Just as his hit “Icy” began to climb in video and song rotation, Gucci Mane’s life was put on pause. After a very well publicized attack, Gucci Mane was on trial for murder after admitting to shooting one of his attackers in self-defense. However, approaching a year after the madness began, Gucci Mane is now a free man. Less than a week out of jail, AllHipHop.com spoke to the Southern rapper on the issues at play in his absence. For instance, what’s he going do with Trap House, the album that he was unable to really promote? Will he be bringing these recent tribulations into his future work? What does he feel about Young Jeezy – a man who many felt that Gucci Mane’s issues benefited? These tough questions are met with concise, precise answers from a man whom skeptics presumed guilty by profession. One thing’s true, most rappers find their greatest inspiration in times like these. Read and listen to Gucci Mane…
AllHipHop.com: How are you feeling now that you are a free man?
Gucci Mane: I’m feeling real good right now.
AllHipHop.com: When the charges were dropped, like what did you think? Did you believe it when you first heard it?
Gucci Mane: Yes, I believed it. I believed it, because I was expecting that to happen. And I was very happy when it – happy when it happened, you know, the outcome of the case. My two attorneys, Manny Aurora and Ash Joshi did a wonderful job.
AllHipHop.com: Right, right. Rappers specifically, but black people in general seem to have it pretty hard legally. So you didn’t really think that it could go for the worse? You really kept your faith?
Gucci Mane: Yeah, I had to have faith. You know, the whole time I had to put my faith in Lord. I knew He was gonna get me out of this.
AllHipHop.com: Okay, good, good. So you got out on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, how does that feel? The irony is crazy…
Gucci Mane: [Click here to listen to Gucci Mane speak about Martin Luther King, Jr.] Yeah, it felt real good to get out on Dr. Kings’ holiday… I [had a] “I have – I have a dream shirt on.” I’m a big fan of Dr. King.
AllHipHop.com: Oh you went in with that on. Oh okay, okay. Did you know you were getting out on MLK Day or you just –
Gucci Mane: I didn’t know I was getting out on that day.
AllHipHop.com: Oh okay, so fate has a sense of humor. That’s what’s up. So how are you in general?
Gucci Mane: I’m really excited man, I’m real happy to be out, you know what I’m sayin’? Gettin’ another chance, fresh start. I’m gonna take advantage of this second chance I got.
AllHipHop.com: So you plan to start doing more community stuff, is that case?
Gucci Mane: [Click here to listen to Gucci Mane talk about helping kids] I feel like a lot of experiences that I done went through and hardships in my life, I use that to reach out to some people and, you know what I’m sayin’, tell them not to make the same mistakes that I made.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, any lessons learned, you know?
Gucci Mane: Numerous, numerous lessons.
AllHipHop.com: Well, like what for example?
Gucci Mane: Well, I guess I learned that you gotta be patient and you gotta always pray, always gotta get good with God first. You believe in Him and give it all to Him, things will work out.
AllHipHop.com: Now I gotta admit, I didn’t think you were gonna get out of this one. I thought it was gonna get kinda crazy for you. What was the lack of evidence based on?
Gucci Mane: I really can’t get into that right now.
AllHipHop.com: Okay, okay, understood. Where does your beef with Young Jeezy stand now?
Gucci Mane: Right now, I just got out of jail so, you know, I’m tryin’ to get back into the lab and make some new songs. I ain’t really put no – put no effort – put too much energy into that right now.
AllHipHop.com: Now are you gonna try to like push the old album, Trap House, or are you gonna start a new one?
Gucci Mane: I’m actually gotta second single on my – my first album called “Go ‘Head,” we fixin’ to shoot the video for that late January, we’re gonna still push the stuff off the album.
AllHipHop.com: Like how do you intend to work the angles now?
Gucci Mane: I plan on going on tour. We doing spot dates right now, you know what I’m sayin’? We gotta push this album, man, we gotta turn this album into a classic man. You know what I’m sayin’? [I had] one of the biggest of the album of the year independently that came out.
AllHipHop.com: In the midst of the whole murder situation so-to-speak, you had other situations and altercations or whatever. Do you feel that you’ll be able to stay outta trouble?
Gucci Mane: I plan to just, you know, keep positive people around me and just like my surroundings at all times. And I think it’s not gonna be hard at all to stay out of trouble.
AllHipHop.com: Have you reported in or anything like that already?
Gucci Mane: Yes, I already reported to probation already.
AllHipHop.com: Now your time in jail, how was that for you? Was it rough? Were you in like confinement or with general population?
Gucci Mane: I was in confinement, 23-hour lock-down isolation. It was tough on me, but I had to be strong.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah. What got you through that?
Gucci Mane: Prayer and my mother.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, yeah, I remember you had mentioned her before. Did people write you a lot?
Gucci Mane: Yeah, I got tons of fan mail. They kept me going. They kept me motivated. They let me know I’m still having fans and I had to come home and come back and give them some music so they’ll keep lovin’ me.
AllHipHop.com: Being locked down for like 23 hours a day, I mean, it just seems like it would like really – you could lose it so-to-speak. You know what I’m sayin?
Gucci Mane: Yeah, it was very hard. I ain’t gonna even lie to you. It was hard but, you know, I had – I had to be strong. You know what I’m sayin’? In a situation like that you have to lean on the Lord, let Him carry you.
AllHipHop.com: Did you encounter any animosity from people that may have hatred towards you or anything like that?
Gucci Mane: Yeah, there was some animosity, but it was mostly good, so you know, you gotta take the good with the bad.
AllHipHop.com: We had an article on the website and it was a snitching-related piece. You made it very clear that, you know, you were attacked without any provocation or whatever the case may be. How do you address the notion of snitching in the streets? This editorial that I’m talking about, the writer basically said, “Yo, I’m not gonna like go to jail for life based on something that something else did.” You know, how do you feel about that?
Gucci Mane: Best thing is to keep yourself out of the stupid situations so you – you won’t even get in no trouble where you have to tell nobody.
AllHipHop.com: Do you have any like required like say community service or anything like that?
Gucci Mane: Yes, I have community service I have to do.
AllHipHop.com: About how many hours?
Gucci Mane: 100.
AllHipHop.com: Oh yeah, do you like know what you’re be doing or anything like, you know, sometimes you’re picking up trash, you – other times you may be talking to kids.
Gucci Mane: Hopefully I’ll be talking to kids, because I’m trying to turn this whole situation to a positive and get to reach out to the youth as much as I can.
AllHipHop.com: Do you think will this effect your music in anyway or will just basically continue as you were? You know, like sometimes cats say they’ve made a change, but the music they rap about really doesn’t reflect that.
Gucci Mane: I’m gonna keep makin’ good music. I really don’t put a lot of my life stories into my music. I just make people have a good time with my music. But, you know, it might – it might spill in there, you never know.
AllHipHop.com: Anything else that you wanted to tell everybody about?
Gucci Mane: I’d like to leave y’all with my the motto for Big Cat Entertainment. It’s We Will Be Respected.
