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.”
Parked Outside
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Imma run out frunt to see me when you walked out
Im in the candy old school witht the music up loud
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Jusz wait until you see what i got parked outside
The hummers on 8s just to make your bitch thirsty
Outside now is a cutlas on buttons
It got so much pound you girl eardrums busty
A shool boy chevy and the rims are off mustard
A 66 muzzle got it smellin down cuesta
The lam hit morlen plaza need a ?? bubble
Ridin tinted window cusz my fan base doubled
I dropped the top in the summer bitches in trouble
Before the door slam my 74 burt rubber
Nex lght i seen the chick candy red rover
Pulled up let the window down pull over
(chorus)
See the whips so big i feel im bout to fall bown
I gotta quarter pound of kush im bout to blow the house down
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Now the outsides candy but the insides oustrich
You homeboys hate it but his girlfriends jockin
Red light red stopsign dont stop it
Quarter back dub stopit keep goin
A/c blowin feelin like its snowin
Now where im goin even im not knowin
But yo girlfriend is damn sho nosey
She lookin in my car so i left the door open
Im gettin chosen
Baby girl throat me
1 mile later got baby girl chokin
Whips skinny tiers got me slidin like lotion
Im so high still im so focused
I seen a red bone in a earth-toned lotus
I said im gucci mane la flare she said already knowin
I seen a red bone in a earth-toned lotus
I said im gucci mane la flare she said already knowin
(chorus)
See the whips so big i feel im bout to fall bown
I gotta quarter pound of kush im bout to blow the house down
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
GUCCI
In Gucci Mane's song Parked Outside, the rapper is expressing his love for his expensive cars, and he is not shy about showing it. In the chorus, he invites someone to come out and see what he has parked outside, suggesting that the cars are so impressive that they are worth showing off to others. The rest of the song is full of references to his different cars, from his candy old school with the music up loud, to his vet on 'shanties and dunk on crutches. He also makes a reference to his 66 muzzle which is smelling down cuesta. Gucci Mane seems very proud of his collection of cars, as he describes the different makes and models in detail, even mentioning the rims on his Shool Boy Chevy.
The second verse of the song intensifies with Gucci Mane talking about the inside of the car, particularly the ostrich leather he has. He also mentions that his friends may not approve of his cars, but their girlfriends can't help but be impressed by them. The rapper switches between talking about the cars and his personal life, referencing his love for kush and his excitement for the future, even if he doesn't know where he's going. He also implies that women cannot resist him, as evidenced by the red bone in the earth-tone lotus who seems to recognize him.
Overall, the song is a celebration of Gucci Mane's wealth and success, as he flaunts his cars and money. It serves as a metaphor for his own success, with the cars symbolizing his rise to fame and fortune.
Line by Line Meaning
Imma run out frunt to see me when you walked out
I will go outside to see you when you leave
Im in the candy old school witht the music up loud
I am in a flashy vintage car with loud music playing
Baby wait until you see what i got parked outside
Hold on and wait till you lay your eyes on what I have outside
Now my vet is on 'shanties and my dunk is on crutches
My Corvette is on big wheels and my Chevy is on hydraulics
The hummers on 8s just to make your bitch thirsty
My Hummer has 28 inch rims to attract attention
Outside now is a cutlas on buttons
There is a Cutlass with custom buttons outside
It got so much pound you girl eardrums busty
The sound system is so loud that it will make your girlfriend's ears throb
A shool boy chevy and the rims are off mustard
I have a classic Chevrolet and the rims are mustard-colored
A 66 muzzle got it smellin down cuesta
I have a 1966 Mustang that smells like good weed
The lam hit morlen plaza need a ?? bubble
I drove my Lamborghini to Morlen Plaza and everyone noticed
Ridin tinted window cusz my fan base doubled
I drive with tinted windows because it leads to more fans
I dropped the top in the summer bitches in trouble
In the summertime, I drive with the top down and it attracts attention
Before the door slam my 74 burt rubber
My 1974 Buick slammed and left tire marks before the door closed
Nex lght i seen the chick candy red rover
At the next traffic light, I saw a woman in a candy red Range Rover
Pulled up let the window down pull over
I pulled up next to her and rolled down the window, she pulled over
See the whips so big i feel im bout to fall bown
I feel like I might fall down because my cars are so big
I gotta quarter pound of kush im bout to blow the house down
I have a large amount of marijuana and I am going to smoke it all
Now the outsides candy but the insides oustrich
The exterior of the car is flashy while the interior is luxurious
You homeboys hate it but his girlfriends jockin
My friends don't like my car but their girlfriends do
Red light red stopsign dont stop it
I don't stop even at red lights and stop signs
Quarter back dub stopit keep goin
I have a $25,000 bundle of cash with me and I am not stopping
A/c blowin feelin like its snowin
The air conditioning is so strong it feels like snow is falling
Now where im goin even im not knowin
I don't even know where I am going
But yo girlfriend is damn sho nosey
Your girlfriend is very curious about my car
She lookin in my car so i left the door open
She was looking at my car so I left the door open for her
Im gettin chosen
Women are choosing me because of my car
Baby girl throat me
A girl performed oral sex on me
1 mile later got baby girl chokin
After driving for a mile, the girl choked on my smoke from smoking weed
Whips skinny tiers got me slidin like lotion
The skinny tires caused me to slide like lotion
Im so high still im so focused
I am high on drugs but I can still drive well
I seen a red bone in a earth-toned lotus
I saw a light-skinned woman in a brown Lotus car
I said im gucci mane la flare she said already knowin
I introduced myself as Gucci Mane and she already knew who I am
Contributed by Madison N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.