Itโs said that art mirrors life. In hip-hopโs case, thereโs always been a deliberate entanglement of perception and reality. Fans demand their MCs be realโฆbut 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.
โI wish everybody well whoโs making money in this rap game,โ the Atlanta-raised rapper says, dismissing the controversy that followed him in the past. โMy own rap game is going so good, Iโve got so many things on my plate at my label, that I donโt got time for other peopleโs business.โ 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.
โI live my life with no regrets. I just wish that a lot of things never happened, but anybody can wish,โ says Gucci. Sounds like a man with his eyes on the prize. And youโd 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 โBlack Tee,โ 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 โIcyโ single, featuring Jeezy. Clamor over song rights sparked dispute, and the resulting rift grew.
Controversy notwithstanding, Maneโs independence was cemented: โI was on the independent scene for about two years,โ he recalls. โItโs 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 itโs a gamble out there with the independent circuit. One thing youโd better have is good music because without that, you go downhill fast in the independent game.โ
Good music firmly in hand, Gucci was fast approaching stardom when more tragedy befell him. But letโs backtrack; how did the man born Radric Davis in Bessemer, Alabama, become Gucci Mane, mouthpiece for Atlanta stuntinโ? Mane remembers little from his time in Alabama, just that it was rural, and that itโs changed dramatically since he left at the age of nine. โI gotta shout out Alabama though, because they holdinโ it down,โ he affirms. โEvery time I go there to do a show, Iโm impressed with how hip-hop culture has taken root.โ
Maneโs identity coalesced when he moved with his mother to Atlanta. โI lived all of my adolescent and adult life in Atlanta,โ he explains. โIโm from East Atlanta Zone Six; it was hard, man, it was real rough. I grew up in the Starter jacket era: theyโd take your Starter jacket, your 8Ball jacket, theyโd 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 youโd get jumped. It was wild when I came up.โ
Itโs 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. โI was just a young dude in a single parent house most of my life. I canโt complain that much. I would guess itโs like any black child growing up in a single parent household. There are a lot of people who know how that is. I didnโt 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; sheโs been there through the whole struggle. Thereโs a lot that goes along with that; it made me who I am today.โ
A stepfather would enter the picture during Maneโs adolescence, introducing not only a male figure, but also inspiration for Maneโs unusual moniker. โMy father came in, the original Gucci Mane; thatโs what people in the neighborhood called him, and thatโs 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.โ Drawing inspiration from a pantheon of rappers before him โBig Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, the Beastie Boys, N.W.AโMane went on to release Trap House, a lethal brew of his signature sound: โI call my music straight Gucci: going hard and whatever beats you make you for me, if Iโm feeling it, if Iโm rocking with it, Iโm gonna crush it. When you hear me, you hear a lot of pain, a lot of hood; you hear whatโs going on in the inner city in Atlanta.โ
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. โI learned to keep better company, watch where I go, and be mindful of my surroundings at all times,โ he reveals. โWatch what I say, watch what I do and how I do it, just keep myself out of the wrong crowd.โ
โI always stand up man,โ he continues. โIโm one of the toughest guys I know. Itโll take a lot more than that to break me down.โ Undeterred, Mane was back in the studio, preparing 2006โs 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: โThere was a bidding war going on, and I liked Atlanticโs approach. They made it known that they wanted me, they felt where I was going and that I could grow with them.โ
Asylum/Atlantic Records welcomed Gucci Mane in early โ07, 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 โโI got them in training; they be in the weight room, pumping iron, doing pushups, shopping at the mall, buying iceโโGucci is focused on his magnum opus, Back to the Trap House. โI started working on the album, and by the third song, I was like โThis is going back to the Trap House.โ 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.โ
