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.”
Poppin
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(OG Parker)
(Got it on smash)
(Hitmaka)
I might take your nigga shoppin', show you hoes what's poppin' (what's up, bitch?)
Pull up, Bentley, to the projects, tell that nigga, "Hop in" (hop in)
I make 'em trap all day and tell that nigga, "Bring the profits" (bring it, bae)
Bad bitches in his comments, I'm the trendin' topic (I am, bitch)
This lil' rocket in my pocket, don't make me go pop it, yeah
I make 'em trap all day and tell that nigga, "Bring the profits" (bring it, bae)
I ride his face, he love the taste, I make him eat it sloppy (he like it, yeah)
Bitch, I make him eat it sloppy, I might make him clean it up (yeah)
Make that nigga wanna top me, if he want me, eat it up (eat it up)
I don't like these bitches in my business, I don't sneak and fuck (yeah)
I might give that ho her problem, tell that bitch to keep it up, yeah, yeah
We top floor with my top off
Put it down on him, knock his socks off (uh)
Show you bitches how to pimp a nigga
He can't keep shit, he gotta drop it off (ayy)
Pretty bitch, he like to brag on me (brag)
Tryna put a new ass on me (ass)
I'm so damn expensive, uh
He know he gotta spend a bag on me (on God)
I like bitches more, I like bitches who can pass the score (ayy)
She want that Dior, I might make that ho get nasty for it
I be sellin' niggas dreams, he like, "bae, talk to me nice" (duh)
I'm so indecisive, but that nigga still gon' wanna wife it (uh-huh)
I might take your nigga shoppin', show you hoes what's poppin' (what's up, bitch?)
Pull up, Bentley, to the projects, tell that nigga, "Hop in" (hop in)
I make 'em trap all day and tell that nigga, "Bring the profits" (bring it, bae)
I ride his face, he love the taste, I make him eat it sloppy (yeah, yeah)
Bad bitches in his comments, I'm the trendin' topic (I am, bitch)
This lil' rocket in my pocket, don't make me go pop it, yeah
I make 'em trap all day and tell that nigga, "Bring the profits" (bring it, bae)
I ride his face, he love the taste, I make him eat it sloppy (he like it, yeah)
These niggas try to be like Gucci but they need to stop it (skrrt)
I get it off, put up the re-up, then fuck up the profit (yeah)
I'm in my B truck with my feet up, gettin' some sloppy toppy (ugh)
Pockets on Biggie and I love it when she call me papi (papi)
Just came from Cali', spent a hundred-thousand dollars shoppin' (well, damn)
It ain't no budget, ain't no option, if I want it, cop it (go)
She love it when I beat it up, she never tell me, "Stop it" (never)
I let her see too much too quick, I hope she keep it silent (huh)
I'm in the VIP, takin' a sip with my lil' pocket rocket (pop, pop)
I'm just a dope boy from the 6 but I'm tryna buy the rockets (wow)
I'm in the corner with QC, it's packed, it's body, body (bling)
I hope that nobody try Wop 'cause he gon' hurt somebody (Wop)
I might take your nigga shoppin', show you hoes what's poppin' (what's up, bitch?)
Pull up, Bentley, to the projects, tell that nigga, "Hop in" (hop in)
I make 'em trap all day and tell that nigga, "Bring the profits" (bring it, bae)
I ride his face, he love the taste, I make him eat it sloppy (yeah, yeah)
Bad bitches in his comments, I'm the trendin' topic (I am, bitch)
This lil' rocket in my pocket, don't make me go pop it, yeah
I make 'em trap all day and tell that nigga, "Bring the profits" (bring it, bae)
I ride his face, he love the taste, I make him eat it sloppy (he like it, yeah)
In Gucci Mane's song "Poppin," the rapper uses a collection of boastful lyrics proclaiming his wealth, fame, and power. The song touches upon topics such as drug use, explicit sexual conquests, and success at the music industry's top. He views all the goals he has achieved as the reason he is on top of the game. The chorus is simple, stating that when you are popping, every time you move, you have to move with a rocket. This phrase is symbolic of his success, and he wants everyone to know that everything he does now has to be of a certain caliber. He talks about how he doesn't need anyone's approval as he's the real big dog in the game.
While discussing his possessions, Gucci Mane mentions his wealth and how people should not try to take advantage of it. He sings about women who are attracted to him because of his riches and how he is impervious to their tricks. Gucci Mane also boasts of his power and dominance, noting that anyone who stands in his way is a dead man. He highlights his rise from poverty to riches and the fact that he is now living his best life as a wealthy artist who has broken records.
Overall, "Poppin" is a song that proclaims wealth, power, and success. Gucci Mane focuses on his rise to the top and how he has been able to maintain his position through hard work and perseverance. This song is a testament to his exceptional songwriting skills and his ability to create catchy hooks.
Line by Line Meaning
I might take your nigga shoppin', show you hoes what's poppin' (what's up, bitch?)
