Gucci Mane Explains How He Rebuilt His Life And Created A “Walmart” Of Record Labels

Five years ago, Gucci Mane, whose real is Radric Davis, was released from federal prison, this time walking out as a new man.

Gucci served a three-year sentence for firearms possession, and during that stint, he chose to turn over a new leaf. He shed 90 pounds with the help of his twice-a-day workout routines and broke his lean addiction while incarcerated.

“I remember that day so well,” says his now-wife Keyshia Ka’oir today. She had flown in from Georgia alone, rented a car and drove through winding, tree-lined roads on her way to bring Gucci back home a few months ahead of his original release date. “We didn’t tell anyone — his attorneys, no one.”

When Gucci came home, his new appearance was a hot topic. He switched out of his white t-shirts and into a more sophisticated style of fashion. “He was so skinny,” says Ka’oir, “his pants were falling off of him when he came out.”

But even better was the change to his mind; he had undergone a deep mental transformation as well.

While he was in prison, he wrote The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, which was published in 2017. The book also detailed a five-year plan that would pave his status as one of the music industry’s most prolific rapper-executives, Billboard reported.

“When I went to prison, I knew that I was special. I knew I was unique, and I knew I had something to offer that a lot of people didn’t,” says Gucci today. “When I got out I said, ‘I’m going to show everybody.’”

During Gucci’s photoshoot for the Billboard Interview, his manager and friend, Todd Moscowitz, of Alamo Records CEO, recalled the time Gucci creative-directed 12 different music videos after his prison release — all done at his Marietta, Ga., mansion due to the restrictions of his house arrest. He also spoke on how they communicated while he was behind bars—through the prison’s email server Corrlinks.

“One day I said, ‘Listen. Let’s just do a five-year plan, and we are going to build a great strategy for you to make a lot of money and protect your brand and your legacy.’ He said, ‘That sounds good. One change: How about we do the 10-year plan and make all the money?’ It turned out to be a pretty good plan.”

During his time in prison, the East Atlanta rapper decided to publish his book, revamp his label, sell the rights to his autobiography to a major film company, go on tour, and take nothing less than $100,000 per show Billboard reported.

The new Gucci everyone sees is far from superficial. He was now a mainstream rapper who collaborated with other artists, including Selena Gomez, Drake, and Bruno Mars.

He also spent six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 for his feature with Rae Sremmurd’s 2016 hit “Black Beatles” and was up for a Grammy for his collaboration with Lizzo on “Exactly How I Feel.”

Over the span of five years, he has put out 14 projects, including his first post-prison album, Everybody Looking, which was his highest-charting, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 — a feat he matched a year later with 2017’s Mr. Davis, Billboard reported.

Another post-prison accomplishment was the rebuilding of his record label 1017 Global Records.

“‘Street N—a Entertainment’ was too hood — that ain’t gone get me too far,” says Gucci. Upon his release from doing another six-month jail stint, the record label’s name changed again to 1017 Brick Squad Records; after there was a falling out with Debra Antney, he shortened it to 1017, an homage to his childhood home address.

Gucci established 1017 Eskimo in partnership with Alamo Records/Universal following his latest prison release, but he decided to go all-in with Atlantic Records after a few years.

“I’ve been dealing with the staff and execs from Atlantic through my artist deal since [2009],” says Gucci of his decision to enter the partnership. “We already had a great chemistry.” (When asked for details of the deal, a representative from Atlantic said, “We have a fruitful partnership and look forward to a long future together.”)

1017 Global Records has become a force to be reckoned with. In line with his previous successes with crossover trap signees like Waka Flocka Flame and OJ Da Juiceman, Gucci’s relaunched label has produced stars like Pooh Shiesty while building a roster of promising up-and-comers: Foogiano, Big Scarr, Enchanting and, most recently, BigWalkDog, Billboard reported.

Gucci didn’t let the coronavirus pandemic stop its rising success either.
“The pandemic is how I popped off my label,” he says. “While everybody [else] is going to sit on their money, I’m going to come out and sign artists. That was my whole strategy.” Prior to the global lockdowns began, Gucci took to Twitter and Instagram, promising $1 million and a deal to the “hardest unsigned artist out right now.”

And the halt on touring because of the pandemic, apparently, isn’t a problem either. “We don’t even have a studio. We don’t have these overheads that a lot of labels have,” he says. “We’re not doing things the traditional way to make sure we make profit.” 1017 is still the equivalent of a “niche mom-and-pop” in the rapper’s own words. But Gucci hopes that “it’s going to turn into a big Walmart.” Streaming gains and the decrease of typical music business expenses, the record label is doing well.

This is a major achievement for the former rapper-now executive who never really aspired to be an artist. “I wanted to be a Jermaine Dupri,” he says. “I never got into music thinking, ‘I’m going to be this rapper and just chase this solo career.’ It was like, ‘Let’s all put our heads together to help [each other].’ It takes a village to do anything. You need that community.”

And now, given his new position, he doesn’t fret that he hasn’t received a grammy. Instead, he’s happy with helping others. “At this age and this stage in my career,” he says, “I get more pleasure out of seeing my artists kill the charts than me.”