โSince I went major, I want everybody to know Iโm still keeping it street, keeping it hood,โ Gucci maintains. โIโm trying to take it back to all my fans that I had when I first started my career. And at the same time, Iโm trying to open up my new album to a new fan base. So itโs a mix for everybody coming together, like my first album was.โ Gucci has always prided himself on his innate ability, and his refusal to let guest appearances dictate the tone of his records. โI just want people to know Iโm a great songwriter, man,โ he asserts. โIโm passionate about what I do, and itโs 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; itโs a God-given gift and I just get paid for it. It come from God, itโs like wondering what makes a bird fly. He made me a poet like the great poets of the past.โ
But donโt mistake Gucciโs confidence for self-absorption. The vicissitudes of his career have dictated a longer view. Lyrics aside, heโs less preoccupied with visible means and more so with acting as an emissary from his under-repped block. โIโm not the one to glorify what goes on in the hood,โ he insists. โWe have everything there, the whole range from violence to people getting on the bus and going to work. Thereโs a lot more to the hood than just drugs. Itโs a bigger story, thereโs 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. Iโm 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.โ
And Gucciโs professional aims have matured as well. While other rappers stress platinum plaques, Gucci hasnโt forgotten the route he took to stardom. โI made a lot of CDs on my own. People fucked with me and supported me, and just made me the man I am today. Thatโs 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 jobโs been done.โ
Fortunately for Gucci, he should be prepared to welcome an army of new fans with Back to the Trap House. But longstanding fans shouldnโt fear; theyโll recognize โFreaky Gurl,โ 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 Gucciโs 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 โBird Flu,โ the albumโs number two single, laced by New-York based Supa Sonics. Elsewhere, firm guest verses from Rich Boy and Pimp C of UGK round out Gucciโs regional flavor, while Bay-area producer Zaytoven (of โIcyโ renown) locks down Gucciโs 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. โIโm best known for controversy but Iโm 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. Iโll be banging them out till I canโt bang no more.โ
Darker
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
Dark tint on my soo-woo red charger
The niggas round me drink lean not water
I could never hold a job down like my father
But I could hold a block and push the rock, Shawn Carter
Bitches on my dick cause my skin real darker
Got a yellow bitch and The Devil Wears Prada
Got the narcs on me say my car tail got bothered
Big fish in little pond, get swallowed
Dark weed, super dark weed, Cali OG
Dark lean, super dark lean, straight codeine
Dark meat pretty brown bitch that adore me
Dark tint on my dark bent on a dark street
The tints on my shit there look darker
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
It's a dark night, had a gun fight with a dark clique
Set up by a dark skin bitch, she was dumb thick
Gucci Mane keep pulling up in darkly painted cars
Dropped the top on your bitch, now she looking at the stars
Diamonds dancing on my wrist, you dancing with the star
Gucci Mane so geeked up, he don't care you light or dark ho
I just paid 300 cause didn't have nowhere to park ho
If Gucci Mane just bought why the fuck he paint it darker
That shit was already hard, Now he made it harder
Cali kush, just touched down nigga and this pack a lil' darker
Dog food bricks and cocaina them, now they look darker
Dark skin brick I'm touching it and with it whipping away from the water
The tints on my shit there look darker
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
(Squad!) I just bought six pints, they dark as fuck (Leaning)
Bitch I'm with the dart gang, don't think so we dart you up
Bitch I'm with the art gang, don't think so we paint you up
Them niggas ain't with us, them niggas lame as fuck
Bitch we the Black Disciples so our blood a lil' darker
I'm rolling in that Beamer big guwop in his charger
And we racing down your block like we ain't riding Forgiatos
Disrespect So Icey Brick Squad we gon' drop you
Beat the lil' nigga ass like his father
On that Glo' Boys shit, you ain't with it we pop you
These lil' bitches on my dick cause my money got larger
I'm smoking on this Keisha getting head from Ms. Parker
The tints on my shit there look darker
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
Go, go, go
It's guwop nigga
Turn up, dark
Everything dark this summer nigga, yeah
You see me in the dark too fuck nigga, yeah
It's Gucci, guwop
"Darker" by Gucci Mane Ft. Chief Keef is a trap song that talks about various aspects of their life being darker. The lyrics are about their cars, drinks, weed, and work all being darker than before. These darker elements represent the rough and edgy side of their lives. They show a pride in their darker and tougher lifestyle, that is far from ordinary.
