The Tweets And Trials Of Gucci Mane
The cult rapper has a brief but, ahem, memorable cameo in Spring Breakers, but what else has he been doing lately?
After an impressive eight-year rap career featuring a long-standing beef with fellow Southern rapper Young Jeezy, a mixtape with Diplo and friends, some sweet collaborations with the likes of Busta Rhymes, Usher and Soulja Boy, a serious penchant for the colour yellow and other such metaphors, and an ambitious plan to drop ten albums in 2013, 33-year-old Gucci Mane has moved on from the domain of cult rap icon into that of pop culture stardom, all thanks to a cheeky sex scene in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers (which was released in cinemas nationally yesterday). In honour of the occasion, we thought we’d take a quick look at what else Gucci has been up to lately. Sadly, it mainly involves prison-time and a whole lotta tweeting…
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Jail, bail, and more jail
Hmm, interesting approach.
Allow us to begin by stating that we don’t think anyone’s actually ever taught Gucci how to respond appropriately to demonstrations of hero worship. In late March, the rapper was arrested for hitting a fan (and, uh, military solider) across the head with a bottle of champagne (let’s hope it was the cheap stuff), after he politely asked to take a picture with the rapper while cavorting in Atlanta’s infamous Harlem Nights nightclub. Two days later, Gucci was also accused of assaulting another man in Philadelphia for, weirdly, the exact same reason. Maybe he’s just really camera shy?
“I’m in the military. I wanted to get a picture with Gucci Mane, is it OK?”, the victim said at the time. “I was speaking to the security guard, and Gucci Mane hit me in the head with a bottle. And as I looked at him in the shock of why, one of his friends hit me in the side of my face.”
Following the March 26 arrest, Mane was locked up in the Fulton County Jail until April 12, when a judge granted him a $75,000 bail. LESS THAN 24 hours later, Mane was back in prison for probation violation. We guess he really missed hanging out with label mate Young Scooter, who was apparently his bunk buddy in the slammer. Naaaw, bromances fo’ lyfe!
Just last week, Mane was again released from jail. So far he’s been a free man for seven whole days, but, uh, the weekend’s a’comin’…
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The re-invention
In a perfect demonstration of how Twitter can cultivate an important and influential dialogue between artist and fan, Gucci Mane decided to change his rap name of eight years to “Guwop” on March 4. Unfortunately, public opinion came swiftly and unequivocally, and Gucci backtracked from his well-considered announcement almost immediately. In the end, the “Guwop” era lasted exactly 32 minutes.
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On the set of Spring Breakers
Gucci: The actor.
Turns out keeping track of bail, parole dates and hanging with Young Scooter really takes it out of a man. Well, that and smoking weed all day. In an interview with Vulture, director Harmony Korine revealed that a “basically catatonic” Gucci Mane fell asleep during the filming of the rapper’s Spring Breakers sex scene.
“So we’re shooting the sequence, and as he is getting fucked, I start to hear snores. He had literally passed out! And she was riding his dick the whole time. I’d never in my life filmed a sex scene where the dude was sleeping… and she was on top of him for a good 45 minutes.”
According to Korine, though, the story had a happy ending. “At the end, he woke up and was like, ‘I feel real nice. I feel like Mozart’s on my dick.’ And that was it, and he went back to sleep.”
That has to be the greatest Mozart metaphor of all time.
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Tweetin’ and re-tweetin’
On March 14, Mane tweeted that rapper (and one-time friend and protegee) Waka Flocka Flame would be dropped from the Brick Squad label for being a “disloyal lil ni**a” (that’s rapper talk for “creative differences”). Returning with similar jargon, Waka Flocka told Mane “2 SUCK A DICK” (in other words, “This break-up is mutual, ol’ chum.”). Shortly afterward, Mane’s representatives claimed the tweet was incorrect and the result of a hacked Twitter account, although the former associates’ relationship remains, erm, strained.
Once again taking to twitter with Brick Squad updates, Gucci Mane just yesterday tweeted that equally beloved rapper Chief Keef would be the latest addition to join the label. He also tweeted that his next proper studio album, Trap House III, has unexpectedly had its release date pushed forward a couple of months, and will now be dropping on May 21.
Ah, it’s good to hear that he’s keeping busy with non prison-y type things. That’s nice. Or, as Gucci himself would say, “burrrrrrrrrr!”
