Gucci Mane

Radric Davis, born February 2, 1980, 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.

Early life

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.

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.

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. Gucci Mane signed to Warner Bros. Records in May 2009.

The State vs. Radric Davis

He appeared on remixes of the songs "Boom Boom Pow" by The 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.

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. The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted, was released on September 28, 2010. The first single from this release was titled "Gucci Time", produced by Swizz Beatz. It premiered on Gucci Mane's official MySpace page on August 6. The single features Swizz Beatz and was released to US urban radio stations on August 24, 2010.

Personal life

After his release from hospital, Mane visited a tattoo parlour and had a large tattoo of an ice cream cone inked onto his face. Mane claims that he got this tattoo to symbolise how he lives his life, cool as ice.

Legal issues

In April 2001, Davis was arrested on cocaine charges and sentenced to 90 days in county jail.

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. 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. Davis was released from jail in late January 2006.

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. He was incarcerated in the Fulton County jail for probation violation and released on May 12, 2010.