The lyrics of the song represent the darker side of their lives. They show how they pour up drank, an act of consuming cough syrup mixed with soda, and smoke dark weed. The dark lean represents the stronger and pure-grade consumption of the same cough syrup. The kush, which represents high-grade marijuana, is shown as darker, representing the edgier side of their lives. The lyrics talk about how their tinted cars, which represent their prestige, are now darker too.ย
Moreover, the lyrics show that they have struggled with jobs, but have found success in the drug trade. This is shown by likening their illegal drug business to the successful and legit selling of Jay-Z's record label, Roc-A-Fella Records. The lyrics also show that the diamond Gucci Mane is wearing is shining brighter than any star in the sky, again representing the darker and shiny side of his success. Overall, the lyrics portray the fearless, rough, and dark aspects of their lives.
Line by Line Meaning
The tints on my shit there look darker
The windows on my car are tinted darker than usual
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
I am pouring a dark-colored drink (likely codeine) into my cup
The kush came in this time look darker
The marijuana I obtained this time is darker in color
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
I am mixing up a batch of drugs and the resulting substance is darker than usual
It's a dark night, had a gun fight with a dark clique
I was involved in a violent conflict with a group of people in a dark alley or street
Gucci Mane keep pulling up in darkly painted cars
Gucci Mane frequently arrives in vehicles that are painted a dark color
Kush came in this time look darker
The marijuana I obtained this time is darker in color
I just bought six pints, they dark as fuck (Leaning)
I recently purchased six containers of a dark liquid, likely codeine, and am consuming them by leaning and sipping
Lyrics ยฉ BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: Radric Davis
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@shotbykoba
The tints on my shit there look darker
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
Dark tint on my soo-woo red charger
The niggas round me drink lean not water
I could never hold a job down like my father
But I could hold a block and push the rock, Shawn Carter
Bitches on my dick cause my skin real darker
Got a yellow bitch and The Devil Wears Prada
Got the narcs on me say my car tail got bothered
Big fish in little pond, get swallowed
Dark weed, super dark weed, Cali OG
Dark lean, super dark lean, straight codeine
Dark meat pretty brown bitch that adore me
Dark tint on my dark bent on a dark street
The tints on my shit there look darker
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
It's a dark night, had a gun fight with a dark clique
Set up by a dark skin bitch, she was dumb thick
Gucci Mane keep pulling up in darkly painted cars
Dropped the top on your bitch, now she looking at the stars
Diamonds dancing on my wrist, you dancing with the star
Gucci Mane so geeked up, he don't care you light or dark ho
I just paid 300 cause didn't have nowhere to park ho
If Gucci Mane just bought why the fuck he paint it darker
That shit was already hard, Now he made it harder
Cali kush, just touched down nigga and this pack a lil' darker
Dog food bricks and cocaina them, now they look darker
Dark skin brick I'm touching it and with it whipping away from the water
The tints on my shit there look darker
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
Bitch I'm with the dart gang, don't think so we dart you up
Bitch I'm with the art gang, don't think so we paint you up
Them niggas ain't with us, them niggas lame as fuck
Bitch we the Black Disciples so our blood a lil' darker
I'm rolling in that Beamer big guwop in his charger
And we racing down your block like we ain't riding Forgiatos
Disrespect So Icey Brick Squad we gon' drop you
Beat the lil' nigga ass like his father
On that Glo' Boys shit, you ain't with it we pop you
These lil' bitches on my dick cause my money got larger
I'm smoking on this Keisha getting head from Ms. Parker
The tints on my shit there look darker
Pouring up drank nigga, my shit darker
The kush came in this time look darker
I'm whipping up a brick and the work look darker
Kush came in this time look darker
Pouring up drank nigga my shit darker
The work came in this time look darker
And the tints on my shit there look darker
Go, go, go
It's guwop nigga
Turn up, dark
Everything dark this summer nigga, yeah
You see me in the dark too fuck nigga, yeah
It's Gucci, guwop
@steezyasfvck
2021
@Cuhso
keef make sure he went hard for his fav rapper
@A1.tay0
Still here 2024 ๐ฎโ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ
@DontTrollMe-by5qi
Real classic ๐ฅฑ
@DontTrollMe-by5qi
One of Chief Keef hardest verse ๐ฌ๏ธ
@JohnSmith-uf3yn
2023 & itโs still giving me goose bumps
@mommysongamereview3721
Still here 2023
@apl_24mane83
Shit still bangs
@verdeleheath7273
They was on 1 that night .
@freelife8860
If Gucci Mane just bought it why the fuck he painted it darker? The shit was already hard now he made it harder.