Gucci Mane is an American rapper and record producer. He helped start the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside other Atlanta-based artists T.I. and Young Jeezy, especially in the 2000s.



Gucci Mane is a New York Times best-selling author, publishing few books including his second book, "The gucci mane guide to greatness," a motivational book that gives readers an inside peek at his methods for achieving success, money, and personal growth.

He has worked with the Italian fashion label Gucci and revealed that he would be the face of their Gucci crews 2020 campaign.

But before the world knew him, before he released numerous hit songs, even before he bet Drake over the outcome of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 2019 for over six figures, Gucci Mane was like any other teen hustling their way to prosperity.

Few rappers have the kind of broad resume that my man Gucci Mane is packing, in terms of popularity and longevity. He has been dropping lines since 2001, when he released his debut underground album, straight drop records presents gucci mane leflare, and is now frequently cited as one of the creators of trap music.

Since then, he has released dozens of studio albums, singles, collaborations, and mixtapes.


Without further ado, let's take a look back at one of the most famous and infamous rappers ever from his early days. Despite all the arrests and crazy stunts, I think we can all agree that the new Gucci is a vast improvement over the previous model.


Radrick Delantic Davis, better known as Gucci Mane, was born on February 12th, 1980 in Bessemer, Alabama. He inherited the moniker Gucci Mane from his grandfather, James Dudley Senior, who after falling in love with the Gucci brand and serving in Italy during World War II, first earned the name for himself. Upon returning home, he left it to a nephew, who passed it on to others until it became the Gucci Mane that we all know and love today.

Gucci's father, Ralph Everett Dudley, worked in a power plant and had previously served in the United States military. His mother, Vickie Jean Davis, worked as a social worker and a teacher. The two of them first crossed paths in 1978, when Vicki already had a son named Victor Davis from a previous relationship.


Now, Ralph was on the run from the police when Vicky became pregnant with Gucci. He escaped Alabama for the rough streets of Detroit because he was wanted for dealing crack and heroin.

Ralph visited his son occasionally after Gucci was born for the rest of his childhood. Even in small doses, spending time with your father is generally a blessing, but for these two, things were a little more challenging. That's because Gucci would learn con artist skills from Ralph everytime he visited Gucci.

Years later, Gucci would start running into serious problems as a result of the same techniques. However, not everything was bad for a young Gucci.

Vicki took the time to teach Gucci about the bible and how to read from an early age, even though she was really busy, going to college to gain her degree and improve the financial circumstances of her family.

Now, these extra lessons offered Gucci an advantage in school when it came to topics like english and they proved to be priceless in the years to come. Now Gucci, he went to Jonesboro Elementary School, and at this time, his brother Victor introduced him to hip-hop for the first time.

He would go to gigs with Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J thanks to Victor, his older brother.

The family then packed up their belongings and relocated to Atlanta in 1989. This was because Vikki, after falling in love, she made the decision to relocate her family there. However, the guy later changed his mind, leaving Gucci and his family homeless.

Gucci's life was seriously unstable during this time as his family moved about in search of a new home. Ralph eventually returned to the scene and assisted in establishing where his old family would reside until Vicky could afford to move them to the east end of Atlanta.

After settling down, Gucci continued to do well in school, even though his life was unstable. He attended Cedar Grove Elementary School. Gucci was distinct at school thanks to his accent from Alabama.

Even though he was a physically active child, Gucci never participated in school athletics since, by the time he was a teenager, he and his brother were already hard at work hustling on the streets, continuing Ralph's legacy.


He told NPR that he was obsessed with money growing up because he had seen so many people without it and that he frequently went to bed hungry. He and his elder brother spent time selling drugs on the streets for pocket money.

He had firsthand experience with what it was like to be poor, to have your lights turned off or to need to boil water for a bath, and that experience never left him.

Although initially it was just marijuana, by the time he was in the eighth grade, he was investing his Christmas money in more lucrative goods—we're talking crack.

