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.”
Money Keep Callin' ft. Ludacris & Lil' Wayne
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Evil Genius, hah, Guwap
Guwap fresh up off of paper
Now I'm reading the paper (Huh)
I'm sorry I've been busy (Sorry)
I've been out here chasing paper (Money)
I like em' sassy and pretty (Sassy)
You'll get cropped out the picture (Huh?)
Like Puff did the Kardashians (Well damn)
Diamond flash without the flash (Flash)
Off in the hood playin' scratch (Uh)
Chopper leave, neck come out all red (Red)
You know El Gato hate rats
And the word around town that you talking down (Down)
They see me talk down, then they broke down (Down)
Don't fuck with them clowns, yeah (Clown)
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me, uh (Money)
Feel like money keep following me, yeah (Money)
Money keep on callin' me (What?)
Money keep on callin' me (Yeah)
Money keep on callin' me (Yes)
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me (Damn)
Money keep on callin' me (Money)
I feel like it following, yeah
Money keep on callin' me (Callin' me)
Money keep on callin' me (Heyo)
Money keep on callin' me (Yes)
I feel like it following, following (It's Guc')
The money is calling, the money is calling
She sassy and pretty, she thick like I like them
Chilly with ice on, they been on the drip
Glacier McLaren that runs all our crew
When I'm in Seaport, I sell 'em the krippy
Think that she hippy, she wanna be Kylie
Can't lie, a cutie, they call me "Your Highness"
My friends call me Fiji, I'm covered with diamonds
Take food off my plate, don't make that mistake
Conquer the hate 'cause I'm rulin' they fate
Wop one of the greats, I'm known for the flake
The wedding cake, I flew it in from L.A
All in the D, balling like Blake
Or Blake with the Clippers like back in the day
Scarface with the flake, watching the gate
The money is callin', I cannot be late, yeah
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me, uh (Money)
Feel like money keep following me, yeah (Money)
Money keep on callin' me (What?)
Money keep on callin' me (Yeah)
Money keep on callin' me (Yes)
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
Money keep on callin' me (Damn)
Money keep on callin' me (Money)
I feel like it following, yeah
Money keep on callin' me (Callin' me)
Money keep on callin' me (Heyo)
Money keep on callin' me (Yes)
I feel like it following, following (It's Guc')
The lyrics to Gucci Mane's song Money Keep Callin' ft. Ludacris & Lil' Wayne are mostly about the pursuit of money, success and power. Gucci Mane opens the first verse by stating how he has been busy chasing paper and likes his women sassy and pretty. He goes on to assert his dominance over others by saying he will crop them out of the picture like Puff Daddy did to the Kardashians. As he continues his verse, he mentions his hatred for rats and clowns, whom he does not associate with.
Ludacris' verse complements Gucci Mane's, as he talkins about the material possessions and life of luxury that come with great wealth. He mentions driving a McLaren and always being covered in diamonds. He also references being called "Fiji" by his friends and being known for the "flake," which is a common slang term for cocaine. Lil' Wayne's verse talks about the urge to always make more money and never being able to escape its grip.
Overall, the song is a braggadocious and unapologetic nod to the trappings of wealth and success, but it also points to the fear and insecurity that come with constantly chasing money.
Line by Line Meaning
Wop, huh, hah
Introduction to the song, featuring Gucci Mane's signature 'Wop' ad-lib and laughing.
Guwap fresh up off of paper
Gucci Mane has recently received a large sum of money.
Now I'm reading the paper (Huh)
Gucci Mane is keeping up with current events by reading the newspaper.
I'm sorry I've been busy (Sorry)
Gucci Mane apologizes for not being available due to his busy schedule.
I've been out here chasing paper (Money)
Gucci Mane has been focused on making money.
I like em' sassy and pretty (Sassy)
Gucci Mane prefers women who are both attractive and confident.
Them Keishas and Keshas (Uh)
Keisha and Kesha are common names in Gucci Mane's circle of acquaintances.
You'll get cropped out the picture (Huh?)
If someone isn't important to Gucci Mane, he'll remove them from his life, much like how a photo can be edited to remove unwanted elements.
Like Puff did the Kardashians (Well damn)
Gucci Mane compares his attitude towards irrelevant people to Puff Daddy's famous removal of the Kardashians from a photo he posted on social media.
Diamond flash without the flash (Flash)
Gucci Mane's diamonds shine brightly even in low light situations.
Off in the hood playin' scratch (Uh)
Gucci Mane enjoys playing scratch-off lottery tickets in the neighborhood where he grew up.
