Young Niggaz
Radric Davis[1] (born February 2, 1980),[2] better known by his stage
name Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He debuted in 2005 with Trap
House and followed with albums such as Hard to Kill in 2006, Trap-A-Thon
and Back to the Trap House in 2007. In 2009, his second studio album
The State vs. Radric Davis was released. Gucci Mane has released
many other mixtapes as well.
While serving a six-month jail term for assault in late 2005, Davis
was charged with murder, though the charges were later dropped due
to a lack of evidence. In 2009, he served a year-long prison term
for violating probation for his 2005 assault conviction.
Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and later moved with his
single mother to Atlanta. He enjoyed writing poetry as a child, and
began rapping at age 14.[1]
2005–2006: Trap House and Hard to Kill
In 2005, Davis released his independent debut album entitled Trap
House, which featured the successful single "Icy" with
Young Jeezy. Disputes over the rights to this single caused a rift
between the two artists. Hard to Kill followed in 2006. Hard To Kill
included the hit single "Freaky Gurl". The song peaked
at number 12 on the Hot Rap Tracks, number 19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop
Songs, and at number 62 on the Hot 100.
2007: Back to the Trap House
The official remix of Freaky Gurl featuring Ludacris and Lil Kim
was included on his 2007 commercial debut album Back to the Trap
House. Gucci Mane appeared on OJ da Juiceman's "Make Tha Trap
Say Aye" and began working on various mixtapes.[3] Gucci Mane
signed to Warner Bros. Records in May 2009.[4]
2009–2010: The State vs. Radric Davis
He appeared on remixes of the songs "Boom Boom Pow" by
Black Eyed Peas, "Obsessed" by Mariah Carey and "5
Star Chick" by Yo Gotti and made a guest appearance on Mario's "Break
Up" (he has made 17 guest appearances total in 2009). Gucci
Mane's second studio album The State vs. Radric Davis was released
under the label Warner Bros. Records on December 8, 2009. Its first
single, "Wasted" featuring Plies, was originally from Mane's
2009 mixtape Writing on the Wall. It peaked at number 36 on the Hot
100, number 3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and number 3 on the
Rap Songs making it Gucci Mane's most successful single to date.
The second single is "Spotlight" featuring Usher. The third
single is "Lemonade". The fourth single is "Bingo".
On October 2, 2009, Gucci Mane was listed at number 6 on MTV's annual
Hottest MC in the Game list.[5]
Gucci Mane performing on August 29, 2010.
2010–present: The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted
After being released from jail, Gucci Mane stated that he would
start or change the label name from So Icey Entertainment to 1017
Brick Squad Records. He also announced that his next album would
be titled The State vs. Radric Davis, The Appeal and would be released
in late 2010,[6] although the latest journalistic reports gave the
title as The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted, with a release date of
August 31.[7] Mane has since announced via Twitter that the album
has a release date of September 28, 2010.[8] The first single from
this release is titled "Gucci Time",[9] produced by Swizz
Beatz. It premiered on Gucci Mane's official MySpace page on August
6.[10] The single features Swizz Beatz and will be released to US
urban radio stations on August 24, 2010.[11][dated info]
Legal issues
In April 2001, Davis was arrested on cocaine charges and sentenced
to 90 days in county jail.[12]
On May 10, 2005, Davis was attacked by a group of men at a house
in Decatur, Georgia. Davis and his companions shot at the group,
killing one. The corpse of one of the attackers, Henry Lee Clark
III, was found later behind a nearby middle school. Davis turned
himself in to police investigators on May 19, 2005, and was subsequently
charged with murder. Davis claimed that the shots fired by him and
his party were in self-defense.[12] The DeKalb County district attorney's
office dropped the murder charge in January 2006 due to insufficient
evidence. The previous October, in an unrelated matter, Davis had
pleaded no contest to a charge of assault for assaulting a nightclub
promoter the previous June; at the time the murder charge was dropped,
he was serving a six-month prison sentence for this.[13] Davis was
released from jail in late January 2006.[1]
In September 2008, Gucci Mane was arrested for a probation violation
for completing only 25 out of 600 community service hours following
his 2005 arrest for assault. He was sentenced to a year in jail but
was released after six months.[14] He was incarcerated in the Fulton
County jail for probation violation[15] and released on May 12, 2010.[16]
On November 2, 2010, Gucci Mane was arrested for driving on the
wrong side of the road, running a red light or stop sign, damage
to government property, obstruction, no license, no proof of insurance
and other traffic charges. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.[17]
On January 4th 2011, A judge in the Superior Court of Georgia’s
Fulton County ordered rapper Gucci Mane to a psychiatric hospital,
according to court documents. The documents reveal that his lawyers
filed a Special Plea of Mental Incompetency on Dec. 27 arguing that
he is unable “to go forward and/or intelligently participate
in the probation revocation hearing.” the judge ordered yesterday
that Gucci be transported to an Atlanta hospital identified on its
website as “an 111-bed psychiatric and chemical dependency
treatment facility.” [18]
Discography
Main article: Gucci Mane discography
* Back to the Trap House (2007)
* The State vs. Radric Davis (2009)
* The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted (2010)[19]
* The State vs. Radric Davis 2: The Verdict (2011)