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.”
Pretty Bitches
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
She caught up in my love triangle,
I used to sell them things in triangle
And that was when I was in the eighth grade
Now I'm self made, and I'm high paid
Nigga you ain't even in my tax bracket
I'm pulling Gucci denim off the clothes racket
Gucci man, its the Gucci crew
Bricksquad Records, nigga who are you?
What it do nigga whats poppin'?
Find them dirty licks, all my weed droppin'
We back again, yeah we back again, and we gotta win
She wanna be my friend.
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I pull up in that black and red challenger
A competition where the challengers
I pull up in that 'rrari with the other one
And thinking about going and gettin' another one
Gucci Man I run the land from Africa to Pakistan
Understand and over stand Gucci man in overland
What a fine ass yellow bone
She got it going on
Now I got so many chains no they don't know whats going on
Found her number in my phone and don't know what be going wrong
Found her number in my phone and don't know what be going wrong
She had it going on
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
A-T-L they know my name,
Magic City throw some change
Fliest nigga in this bitch
And I don't even own no chain
Take your chick with no complaints
She say my shit oh so great
And that's why be she feeling me
And I got that novacaine
Go for mine, that boss shit
Pour Ciroc 'til I'm nauseous
Stuck up when, she sober when
She going got no conscious,
She O-D's on Louis Vuitton
She work at that nudy bar
Told her, do it for the money
Get your Cam Newton on
Green we can all burn
'Til I am the highest man
Y'all a bunch of pussies
Why the fuck you near the lions den
Paper planes, pilotin'
Why you sell retiring
Way a nigga beatin' gals
You think I would ecyosin
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
The primary theme of Gucci Mane's "Pretty Bitches" is about the rapper's success and fame with the opposite sex. The phrase "these pretty bitches love me" is repeated throughout the song, echoing his popularity with women. He believes that his fame attracts women by being a "bottle popper," a man who can easily afford champagne to pop and enjoy the luxurious life. The lyrics suggest Gucci's belief that women are primarily attracted to wealthy men, as evidenced by the description of his expensive cars and numerous chains. He also mentions his drug-dealing past in the lyrics about a "love triangle," showcasing his past as part of his present appeal.
Gucci Mane also uses comparison to assert his superiority in the rap game, taking shots at his competitors with the line "Gucci man, it's the Gucci crew/Bricksquad Records, nigga who are you?" A sense of confidence and masculine dominance comes through in lines like "I run the land from Africa to Pakistan," and "Y'all a bunch of pussies/Why the f*** you near the lions den?" While the song's lyrics might not appeal to everyone, they demonstrate the rapper's bold self-assurance and charisma.
Line by Line Meaning
These pretty bitches love me, them bitches love me
These attractive women are attracted to me and enjoy my company.
I think them bitches love that I'm a bottle popper
I believe these women are drawn to me because I frequently pop champagne bottles in celebration of my success.
She caught up in my love triangle,
She is involved with me and two other individuals romantically.
I used to sell them things in triangle
In the past, I sold drugs to her and the other people in the love triangle.
And that was when I was in the eighth grade
My involvement in the drug trade began when I was in middle school.
Now I'm self made, and I'm high paid
I am now a successful, self-made individual who earns significant wealth.
Nigga you ain't even in my tax bracket
You are not even close to earning as much money as I do.
I'm pulling Gucci denim off the clothes racket
I am a fashion trendsetter and many people buy Gucci clothing because of me.
Gucci man, its the Gucci crew
I am Gucci Mane and my crew is closely associated with the Gucci fashion brand.
Bricksquad Records, nigga who are you?
My record label, Bricksquad Records, is well-known and successful. Who are you in comparison?
What it do nigga whats poppin'?
What is going on and what's new with you, my friend?
Find them dirty licks, all my weed droppin'
I am searching for opportunities to sell drugs and drop off packages of marijuana.
We back again, yeah we back again, and we gotta win
My crew and I have made a comeback and we need to succeed and win at all costs.
She wanna be my friend.
She is interested in being friends with me, potentially leading to a romantic relationship.
I pull up in that black and red challenger
I arrive in style, in my black and red Dodge Challenger.
A competition where the challengers
I enjoy a good competition, especially when it comes to cars.
I pull up in that 'rrari with the other one
I also have a Ferrari and may consider getting another one.
And thinking about going and gettin' another one
I am seriously considering purchasing another Ferrari.
Gucci Man I run the land from Africa to Pakistan
I have control and influence over a large area, stretching from Africa to Pakistan.
Understand and over stand Gucci man in overland
Gain a deep understanding of who I am and what I represent, both as a person and as a force in my territory.
What a fine ass yellow bone
What an attractive, light-skinned woman with a curvaceous figure.
She got it going on
She is very attractive and desirable.
Now I got so many chains no they don't know whats going on
I have so much jewelry that it is overwhelming and difficult to keep up with.
Found her number in my phone and don't know what be going wrong
I have this woman's phone number in my contacts, but things are not going well between us.
Green we can all burn
We can all make money together.
'Til I am the highest man
I aim to be the wealthiest, most powerful person in my territory.
Y'all a bunch of pussies
You are all weak and cowardly.
Why the fuck you near the lions den
Why are you putting yourself in a dangerous situation where you may be harmed?
Paper planes, pilotin'
I am flying high, wealthy and successful.
Why you sell retiring
Why would I ever retire when I am earning so much money and experiencing such great success?
Way a nigga beatin' gals
There is no way anyone can beat me, especially not women.
You think I would ecyosin
You must be crazy if you think I would back down or give up.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GHOLSON, CHRISTOPHER JAMES GHOLSON, OLUBOWALE VICTOR AKINTIMEHIN, RADRIC DAVIS, RADRIC DELANTIC DAVIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind