Gucci Down
I wrote about "The Autobiography of Gucci Mane" for The New Yorker:
In 2010, the song “Gucci Time” leaked. Music bloggers panned it; Davis, in the book, mentions a review from Pitchfork that called the song “banal, a rehash of Jay-Z’s ‘On to the Next One’ with an unnecessarily shrill Justice sample.” Davis had begun working with producers outside his usual circle of Atlanta collaborators; he was trying to explore new sounds, he explains, but critics, he believes, thought he had sold out. Publicly, he was chill about it: “When someone says something bad, that’s your right,” he told Spin. But privately the response sent him reeling. He was relatively sober at the time, he says, but he proceeded to blow off his next album, fall off the wagon, and disappear to Miami with a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash to spend on drugs and women. “I was self-sabotaging,” he writes. In November, 2010, he was arrested for driving his Hummer on the wrong side of the road and sent to a mental-health facility. (The reckless driving charge, among others, was later dropped.) “More than anything I was tired,” he writes of the alienation he felt after his release. “Tired of running away from my reputation, tired of trying to convince people I wasn’t a bad person.”
This is when, and why, Gucci Mane got the image of a lightning-struck ice-cream cone tattooed on his face.
The book has lots of little scenes in it where clothing punctuates Gucci's formative moments. A few highlights from the sartorial biography of Gucci Mane:
On the origin of his rap name: "See, James Sr. had always fancied himself a dresser. He loved him some nice clothes and expensive leather shoes. He'd spent time in Italy during his years in the service, which is where he fell in love with the Gucci brand."
On his relationship with his maternal grandfather: "Growing up, I called Walter Sr. Daddy. He and I were close. Tall and slender my grandaddy appeared every bit the gentleman. He wore a suit and tie every day. On Saturdays one of my cousins would go to the cleaners on Fourth Avenue and pick up his freshly pressed clothes for the week. He'd grab him cigarettes too. This was back when kids could buy cigarettes. Camel Straights."
On his school days: "Like my brother, I was naturally athletic, but I never had his drive and ambition when it came to sports. It didn't interest me. I never wanted no letterman jacket. I envisioned myself as the guy at school with the nice car. The guy who dressed the best. The one with a bankroll in his pocket. As far as I can remember, I really just wanted to get me some money.
On his father's better days: "I swear you could feel it when Gucci came into some money. He'd stroll into the apartment and it would be like breath of fresh air came in. He was generous and would share the wealth, often bringing us little gold chains, watches, and rings. All kinds of different jewelry he'd tricked off somebody or won in a dice game."
On his mother discovering his drug dealing: "I remember when she first noticed I had come into some money. I came home one day with a seven-hundred-dollar leather 8-ball jacket. I told her I won some money in a tunk game with my father. That wasn't far fetched, because he did let me shoot dice and get in on the card games with his crew. Eventually my momma caught me red-handed, finding sacks of dope in my jeans pockets when she was doing the laundry."
On the start of his career in rap: "And so just like Meech with BMF Records, Doo Dirty became CEO of the Zone 6 Clique Music Group, pumping big money into promoting the group. We'd all go out and hit clubs and D had us in there looking like established artists. We now had Z6C chains, Z6C letterman jackets, and with D's financing we put together thirty thousand dollars to shoot a video for "Misery Loves Company," my first-ever music video. Look it up."
On his first local hit: "In the fall of 2003 a rap group from the Westside of Atlanta called Dem Franchize Boys released a song called 'White Tee.' This shit blew up. These didn't do too much after that, but at the time 'White Tee' was everywhere. I liked the song but it was tame and kid-friendly, so me and a couple of guys from Str8 Drop came up with 'Black Tee.' We put a sinister spin on it, rapping about robbing and selling drugs."
On meeting Cam'ron while in New York for label meetings: "To my surprise Cam pulled up to the W in a Toyota Camry. At least the shit was new. He'd just bought it for his mother was taking it out for a test drive. He wasn't decked out in some bright pink fur like I'd expected him to be either. He was dressed regular. Meanwhile I was wearing a North Carolina blue mink coat and my recently acquired forty-thousand-dollar 'So Icy' chain."
On turning himself in for a murder warrant: "I was wearing a T-shirt with a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on it. Above his image it read, 'I Have a Dream.'"
On how he and Young Jeezy differed: "But then here I was, creeping into what he thought was his limelight. I would understand those feelings if it weren't for the fact that we were coming from different angles. I wasn't talking about Lambos and Maybachs. I was rapping for the young boys on the corner with dirty T-shirts on."
On his productive time in rehab ahead of the BET Hip Hop Awards: "My last covert escape out of Talbott had been a trip to the airport, where I'd meet my jeweler. I had him design all this jewelry for me that I wanted to unveil at the award show. The canary diamonds Arm & Hammer baking soda box chain, the Atlanta Falcons helmet chain, the Atlanta Hawks jersey chain, the big Brick Squad circle chain, the square Brick Squad one, the iced-out whisk chain—we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry, and that was just the chains."
On his first date with Keyshia Ka'oir: "Keyshia and I went to dinner at the InterContinental Hotel in Buckhead. We were still wearing our all-white matching outfits from the '911 Emergency' shoot. We ordered the same thing, salmon with mashed potatoes. I took her hand as we left the restaurant. The whole situation was out of character for me. I knew she was special."
On the low point in a bender: "Outside the VMAs I was with Todd, Waka, Master P, and Joie Manda, the head of urban music at Warner Bros. Really I was alone in my own world. Dressed in black from head to toe, bloodshot eyes behind my sunglasses, I stood in silence, staring blankly into the distance."
On the inspiration for his ice cream cone face tattoo: "'Well, that's cool man, man' the shop owner told me. His name was Shane. 'But, uh, yeah, I can't really tell you what to put there. Honestly I just have no idea where to start.' I unzipped my orange hoodie to show him my ice cream cone chain. 'What about this?' I asked him. 'This is my thing.'"
On the incident report from the arrest at his nadir: "Mr [REDACTED] stated that his friend Gucci Mane was walking down the street and didn't take his medicine and that he was acting violent and that he was worried about him, and that he just wants some help for his friend. Mr. [REDACTED] pointed to the male wearing a white shirt and blue jeans and advised that he was the male he was calling about."
On losing weight on jail: "It wasn't that I wanted to walk out of jail all brolic. That look had never appealed to me. But I did care about my appearance and I'd always fancied myself a dresser. With the way my had stomach had gotten, for years I hand't been able to fit into a lot of the clothes I liked."
On preserving his chances at early release by deciding against dictating tweets about El Chapo's prison escape: "I logged out of CorrLinks and went back up to my cell so I could change into my exercise clothes. I had a workout class that was starting up shortly. I wanted to be ready for it."