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.”
Icy featuring Young Jeezy
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My lil' nigga turned into a rat, so it's fuck what we was
You niggas gon' keep it honest, we tellin' lies to the judge
Car hoppin', we servin' junkies, come through slow, we shootin' it up
We got dirty sticks up in this GMC, shots out a moving truck
I just poured a trey up in a Fanta, I like how it fuzz
Fuckin' groupie bitches chasin' clout, they tryna ride my buzz
1017, So Icy Summer, get down or come run with us (So Icy), brr
I'm an animal, I promise it won't take long (it won't take long)
I bake a cake, he beat it up, I think he King Kong (think he King Kong)
Spend that money, get that bread, you know what he on (sheesh)
Patty cake, go back and forth just like a ping pong (baow, baow)
And you know me, I'm with the team, make it spread, 1017
Is a bird gon' sink or swim? Trade your hoodrat for a gem
Gimme chocolate, M&Ms, dirty dancin' in the lens
I be settin' all the trends, money heist, call me Berlin
My lil' nigga turned into a rat, so it's fuck what we was
You niggas gon' keep it honest, we tellin' lies to the judge
Car hoppin', we servin' junkies, come through slow, we shootin' it up
We got dirty sticks up in this GMC, shots out a moving truck
I just poured a trey up in a Fanta, I like how it fuzz
Fuckin' groupie bitches chasin' clout, they tryna ride my buzz
Ayy, who the fuck is buddy 'nem? Them lil' niggas ain't come with us
1017, So Icy Summer, get down or come run with us, brr
Extortion, that what keep us paid, trappin' hard just to make a way
Two bodies, one dirty K, burn the car, ain't no switchin' plates
Them straight eights how we get away, do the dash, watch me shake the jakes
Bad bitches, expensive taste, all my hoes got a hundred K
Or better
Ho talkin' 'bout she gon' post me on Monday, I just might let her
Gucci came, got to certify, he knew I was a stepper
Nigga thinkin' shit cool, up with this chopper and watch me melt him
Ayy, we might cash out with the plug and double back before we mail 'em
My lil' nigga turned into a rat, so it's fuck what we was
You niggas gon' keep it honest, we tellin' lies to the judge
Car hoppin', we servin' junkies, come through slow, we shootin' it up
We got dirty sticks up in this GMC, shots out a moving truck
I just poured a trey up in a Fanta, I like how it fuzz
Fuckin' groupie bitches chasin' clout, they tryna ride my buzz
Ayy, who the fuck is buddy 'nem? Them lil' niggas ain't come with us
1017, So Icy Summer, get down or come run with us, brr
The song "Icy" by Gucci Mane featuring Young Jeezy is an ode to materialism and the women who embody it. The lyrics describe a woman who is both icy and sheisty, meaning she is both cool and calculating, using her looks and charm to get what she wants. The singers are both fascinated by her, but also wary of her manipulative ways.
Gucci Mane raps about how he "iced" the woman after she said something he didn't like, and how she is only interested in men who have money and status. However, he also admits that he is attracted to her because of her luxurious lifestyle, with her lavish collection of designer clothes and jewelry.
Young Jeezy's verse continues the theme of materialism, describing the woman as "pretty" but also "nasty" because of her foul language. He boasts about his own wealth and sexual prowess, and how he started off in the drug trade before becoming a rapper.
Overall, the lyrics of "Icy" celebrate a lifestyle of excess and superficiality, where money and status are the most important things. The woman is both admired and feared, and the rappers themselves are complicit in this culture of materialism.
Line by Line Meaning
She an icy lil bitch, the bitch is so icy
She's a cold-hearted woman, very tough and independent
Burr, burr, burr, burr
Sound effects for the cold temperature and icy demeanor
But she a sheisty lil bitch, the bitch is so sheisty
She's also sneaky and untrustworthy
Bling-bling, bling-blaow
Sound effects for the flashy jewelry and money
Man the bitch got fresh at the mouth so I iced her
She said something offensive, so Gucci Mane cut her off
She said something so slick I disliked her
She made a snarky comment that Gucci Mane didn't appreciate
If you ain't getting no cash like this you can't pipe her
If you're not rich, she won't take you seriously
But if you rock a watch like this it entice her
But if you wear expensive jewelry like Gucci Mane, she'll be attracted to you
Necklace full of diamonds, wrist and fist blinding
He's wearing so much jewelry it's blinding
The type of chick that Guwap like, you can't find
She's the type of woman that Gucci Mane likes, but she's rare
It's a clause in my young bitch contract you can't sign
You can't have his type of woman because she's special to him
Her closet like Rodeo got all type of designers and
She has a lot of clothes from high-end designers
Every time she leave up out the house niggas remind her
Every time she leaves the house, men try to hit on her
That she the baddest bitch in the world and they want her
She's considered the hottest woman and men want her
But she just a material girl just like Madonna
She's only interested in material possessions, like the singer Madonna
Chilling in the pent playing jazz, she got jazzy
She's relaxing in a penthouse listening to jazz music
She's a pretty lil bitch but her mouth is too nasty
She's physically attractive, but her attitude is rude and vulgar
The way she do the trick with her tongue, the bitch had me
She knows how to please Gucci Mane in a sexual manner
She's a spoiled girl, rotten, so bad, I play daddy
She's used to getting what she wants and Gucci Mane spoils her
See I'm the type of rich that I give before you ask me
Gucci Mane is generous and gives without being asked
I got the type of dick make a rich girl start harassing
Gucci Mane is so good in bed that rich women obsess over him
I started in the trap then I switched and started rapping
Gucci Mane started out selling drugs (the trap), then became a rapper
She started drinking shots of Patron and started laughing
She's getting drunk off tequila and having a good time
Ciroc and passion fruit now she sucking me with a passion
She's now performing oral sex on Gucci Mane with enthusiasm
A fire breathing dragon, she riding me like a taxi
She's very passionate and intense during sex
We started off as friends and then we started smashing
Their relationship started as a friendship, but then became sexual
Soon as she got a good dose of the macking she start bragging
As soon as she experienced good sex with Gucci Mane, she started bragging about it
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Lontrell Williams, Lavonte Powers, Kierra Shiday
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@manos9286
people dont understand how legendary this song is
@mooselodge1278
They really don’t
@skully310
It's so damn legendary 💯
@nikkiparker2928
Literally ❤
@chasemiser1971
I literally just told my girl this opened up comments and saw yours I’m glad so many think the same lol.
@cooperwilliam17
When they perform this at versus I went crazy turn my 12s on max scream it to the top of my lungs
@heathergreer9919
Whoever is singing this hook don't get enough damn credit! That man did his thang in the booth that day.
@LemandMoe
On God
@SteveOGlo
Ayo why I never thought of that lol duhhhh who tf is it? What if it's gucci lmao
@ydgjoe
he sum dude called lil will