“It’s been tough to be a Gucci fan. It’s been tough to be a Gucci friend, a Gucci sibling, a Gucci girlfriend or a Gucci partner. I done took people through a lot, man”- Gucci Mane.
In his first interview after being released from prison on May 26th, Gucci Mane, his girlfriend Keyshia Ka’ior, and his business partners discuss life for Gucci before and after prison. Gucci, who’s been in and out of jail at least 10 times since 2001, is now hungrier than ever to take back his place in hip-hop. While locked away, Gucci says he heard other Atlanta rappers jacking his swag, including Young Thug, The Migos, and Lil Yachty, adding “and I was flattered by it”.
Right after his release from prison, Gucci jumped in the studio, recording the first half of his album that he wrote in prison and the second half written just days after his release. His first single, “1st Dat Out Tha Feds” was recorded within an hour of coming home and released the next morning. His new album “Everybody Looking”, due out Friday, July 22nd, was recorded in its entirety in just 6 days.
The now focused and homebound, only leaves the house when it’s time to work. At the time of the interview, he’d only left his Georgia mansion three times: to perform at 2 Atlanta nightclubs and to shoot a music video. In his New York Times interview, Gucci discussed his 17 year drug addiction, being forced to rehab in prison, and his relationship with Keyshia Ka’oir. Catch the highlights below:
“Every single time that [his career] was about to break through is exactly when he went back to jail,” said Todd Moscowitz, a member of Gucci’s management team. “Each and every time.”
On First Time Being Sober Since He Was A Teenager:
“I felt like I couldn’t make music sober, I couldn’t enjoy my money sober. Why would I wanna go to a club and couldn’t smoke or drink? I felt like sex wouldn’t be good sober. I associated everything with being high”.
“In hindsight I see it for what it was: I was a drug addict. I was naïve to the fact that I was numb.” He had been smoking weed and drinking alcohol since he was a teenager, and drinking lean (or syrup, the prescription-strength cough syrup concoction) since he was 21; sometimes he added ecstasy or prescription pills.
“I can’t say I felt happy my last six, seven years in the music business. I was just numb. You told me that I was doing good or told me I was doing bad, you hated me or loved me, either which way I greeted with nonchalance. It was sincere nonchalance — like, I really didn’t care.”
On His Forced Sobriety In Prison:
First came withdrawal. “Death,” he said. “It feel like death. Your body just craving lean bad. Stomach tore up, can’t think straight. Just mad at the world. Temper so short, so violent, so aggressive. So just rude and toxic.”
After that, focus. In prison, Gucci stuck largely to routine, concentrating on prayer, working out and reading, especially the Bible and self-help books by Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra. He now flawlessly speaks the language of recovery and therapy.
“I’m my own therapist,” he said. “I been changed from before I even got out. People seeing now the effect of how I started thinking from maybe early 2014.” He used the prison’s music service to keep current, and also for inspiration; Kodak Black’s “No Flocking” was a workout favorite (and the Florida rapper was one of the first artists Gucci collaborated with after his release).
On Evading A Much Longer Prison Sentence:
“I knew that these people was trying to give me 20 years, 30 years. I dodged a life-shattering moment, damn near a career-ending injury. What’s the sense of having all this money, all these millions of dollars and you sitting in prison and you can’t enjoy it?”