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.”
is you rollin?
Gucci Mane Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Is in the buildin
Swatta intertain
Is you rollin
Is you rolin
Is you rollin
Bitch i might be
Bitch i might be
Gurl he geeked up
Gurl he geeked up
Gurl he geeked up
Bitch i might be
Bitch i might be
Bitch i might be
Yyyeaaaaaaa
That where i come 4rm
The song "What You Doin" by Gucci Mane featuring Migos is about the lifestyle of a successful rap star, with lines detailing various aspects of their lives from their need for weed to their taste in fashion. The song opens with the singer, possibly Gucci Mane himself, expressing his infatuation with certain things such as weed and Lamborghinis. He mentions his love for fashion and how it makes him wear clothes embedded with Gs all over his body. He also talks about his life as a drug dealer, dealing with kilos and Ps.
In the first verse, the singer is in Miami and is unmarried but looking for a girl. He is not impressed with a woman's class and taste, rather he needs someone who is freaky. He drinks rose out of a bottle instead of a glass and takes his girl to the Gucci shop for shopping. He insists that everything he does for his girl is nothing special.
The chorus repeats the line “You know what it is, girl,” which suggests that the listener should already know about the singer's lavish lifestyle. The second verse references the singer's wealth, including his $40,000 pilot and his $200,000 car. This verse also talks about escorting a woman with a bowtie and chauffeur. The verse flows into the third verse, where Young Joc takes over, telling about his attraction to a woman and his desire to take pictures with her first. The chorus repeats at the end.
Overall, the song is designed to celebrate the lavish lifestyles of successful men in the rap industry, with references to conspicuous consumption and success at every turn.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm Infatuated Intrigued
I am enamored and captivated.
In Need Of Weed, My Need For Speed Got My Buying Lamborghinis
I need marijuana and my love for fast cars has me buying Lamborghinis.
My Taste In Fashion Got My Body Covered In G's My Tatse In Trappin Got Me Sellin Kilos And P's
My love for designer fashion has me donning Gucci logos and my experience in drug dealing has me selling kilos and pounds.
I'm In Miami With A Wife Beater Feeling The Breeze
I'm in Miami wearing a tank top and enjoying the fresh air.
A Wife Beater But I'm Unmarried Lookin For Skees
I'm wearing a tank top, but I'm not married and looking for women.
You Say You Classy And Saddity, I Say Bitch You A Tease
You claim to be sophisticated and high-class, but I think you're just leading me on.
And ain't No Teasing Gucci Mane I Need A Girl that's Freaky
I don't tolerate being teased, and I need a girl who is sexually adventurous.
I Drink My Rose Out The Bottle ain't No Glasses For Me I Give My Girl A Glass Of Champagne She Say Thank You Gucci I Take Her To The Gucci Shop And She Say Thank You Daddy I Tell Her Baby Girl You Welcome But Its Really Nuthin (yeaaa)
I drink my rosé straight from the bottle, and I give my girl champagne in a glass. When I take her shopping at Gucci, she thanks me and I brush it off as nothing.
I Think She Want Me And I'm Feeling The Same Way. So Shawty Bring Your A Game When You See A Player Rolling Money can't Be Folded I'm Pretty Sure You Know What It Is Gurl You Know What It Is Girl You Know What It Is Girl (thats my girl that's my world and you know and you know) You Know What It Is Girl
I think she desires me, and I reciprocate those feelings. So when you encounter a guy like me with money, bring your best effort. You know what the deal is, girl.
You Know I Know I'm Your Uno
You know I'm your number one.
You Think I'm The Shit Girl
You regard me as the coolest guy around.
40 Thousand Dollar Pilot, First Class Flight To Pittsburg
I paid $40,000 for a private jet, and I flew first class to Pittsburgh.
The Way I Direct Shit Man They Think That I'm Steven Spielberg
The way I manage things makes people think I'm like Steven Spielberg.
200 Thousand Dollar Car So You Know What It Is Girl
I bought a $200,000 car, so you know what it is.
Put A Bowtie On A Bentley Ranger And Chauffeur
I put a bowtie on my Bentley and hired a professional driver.
The Best Time OF Her Life She Ever Had I Had To Show Her
I showed my girl the best time she's ever had.
Wanna Got Down To The Throw Down
I want to party and have fun.
But I Am No Golfer
But I'm not interested in golfing.
??? But I Am Not A Doctor
Unclear meaning.
Candy Coated Birth 2 Inches Off The Ground
My car is candy-coated and sits low to the ground.
Let Your Girl Sing A Song (Lemme Lick You Up And Down)
I let my girl sing a song, then we engage in sexual activities.
The First Time I Seen It I Was Leaning Off The Lean Diamonds Gleaming Start To Thinking (Lil Mama You Got Me Fiending)
The first time I saw her, I was under the influence of codeine. Her diamond jewelry made me crave her even more.
Her Pinky Ring Is Looking Like A Bedrock
Her pinky ring is large, similar to a boulder.
Said She Wanna Take Some Pictures First Lets Take Some Head Shots And Now She Got Her Legs Cocked
She wanted to take pictures, and now she has her legs open and ready for sex.
I'm Beating Up The Juice Box (Mo Mo Money Make Me Cum)
I am having sex with her, and the more money I have, the more I enjoy it.
Well Joc Gon' Make You Cum Non-Stop
I'm going to make her orgasm numerous times.
I Wanna Fuck Her With The Lights On All Night Long
I want to have sex with her with the lights on all night long.
To One Of My Songs
To the beat of one of my songs.
Let Her Keep My Ice On
She can wear my diamond jewelry.
Knock It Up Like Tyson
Have sex like boxer Mike Tyson hits people.
Hit Her With This Eye Thong
I hit her with my seductive gaze.
Clap On Clap Off Get Ya On My I Phone.
I'll turn you on and off like a light switch, through my iPhone.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
FrOsTyBeArKiD
I love how this video has more views than the official music video...and it rightly deserves so.
Dislikes GglePlus
words to live by: "YOU A LIE BUT I AIN GONE GET UPSET RIGHT NOW" -- Gucci Mane, 2009
Knikkaknikk86
Song was out in 2007
garrisongoto
The only time I've ever liked Gucci was when I was rolling my face off to this song, good shit
Mike Candela
Lol I remember trying to find a song about rolling back in the day and this came up. Ecxtacy was so much fun. Can't even find that shit anymore it's all molly which is dying down as well. Everyone just takes acid now lol
Shae Shae
Wtf. I ain't know EVERYBODY was on it like that. Dang.
D Carter
This song stay rockin the club!!!
Kyle Mahar
This song is still heat🔥🔥
Rolynn Manders
i love it when girls come up to me and ask iz you rollin. hahahaha cuz my names ROLYNN
Novella Love
Love this song!