Before Gucci Mane helped to pioneer Trap Music, founded 1017 Records, and worked with artists
like Drake, Lil Wayne, Jeezy, TI, Kanye and Rae Sremmurd,
Before Gucci Mane dropped 72 mixtapes, 5 EPs, 3 compilation albums, 2 collaborations, 1
soundtrack, and 10 studio albums...and that's not including Mr. Davis, scheduled for release
on October 13th, 2017, with guest appearances from artists like Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown,
The Weeknd and the Migos
Before he had an ice cream cone tattooed on his face, and an iced out bart where his heart
used to be,
Before shocking his fans with his extreme weight loss, having shed a reported 75 pounds
in the lead up to his First Day Out Tha Feds
Before the weight loss lead to some pretty strange conspiracy theories
Gucci Mane is without question one of the most influential artists in all of hip hop.
He helped to create and popularize trap music, influenced a new generation of rappers, and
has recorded more work than almost any other emcee in the game.
But prior to becoming a rap legend, he was a poor child in Bessemer, Alabama, growing
up alongside his half brother.
Young Gucci Mane's mother tutored him on the Bible and taught him to read and write from
an early age.
Excelling in English, he fell in love with poetry, and even got a scholarship to pursue
it.
But that fell away after he was arrested for the first time on drug charges, marking the
beginning of two lifelong pursuits for Gucci Mane: rap and trouble with the law.
Hi fellas!
I'm Michael McCrudden, face-tattooing you with an ice cream cold Before They Were Famous
on Gucci Mane.
I've covered Gucci Mane in an After They Were Famous video in the past.
I also did a Before They Were Famous on him way back, but I figured its about time for
an update.
You guys let me know who you want me to document next in the comments down below.
Or you can always hit me up on Twitter or Instagram.
Alright.
Let's DO THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!
Radric Delantic Davis, was born on February 12th, 1980 in Bessemer, Alabama.
As a rapper, he would come to dawn the stage name Gucci Mane.
People often mistake the name as having something to do with the high end clothing company,
who had been stationed in Korea for two years.
His mother, Vicky Jean Davis, was a teacher and a social worker.
By the time Radric's parents had met in 1978, his mother had already had another son from
a former relationship, Radric's half-brother, Victor Davis.
Prior to Radric's birth, his father, Ralph, was wanted by police for selling crack and
heroin.
He fled the state, and was living in Detroit when Radric was born.
Ralph would visit his son now and then throughout young Radric's childhood.
But eventually, Ralph would start a new family in Atlanta, and his visits to Bessemer would
come to an end.
But Radric's paternal grandmother spent a lot of time with him, especially when his
mother was busy attending college to earn her degree.
Vicky taught Radric about the Bible, and how to read from an early age.
These extracurricular lessons gave him a huge advantage in school.
According to Gucci,
“Reading and writing, as long as I could remember, was a way to show off.
I wrote better than those my age because she was teaching me before I got to school.”
Radric attended Jonesboro Elementary, where his superior reading and writing abilities
His first introduction to hip hop came from his older brother, Victor.
Victor brought Radic to see Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J, in concert.
At the time, Radic was just six years old.
In 1989, Radric, Victor, and their mother moved to Atlanta, mostly to avoid family issues
that had cropped up in Bessemer.
Vicky had a boyfriend in Atlanta, who she was planning on moving in with.
But that guy had a last minute change of heart.
Instead, she moved her family in with someone she had met in church.
After a while, they were kicked out of that house, too.
After a period of serious instability, Radric's father set them up in a Knights Inn, where
they stayed until Vicky could afford to move her boys and herself into a home in East Atlanta.
There, Radric attended Ceder Grove Elementary School.
He was an athletic child, but never participated in after school sports.
Instead, he and his brother followed in his father's footsteps, selling drugs on the streets
for pocket money.
At first, he sold weed, but in the eighth grade, he decided to invest his Christmas
money into a more lucrative product, crack.
His involvement in drugs would come to a head when he was eighteen years old, with the first
of his many, many, many arrests.
He was booked on cocaine charges, and served 90 days in jail.
Like with reading, writing, and poetry, Gucci Mane excelled as a rapper.
Ask those around him, and it seems he had a winning combination of incredible efficiency
in the studio, and an unparalleled work ethic.
As sound engineer Kori Anders recalls,
“A producer would start playing a beat, and five seconds later he'd be like, 'Stop.
I'm ready to go in.'
Eight hours later, five songs completed.
That was a typical day for years with Gucci.”
Gucci Mane recorded La Flare with Str8 Dope Records in 2001.
Originally, just 1,000 copies were produced, and sold in and around Atlanta.
But nine years later, it would be re mastered and re released.
In 2002, he met up with producer Zaytoven for the first time, he connected to SYS Records
as a member of Sign Yourself Click, and he launched his own label, LaFlare entertainment.
He then met Big Cat, the head of Big Cat Records, and secured a distribution deal with Tommy
Boy Records.
He would eventually release his debut studio Album, Trap House, with both Big Cat and Tommy
Boy.
The album would feature his first single, Icy, featuring Young Jeezy, who was an up
and coming rapper himself at the time.
The song would help to launch both rappers into the spotlight, but would also create
a beef between them.
