from East Atlanta where they cuttin' off fangaz
I'm shittin on these rappers like I'm wearin a Pamper
I'm sittin on five hundred 'cause I got it together
Niggaz never try niggaz that set examples
I'ma eat a shawty sunnyside or the scramble
The port of Miami, to the streets of my 'lanta
The pinkie with the light stone match your encounter
I'm Gucci Mane, LaFlare, they call me Gucci Montana
I'm Boston, Georgia, Florida, Macon, Tampa and 'Bama
My Mississipi niggaz feel me harder than Banner
Haters see my video they switchin the channel
Gucci got pieces, shawty go get'cha camera
And Gucci time is money bitch, so go get it faster
"cause I could give a damn about your father's a pastor
Be'cause I smoke your father then yo' ass is a bastard
Gucci smokin weed, so you know he's a hazard
Money's on my mind, bitches don't really matter
Big black hollow tips that's what the sig spit
Hataz try me they'll get shot in the kidneys (blaow)
Dislodge bullets real fast what a chop' do (blaow)
I'm Gucci Mane, LaFlare, I tote a glock like a cop do
We don't talk to strangers, we cop bangers
Trappin at night man, it might get dangerous
But I'm from East Atlanta where they cuttin' off fangaz
I'm from East Atlanta where they cuttin' off fangaz
My money so big it can't fit in my matress
Devil bought the actress 'cause I signed with Atlantic
One fifty cursin while trappin in Spanish
Forty in my pocket turn yo' head to some Manwich
Boss of your boss man, I push the Porsches
My million dollar chain got me feelin important
Jumped off early and copped me a fort
Major moves with money like the (King of New York)
Gucci go and get it while them hoes get abortions
Shittin on a bitch, take a piss on they Jordans
Rappers want promotion, Gucci Mane want the package
The scale in the bag, bitch pay me on the back end
Hamilton's and Washington's, Franklin's and Jackson's
Trapper never trip, I just added the fractions
New bitch waggin, brand new mansion
And everything designer from my jeans to my glasses
Big black hollow tips that's what the sig spit
Hataz try me they'll get shot in the kidneys (blaow)
Dislodge bullets real fast what a chop' do (blaow)
I'm Gucci Mane, LaFlare, I tote a glock like a cop do
We don't talk to strangers, we cop bangers
Trappin at night man, it might get dangerous
But I'm from East Atlanta where they cuttin' off fangaz
I'm from East Atlanta where they cuttin' off fangaz
The lyrics to "Cuttin Off Fingaz" by Gucci Mane are braggadocious and boastful, with Gucci flaunting his wealth and success as an independent artist. He boasts about his expensive jewelry, cars, and lifestyle, all while asserting his dominance in the rap game. He claims to have paved the way for independent artists and encourages others to follow his lead. Gucci also touches on the violent reality of his hometown, East Atlanta, where people are known for cutting off fingers as punishment.
The first verse establishes Gucci as a successful and wealthy independent artist. He emphasizes his financial independence and his ability to make money on his own, without the need for a middleman. Gucci also asserts that he is the blueprint for this type of success and encourages other independent artists to follow in his footsteps.
The second verse transitions to a more violent theme, with Gucci talking about his guns and the danger of trapping at night. He boasts about his marksmanship and compares himself to a cop. Gucci then returns to discussing his wealth, including his large sums of cash, expensive jewelry, and cars. He also name-drops different cities and states as a way of showing his reach and influence.
Overall, "Cuttin Off Fingaz" is a song about Gucci Mane's success and his journey as an independent artist. It's a celebration of wealth and power, but also acknowledges the harsh realities of his hometown.