Chopper leave, neck come out all red (Red)
After using a chainsaw, Gucci Mane's neck is covered in sawdust, causing it to turn red.
You know El Gato hate rats
Gucci Mane dislikes people who betray him, similar to how cats despise rats.
And the word around town that you talking down (Down)
Gucci Mane has heard rumors that someone is speaking negatively about him behind his back.
They see me talk down, then they broke down (Down)
If someone tries to start a conflict with Gucci Mane, they'll quickly regret it when he fires back.
Don't fuck with them clowns, yeah (Clown)
Gucci Mane warns against getting involved with frivolous people who aren't worth his time.
The money is calling, the money is calling
Money is a top priority for Gucci Mane.
She sassy and pretty, she thick like I like them
Gucci Mane is attracted to women who are curvy and confident.
Chilly with ice on, they been on the drip
The people around Gucci Mane are wearing expensive clothing and jewelry.
Glacier McLaren that runs all our crew
Gucci Mane's entourage drives a high-end sports car.
When I'm in Seaport, I sell 'em the krippy
Gucci Mane sells marijuana in the Seaport neighborhood of Atlanta.
Think that she hippy, she wanna be Kylie
Gucci Mane thinks a certain woman tries to look like Kylie Jenner and has a bohemian lifestyle.
Can't lie, a cutie, they call me "Your Highness"
Gucci Mane attracts beautiful women who address him with a regal title.
My friends call me Fiji, I'm covered with diamonds
Gucci Mane's friends nickname him Fiji because he's adorned with expensive diamonds, like the tropical island nation.
Take food off my plate, don't make that mistake
Gucci Mane warns against stealing from him, even in a metaphorical sense.
Conquer the hate 'cause I'm rulin' they fate
Gucci Mane has power over his enemies and those who dislike him.
Wop one of the greats, I'm known for the flake
Gucci Mane is a respected figure in the rap industry and is known for his drug of choice, cocaine.
The wedding cake, I flew it in from L.A
Gucci Mane had a large amount of high-quality marijuana imported from Los Angeles.
All in the D, balling like Blake
Gucci Mane is having fun and enjoying himself in Detroit, similar to how basketball player Blake Griffin plays with enthusiasm and creativity.
Or Blake with the Clippers like back in the day
Gucci Mane references Blake Griffin's past tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.
Scarface with the flake, watching the gate
Gucci Mane alludes to the famous drug dealer Scarface, who dealt cocaine in the 1980s.
The money is callin', I cannot be late, yeah
Money is so important to Gucci Mane that he can't waste any time when an opportunity arises to make more.
Money keep on callin' me, callin' me (Money)
The chorus repeats the theme of money being a constant focus in Gucci Mane's life.
Feel like money keep following me, yeah (Money)
Gucci Mane feels that money is always on his mind, even when he's trying to focus on other things.
Money keep on callin' me (What?)
Gucci Mane repeats the chorus to reinforce the importance of money in his life.
Money keep on callin' me (Yeah)
Money is a constant presence in Gucci Mane's professional and personal life.
Money keep on callin' me (Yes)
Gucci Mane can't escape the importance of money, but he's not complaining about it either.
I feel like it following, yeah
Gucci Mane feels like he's being trailed by money everywhere he goes.
Money keep on callin' me (Callin' me)
The chorus emphasizes how integral money is to Gucci Mane's identity and lifestyle.
Money keep on callin' me (Heyo)
The chorus is repeated again with a slight variation.
I feel like it following, following (It's Guc')
Gucci Mane concludes the song by repeating the idea that money is constantly on his mind and part of his persona.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Courtland Johnson, Radric Delantic Davis
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@mzday9976
I been looking for this song forever..Happy I found it :-)
@TheSupreme667
This song made my middle school it took me 4 years to find it again and I still listen to it all the time, thank you underdog this is a banger
@relixtheundergod
Cain K you’re very welcome my guy. Make sure you follow me on IG and listen to all the new stuff @relix_the_undergod
@playbyplaywithzay1103
I remember before I was in 12th grade i selling my lil weed this was my ringtone lol i went to college stopped selling weed and im still good
@toneyrobinson4974
dj relix cold with the beats
@toneyrobinson4974
that beat and the chorus lit
@MrEddieBTV
I love the beat man!
@StrehDawg
Sounds real Dope nice job.
@R2TheArTisT
dam dis junt hard az hell
@Bangthebeatmaker305
Still bangin in 2015