Gucci was angered by rumors that Jeezy planned on including the song on his debut album,
Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101.
It wasn't.
Jeezy claimed he never received the royalties he was due from the song, and just days after
its release, Jeezy dropped a song called Stay Strapped, in which he placed a ten thousand
dollar bounty on Gucci Mane's Icey chain.
Unfortunately, a group of four men decided to take Jeezy up on his offer.
On May 10th, 2005, Gucci Mane was attacked at a house in Decatur, Georgia.
Gucci was apparently pistol whipped before he and his crew shot at the attackers, killing
one.
The body of Pookie Loc was later found buried behind nearby Columbia Middle School.
Gucci Mane turned himself into the police on May 19th, 2005, and was charged with murder.
As the district attorney's office prepared their case against Gucci Mane, he released
Trap House, on May 24th, 2005.
The album hit number 5 on US indie charts, and number 10 on the US rap charts, with 127,000
copies sold, but you gotta imagine Gucci Mane was not in the mood to celebrate.
With murder charges still looming over his head, Gucci Mane got into more trouble with
the law in June, when he assaulted a nightclub promoter.
In October, he plead no contest to the assault charges, landing him six months in county
jail.
While locked up, the district attorney's office decided to drop the murder charges due to
insufficient evidence.
Gucci Mane was once again a free man in late January of 2006.
This time for good.
Just kidding.
On October 10th, 2006, Gucci Mane released Hard To Kill, which reached number 6 on the
US Rap chart, and included his biggest hit single at the time, Freay Gurl.
Trap-A-Thon and Back to the Trap House would drop in 2007, reaching number 69 and 57 (respectively)
on the Billboard 200.
Between 2006 and 2008, he also released 11 mixtapes and a compilation album (Hood Classics).
Despite his prolific production of music, he also found the time to father a son, whom
the public wouldn't be made aware of until the 2017 release of his autobiography.
Obviously, Gucci Mane was keeping busy.
So, it's no surprise that he failed to make time for the community service hours he had
been ordered to serve following his 2005 arrest for aggravated assault.
In September 2008, he was arrested for violation of probation, having completed just 25 of
the 600 hours he had to do.
He would then find himself back in jail, sentenced to a year in Fulton County Jail, but he was
out after serving 6 months.
By now, Gucci Mane was becoming a household name in the hip hop industry.
MTV ranked him at number six on their 2009 Hottest MCs in the Game list.
He also apparently started to get mobbed by fans, enough so that he had words for what
he called male groupies.
Murder Was the Case was released in 2009, peaking at number 3 on the US rap chart, and
23 on the Billboard 200.
Gucci Mane then decided to move on from So Icey Entertainment, and started his new label,
1017 Brick Squad Records.
He would release his next 6 studio albums with the label.
The State vs Radric Davis dropped in December of 2009.
It was certified gold, and reached number one on the US Rap chart, and number 10 on
the Billboard 200.
The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted followed the next year, peaking at number 4 on the
Billboard 200.
The Return of Mr. Zone Six would come in 2011.
But while his music kept coming, so did his legal issues.
In 2010, he was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road, running a red light,
damage to government property, obstruction, and a bunch of other traffic charges.
In 2011, he was ordered to a psychiatric hospital, after his lawyers filed a special plea of
mental incompetency to deal with the charges he was facing.
That same year, Gucci was arrested twice in April, once for battery, and later, on two
separate charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
In September 2011, he was given a six-month county jail sentence, and was released in
December.
More charges would follow in 2013, after Gucci Mane apparently hit a fan on the head with
a bottle, while the guy was talking to a security guard about getting a photo with the rapper.
Another fan claimed that when he was trying to shake Gucci's hand, the rapper responded
by punching him in the face.
Gucci Mane turned himself in for these charges, claimed he was innocent, posted 75,000 dollars
in bail, and the next day was arrested again for parole violation.
In September of the same year, he was arrested for possession of marijuana, disorderly conduct,
and carrying a concealed weapon.
According to the federal prosecutor, he was found to be in pocession of two different
loaded guns, and could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
On May 13th, 2014, Gucci Mane pled guilty to the firearm charges, after reaching a plea
deal, which would have him in prison until late 2016.
He served his sentence in Terra Haute, Indiana, and was released on May 26th, 2016, more than
three months ahead of his scheduled release date.
Upon his release, fans were shocked to see the new Gucci.
He lost a reported 75 pounds, got off the drugs, and seemed to start speaking a lot
more clearly.
As rumours swirled across the internet that Gucci Mane had been replaced by a clone of
himself, he released his highest-charting album yet, Everybody Looking.
And because this is Gucci Mane, one studio album was not enough for 2016, so he also
released The Return of East Atlanta Santa.
His next album, Mr. Davis is expected to be released on October 13th, 2017.
In the same month, he is also set to marry his fiance, Keyshia Ka'oir.
That's right, the couple is going to marry on 1017.
As for the rest of the story, well, we'll have to wait and see, because this is before
they were famous.
My name's Michael McCrudden, thanks for watching this video.
If you want to see a more in depth look at Gucci Mane's life after his initial rise to
fame, be sure to check out the Gucci Mane After They Were Famous video.
Also let me know who to do next and ill see you in another video!
BAZOOM!