I have the power to take your man on a shopping spree and demonstrate my superior lifestyle to you, insignificant women
Pull up, Bentley, to the projects, tell that nigga, "Hop in" (hop in)
Arriving in a luxurious Bentley to the low-income housing area, I command your man to join me without hesitation
I make 'em trap all day and tell that nigga, "Bring the profits" (bring it, bae)
I motivate him to engage in criminal activities, demanding he brings me the money he earns
I ride his face, he love the taste, I make him eat it sloppy (yeah, yeah)
I engage in sexual acts with intensity and make him pleasure me enthusiastically
Bad bitches in his comments, I'm the trendin' topic (I am, bitch)
Other attractive women show interest in him on social media, but I remain the popular and talked-about one
This lil' rocket in my pocket, don't make me go pop it, yeah
I possess a small firearm that I am prepared to use, so do not provoke me
Bitch, I make him eat it sloppy, I might make him clean it up (yeah)
I have the ability to engage in sexual acts with intensity, making him take responsibility for the aftermath
Make that nigga wanna top me, if he want me, eat it up (eat it up)
I make him desire to pleasure me as a way of showing his interest and devotion
I don't like these bitches in my business, I don't sneak and fuck (yeah)
I do not appreciate other women involving themselves in my personal matters or engaging in secret relationships
I might give that ho her problem, tell that bitch to keep it up, yeah, yeah
I have the power to cause trouble for that woman, so I advise her to continue her actions and face the consequences
We top floor with my top off
We are on the highest level, and I am flaunting my luxury and success
Put it down on him, knock his socks off (uh)
I satisfy him sexually and leave him amazed by my skills
Show you bitches how to pimp a nigga
I am teaching you women how to exert control and domination over men
He can't keep shit, he gotta drop it off (ayy)
He is unable to retain possessions or money; he must deliver it to me
Pretty bitch, he like to brag on me (brag)
He finds me attractive and proudly boasts about me to others
Tryna put a new ass on me (ass)
He wants to enhance my physical appearance by undergoing a buttock augmentation surgery
I'm so damn expensive, uh
I possess a high value and expensive taste
He know he gotta spend a bag on me (on God)
He understands that he must invest a significant amount of money on me, including luxurious gifts
I like bitches more, I like bitches who can pass the score (ayy)
I prefer women who exceed expectations, surpassing a certain standard
She want that Dior, I might make that ho get nasty for it
She desires expensive designer clothing, and I may require her to behave provocatively to obtain it
I be sellin' niggas dreams, he like, "bae, talk to me nice" (duh)
I manipulate men, making them believe in unrealistic fantasies, and they are willing to treat me with respect and kindness
I'm so indecisive, but that nigga still gon' wanna wife it (uh-huh)
Although I have difficulty making decisions, he will still desire a committed relationship with me
These niggas try to be like Gucci but they need to stop it (skrrt)
Other men attempt to imitate my style and demeanor, but their efforts are futile and should be abandoned
I get it off, put up the re-up, then fuck up the profit (yeah)
I earn money from illegal activities, reinvest it, and subsequently squander the profits
I'm in my B truck with my feet up, gettin' some sloppy toppy (ugh)
I relax in my Bentley truck, while receiving enthusiastic oral sex
Pockets on Biggie and I love it when she call me papi (papi)
I have a significant amount of money in my pockets, and it pleases me when she addresses me as 'daddy'
Just came from Cali', spent a hundred-thousand dollars shoppin' (well, damn)
I recently returned from California, where I spent a substantial sum of one hundred thousand dollars on shopping
It ain't no budget, ain't no option, if I want it, cop it (go)
There are no financial limitations, no alternatives; if I desire something, I will acquire it immediately
She love it when I beat it up, she never tell me, "Stop it" (never)
She enjoys rough sexual encounters with me and never requests me to cease
I let her see too much too quick, I hope she keep it silent (huh)
I revealed personal and private information to her too soon, and now I hope she remains discreet about it
I'm in the VIP, takin' a sip with my lil' pocket rocket (pop, pop)
I am in the exclusive VIP section, enjoying a drink while carrying a small firearm for protection
I'm just a dope boy from the 6 but I'm tryna buy the rockets (wow)
I originated from a drug-infested neighborhood, but I aspire to own a basketball team like the Houston Rockets
I'm in the corner with QC, it's packed, it's body, body (bling)
I am at a crowded corner with Quality Control, a popular music label, and the atmosphere is energetic and filled with attractive individuals
I hope that nobody try Wop 'cause he gon' hurt somebody (Wop)
I advise against anyone attempting to provoke me because I am willing to cause harm or retaliate in self-defense
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Christian Ward, Derrick Ordogne, Dion Norman, Fletcher Redd, Jordan Houston, Joshua Parker, Lakeyah Robinson, Lerron Carson, Paul Beauregard, Radric Davis, Samuel Jimenez, Todd Shaw
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@2shayynyc331
Heavenly Father I pray you keep the person that’s reading this alive, safe, healthy and financially blessed . Amen 🙏🏽
@2shayynyc331
@Draconum Interfector no problem 💯☝🏽
@donj4396
Same to you
@2shayynyc331
@@donj4396 thank you 🙏🏽
@donj4396
@@2shayynyc331 all good
@terrancecarter1143
Amen same to you
@marinevet4131
Damn youngin rides the beat. Flow is crazy sounds like he doesn't even take a breath damn.
@blacksuperwoman7745
https://youtu.be/vlrLAMXMJQg
@mobties5357
🚀 https://youtu.be/Wl_xBYRO4G0 🚀
@denogambinotv800
He don’t 😂