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.”
Ok With me
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She said I'm ten times richer than her last man.
I get like 50 thousand dollars on the back in
But fuck that, shop with me you know I got them bags in.
I'm stupid, so I got my engine in the ass end
I'm in the back of my Rolls with a Mac 10,
My wrist spin like a motherfucker windmill.
I talk cash shit, I'm slicker than an oil spill.
Excuse me, I know you took that bitch to Cancun.
My Audemar say it's 9:50 ten 'till.
I suplex a brick and DDT a whole bail.
Hopefully, hopefully.
I'm running for mayor, come and vote for me.
Vote for me, smoke with me,
Front a couple bags, I'll let you work for me.
Sell dope for me, then blow for me,
Gucci Mane got work, yeah that's a quote for me
Cheap price, fuck with me.
Chickens, collard greens, I got them groceries.
I'm throwing money, nigga, like I'm Tom Brady,
Don't be surprised if Gucci fuck your old lady.
I rock Ferragamo nigga, you rock Old Navy,
I took your girlfriend to the spot and she went dumb crazy.
Might just hit the club with an 80 on me
Bitches standing in line, swear they're waiting on me.
So much ice on, I should have bought a winter coat,
Put them chickens on the table like it's dinner time,
You know Gucci Mane, the shit, that nigga been a fool.
Ten naked stripper bitches in my swimming pool,
Two topless Russian twins playing ping-pong
And they say my patience's short, but my money long.
Hopefully, hopefully.
I'm running for mayor, come and vote for me.
Vote for me, smoke with me,
Front a couple bags, I'll let you work for me.
Sell dope for me, then blow for me,
Gucci Mane got work, yeah that's a quote for me.
Cheap price, fuck with me.
Chickens, collard greens, I got them groceries.
In the first verse of Gucci Mane's song "Fuck With Me," he meets a woman named Jasmine who tells him she's had wealthier partners in the past, but Gucci boasts about his money and offers to shop with her. He then brags about his sports car and the firearm he keeps in it, as well as his expensive watch. He also insults the listener's girlfriend, saying that she performs oral sex like a vacuum and that the listener probably took her on a vacation to Cancun. Gucci Mane concludes the verse by saying that he can physically overpower his enemies with wrestling moves and sells drugs, offering work to anyone interested.
In the second verse, Gucci raps about throwing money around and having sex with other people's partners. He mocks his listener's fashion sense, saying that while he wears expensive designer clothes, the listener wears clothes from Old Navy. Gucci boasts about his popularity with women, saying that they wait in line to be with him. He also talks about his expensive jewelry and brags about having topless Russian twins playing ping-pong at his house. He repeats the chorus from the first verse, offering to sell drugs and groceries and asking for votes in a fictitious mayoral campaign.
Overall, the song seems to be focused on Gucci Mane's wealth and power, with a mix of braggadocio and insults towards anyone who would dare oppose him or question his status. While some of the lyrics may be seen as offensive or problematic, they reflect a larger cultural trend in rap music towards materialism and over-the-top displays of wealth.
Line by Line Meaning
I met this pretty yellow bitch, her name was Jasmine,
I encountered an attractive woman named Jasmine who claims I am significantly wealthier than her previous partner.
She said I'm ten times richer than her last man.
Jasmine informed me that I possess ten times the wealth of her former partner.
I get like 50 thousand dollars on the back in
I receive approximately $50,000 in profit from my illegal activities.
But fuck that, shop with me you know I got them bags in.
However, that is not important, you should do business with me because I have a stock of luxury items.
I'm stupid, so I got my engine in the ass end
I am reckless and careless, which is why I have installed my car's engine in the rear.
I'm in the back of my Rolls with a Mac 10,
I am seated in the rear of my Rolls Royce vehicle, armed with a Mach 10 machine gun.
My wrist spin like a motherfucker windmill.
My wrist rotates rapidly in a circular motion akin to the blades on a windmill.
I talk cash shit, I'm slicker than an oil spill.
I boast about my wealth and money-making activities and am more deceitful than an oil spill.
Your girlfriend suck dick like a vacuum,
Your romantic partner performs oral sex with enthusiasm and expertise.
Excuse me, I know you took that bitch to Cancun.
Please pardon me, but I am aware that you have taken that woman on vacation to Cancun.
My Audemar say it's 9:50 ten 'till.
My Audemars Piguet watch indicates that it is currently ten minutes until 9:50.
I suplex a brick and DDT a whole bail.
I violently throw bricks and engage in pro wrestling maneuvers on large quantities of illegal drugs.
Hopefully, hopefully.
I express a desire or wish that something will come to fruition.
I'm running for mayor, come and vote for me.
I am a candidate for the office of mayor and request your vote.
Vote for me, smoke with me,
If you vote for me, we can smoke together.
Front a couple bags, I'll let you work for me.
If you provide me with a few bags of illegal drugs, I will allow you to work for me.
Sell dope for me, then blow for me,
Sell illegal drugs on my behalf, then consume drugs with me.
Gucci Mane got work, yeah that's a quote for me
Gucci Mane has a supply of illegal drugs, and this statement can be attributed to me.
Cheap price, fuck with me.
I offer low prices for illegal drugs and encourage you to do business with me.
Chickens, collard greens, I got them groceries.
I possess a stock of chicken and collard greens, which are staples in Southern cuisine.
I'm throwing money, nigga, like I'm Tom Brady,
I am tossing large amounts of cash around, similar to how American football player Tom Brady throws a ball.
Don't be surprised if Gucci fuck your old lady.
Do not be shocked if I engage in sexual relations with your romantic partner.
I rock Ferragamo nigga, you rock Old Navy,
I wear high-end designer clothes from Salvatore Ferragamo, whereas you wear inexpensive clothing from Old Navy.
I took your girlfriend to the spot and she went dumb crazy.
I brought your romantic partner to a location, and she became wildly excited and enthusiastic.
Might just hit the club with an 80 on me
I may go to a nightclub with an AK-47 assault rifle in my possession.
Bitches standing in line, swear they're waiting on me.
Women are lined up, eagerly waiting for me to arrive.
So much ice on, I should have bought a winter coat,
I am wearing so much jewelry that I should have also invested in a heavy coat appropriate for cold weather.
Put them chickens on the table like it's dinner time,
I display my supply of illegal drugs on a table, as if they were a meal being served.
You know Gucci Mane, the shit, that nigga been a fool.
You are familiar with Gucci Mane, who is impressive and foolish in equal measure.
Ten naked stripper bitches in my swimming pool,
There are ten nude female exotic dancers currently in my swimming pool.
Two topless Russian twins playing ping-pong
Two women from Russia who are not wearing shirts are playing table tennis.
And they say my patience's short, but my money long.
Some people claim that I lack endurance, but I have a significant sum of money.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Radric Davis
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jhard4508
HOLIDAY SEASON!!!
@angelaguirre9453
OKAY WIDD ME. classic Trap
@2shortfresh
Ok with me in 2023
@user-ul1hp8vp7y
No one asked u if you was or wasn’t ok
@cptavin
still ok with me in 2024
@polyteclegendgoldentiger1225
Bring dAt shi t back
@brandonjohnson5205
Wasnt there a video for this song?
@JToDoap
Hell yea bro I remember it was chains and gucci in a strip club im pretty sure
@Chief5ifty2woHundred
lol I know I wasn’t the only one trippen…that shit on WORLDSTAR if I’m not mistaking
@elissamcgee8092
My homie went out in a white suite red tie and hanker chief RIP Avery jones