Gucci had begun honing his rapping abilities by the time he was 14 years old, but he didn't take it seriously. After working the streets for years, his participation with narcotics would intensify, and when he was 18 years old, he was arrested.

Gucci took to rapping like a natural because of his background in reading, writing, and poetry. Add to that his unmatched studio efficiency and work ethic, and he was successful right away.

After dropping the La Flare album in 2001, he met producer Zetoven in 2002, at which point he established La Flare Entertainment. He now has a distribution agreement with Tommyboy Records, and in 2005 he released his first studio album, "trap house."

The album now included Young Jeezy's smash hit "I see." Now, there was a misunderstanding between the two regarding the song's release, and Jeezy claimed he never received any royalties from the song.

Days after Gucci dropped it, Jeezy released "stay strapped," a song from his own cult in which he offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of Gucci Mane.


On May 10, 2005, a group of four men decided to accept Jeezy's offer. Gucci was attacked at his home in decatur, Georgia. He then fought back, and with the help of his men, they murdered one of the assailants by shooting him.

They then made the decision to bury the man's remains close to Columbia Middle School for an unknown purpose. Gucci eventually made the right decision and turned himself in to the police to explain what had happened. When he was questioned about the incident while in prison, he said that he just wanted to make sure that everyone knew he wasn't a murderer and that, although he was upset, he was also a little scared and felt regret for everything that had happened.


While he was still being investigated by the d.a, Gucci got into more legal trouble in June of that year after assaulting a nightclub promoter.

He entered a no guilty plea to the assault counts in October, earning him a six-month county jail sentence. The d.a's office abandoned the murder charge while he was in jail after determining there wasn't enough evidence to pursue it.


Gucci's profession kept him busy after being released from prison, releasing new tracks frequently. In fact, he was so busy that he neglected to schedule any time for the community service hours he was required to perform in response to the assault allegation.

He had only completed 25 of the 600 hours he had been asked to complete when he was arrested in September 2008 for probation violation; as a result, he was sentenced to six months in prison.

He launched a new label called "1017 brick squad recordings" in 2009, and in December of that same year, he released the song "state versus rick davis." It was gold-certified and peaked at the top of the US rap billboard charts.

While Gucci was still enjoying success as an artist in 2010, his legal issues kept coming up. He was detained on traffic-related accusations including driving on the wrong side of the road, running a red signal, causing damage to government property, obstructing traffic, and many more.

In 2011, when his attorney submitted a special plea of mental incompetency, he was being transported by the courts to a mental hospital.

Later that year, he would be detained again for assault with a deadly weapon and violence. Radrick Davis' three and a half years of probation for an assault offense were revoked by Fulton County Superior Court Judge John Goger by one year. Gucci Mane therefore had to spend that year in jail.

In 2013, there were more allegations of fan assaults, but it was what happened in September of that year that would land Gucci in jail for the longest time of his life. He was taken into custody at that time for marijuana possession, disorderly conduct, and carrying a concealed weapon.

He reportedly had two loaded firearms when they were discovered, and on May 13, 2014, he entered a plea of guilty to the charge that would have resulted in a two-year prison term. He was released on May 26, 2016, after having completed his sentence in Terre Haute, Indiana.


Fans were shocked to learn that Gucci had undergone a significant physical transformation, lost about 75 pounds, stopped using drugs, and had finally found time to unwind. Naturally, they made fun of Gucci on the internet because, well, it's the internet.

With his single "black beatles" reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a first for his entire career, his music was now more popular than ever.


He wed Keyshia Ka'Oir in October 2017; their wedding was broadcast on BET and they produced the wildly successful "Ten park" television series.

Since that time, Gucci has only been hustling his music. After seeing a post asking if anyone wants to see the old Gucci back, some of his fans are uneasy because he has been trouble-free for the past four years.

Now that I think he's doing okay, I may just be speaking for everyon when I say he should simply leave it alone and avoid lean.

Sincerely, a big congratulations to Gucci Mane. He is one of the OGs and did it in his own style and lane. He's also leading the life of his dreams.