Line by Line Meaning
Gucci overdooz it, does it, the boy's perfect
Gucci goes above and beyond, he excels at what he does, he's flawless
Neck piece flooded, it's color scattered and covered
The necklace is covered in diamonds, with various colors that sparkle
I'm worth nine hundred God damn I spent a hundred
Gucci is worth a lot of money, he spent a small amount in comparison
But that's rap money, when trappin that cash nothin
He earned the money through his rap career, not from illegal activities
I'm internet surfin', tourin' grillin' and turfin'
Gucci is browsing the internet, going on tours, enjoying the finer things in life
Speedboat racin, jet skiing and golfin
He enjoys adrenaline-fueled activities like speedboat racing, jet skiing, and playing golf
Crazy color Jordans, same color the ballin
He wears colorful Jordan sneakers, matching the flashy lifestyle
Bitch I bet up on it, I'm rich my dear regardless
He confidently bets on his success and wealth, regardless of what others think
Shrimp scampi odor every time I flaunt chick
When he shows off his success, there's an air of luxury surrounding him
Trap nigga conversate, with a Harvard smart bitch
He, a streetwise guy, engages in deep conversations with an intelligent woman
I'm young rich and heartless, put you on a carton
He's young, wealthy, and lacks empathy, he can make someone famous overnight
Cartoon jewelry customized by my artist
His jewelry is unique and artistically personalized
Six months locked, got a head start bitch
He spent time in prison, but he was already ahead in terms of success upon his release
I was nigga rich befo' I ever got a rap check
He had wealth before he even made money from his music
Yellow Corvette same color Moet
His yellow Corvette matches the color of the expensive champagne brand Moet
Paid twenty grand just to get every stone set
He spent a significant amount to have every stone in his jewelry perfectly placed
Big black hollow tips that's what the sig spit
He uses large bullets in his gun, which make a loud noise when fired
Hataz try me they'll get shot in the kidneys (Blaow)
If haters test him, they'll be shot in the kidney area
Dislodge bullets real fast what a chop' do (Blaow)
His gun can rapidly shoot and remove bullets, similar to how a chopping motion works
I'm Gucci Mane, LaFlare, I tote a glock like a cop do
He, Gucci Mane, carries a gun just like a police officer does
We don't talk to strangers, we cop bangers
Gucci and his crew don't engage with unknown individuals, they acquire firearms instead
Trappin at night man, it might get dangerous
Engaging in illegal activities at night can be risky and potentially harmful
But I'm from East Atlanta where they cuttin' off fangaz
In East Atlanta, people resort to violence and harm others by cutting off their fingers
I'm shittin on these rappers like I'm wearin a Pamper
He is dominating over other rappers, metaphorically defecating on them like a baby wearing a diaper
I'm sittin on five hundred 'cause I got it together
He's sitting on $500,000 because he has his finances in order
Niggaz never try niggaz that set examples
No one dares to challenge those who set a precedent or serve as role models
I'ma eat a shawty sunnyside or the scramble
He enjoys eating a woman out in multiple ways, metaphorically comparing it to cooking eggs
The port of Miami, to the streets of my 'lanta
From the luxurious and glamorous port city of Miami to the gritty streets of Atlanta
The pinkie with the light stone match your encounter
The pinkie finger with a light-colored gem complements his overall appearance
I'm Gucci Mane, LaFlare, they call me Gucci Montana
He goes by the name Gucci Montana, a combination of his own name and the state name Montana
I'm Boston, Georgia, Florida, Macon, Tampa and 'Bama
He has influence and presence in various cities and states
My Mississipi niggaz feel me harder than Banner
His fans from Mississippi relate to his music more strongly than they do to other artists, even David Banner
Haters see my video they switchin the channel
When haters come across his music videos, they quickly change the channel out of jealousy
Gucci got pieces, shawty go get'cha camera
Gucci has expensive jewelry, so a woman should capture it with her camera
And Gucci time is money bitch, so go get it faster
Gucci values his time greatly, so someone should work quickly to earn money
cause I could give a damn about your father's a pastor
He doesn't care about someone's father being a preacher, it's irrelevant to him
Be'cause I smoke your father then yo' ass is a bastard
If he were to kill someone's father, then that person would become an illegitimate child
Gucci smokin weed, so you know he's a hazard
Gucci smoking marijuana poses a risk or danger because it's illegal
Money's on my mind, bitches don't really matter
He is focused on making money, women are not a priority
My money so big it can't fit in my matress
His wealth is so substantial that it cannot fit inside a mattress
Devil bought the actress 'cause I signed with Atlantic
He attracted attention from the devil or evil forces because he signed a record deal with Atlantic
One fifty cursin while trappin in Spanish
He carries a .150 caliber gun while engaging in illegal activities, even in Spanish-speaking areas
Forty in my pocket turn yo' head to some Manwich
Having $40 in his pocket is enough to make someone feel ashamed or uncomfortable, like a head turned to a sloppy sandwich
Boss of your boss man, I push the Porsches
He is above his boss and even has enough money to afford luxury cars like Porsches
My million dollar chain got me feelin important
His expensive jewelry worth a million dollars boosts his ego and makes him feel significant
Jumped off early and copped me a fort
He quickly made money and bought a luxury vehicle
Major moves with money like the (King of New York)
He makes significant financial transactions and investments just like a powerful figure similar to the King of New York
Gucci go and get it while them hoes get abortions
Gucci focuses on securing his financial success while others are dealing with unplanned pregnancies
Shittin on a bitch, take a piss on they Jordans
He humiliates his enemies and disrespects them by defecating and urinating on their expensive Jordan sneakers
Rappers want promotion, Gucci Mane want the package
Other rappers seek publicity, while Gucci is more interested in receiving a package (likely referring to drugs)
The scale in the bag, bitch pay me on the back end
He has a drug scale in his bag, and he demands to be paid at a later time
Hamilton's and Washington's, Franklin's and Jackson's
Referring to various U.S. currency bills, indicating that he deals with large amounts of money
Trapper never trip, I just added the fractions
Despite being involved in drug trafficking, he doesn't worry or get caught up in trouble, he focuses on calculating profits
New bitch waggin, brand new mansion
He has a new attractive woman and a newly acquired mansion
And everything designer from my jeans to my glasses
He wears exclusively designer clothing and accessories, including jeans and glasses
Lyrics © Ultra Tunes
Written by: XAVIER DOTSON, RADRIC DELANTIC DAVIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind