Crib Notes

GUCCI MANE: The Atlanta rapper keeps it way too real on the cover of upcoming album, The State vs. Radric Davis.

With Gucci Mane once again headed back to jail, his new song, “My Own Worst Enemy,” feels particularly apropos. Over a melancholy synth beat from Drumma Boy, Gucci touches on his near-deadly beef with Young Jeezy, his conversations with the currently incarcerated T.I., and his own frequent brushes with the law: “Me, Jeezy and T.I. share one thing in common/All are poets/Role models to young people/Though at times man we still ignore it.”

On Nov. 12, Gucci (née Radric Davis) was sentenced to 12 months behind bars for violating his probation and was removed from a Fulton County courtroom in handcuffs. He is expected to serve about half of that time. A judge ruled that he had not completed community service requirements, that he failed drug tests and that he did not secure permission to travel. The case dates back to a 2005 conviction for attacking a club promoter, and this is the second time he has failed to meet the terms of his probation – the first time last year, sent him to jail for seven months.

The setback seems to come at a bad time for him. The Atlanta-bred rapper is more popular than ever, and his highly anticipated new album, The State vs. Radric Davis, is due Dec. 8. But it has already caused chaos with fans and concert promoters around the country. His past incarceration and probation terms have led to the cancellation of about a dozen shows this year. His absences have left promoters squabbling with his manager and booking agent — and threatening to file lawsuits.

But beyond the allegations lies the allegory. If Gucci is the frog prince of Atlanta trap-rap, impatiently waiting as he has for the better half of a decade to take his turn on the throne, he doesn’t need anything else to stunt his growth. Despite collaborating in 2009 with the likes of Mariah Carey, Black Eyed Peas, Mario and Usher – who’s featured in the current single “Spotlight” from his upcoming album – Gucci’s transition from ‘hood star to pop star remains fraught with hiccups. It’s something the industry may have to come to terms with, warts and all.

Continue Reading “The case of the canceled Gucci Mane concerts”

(Photo Courtesy So Icey/Asylum/Warner Bros)

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Which came first, the BET Hip-Hop Awards or Atlanta’s steady flow of garbage-ass rap music?

The chicken-or-the-egg question occurred to me as I watched last night’s broadcast of the awards show, which should’ve been renamed the Gucci Mane Awards for the number of performances (3?) featuring the East Atlanta-bred MC.

It typified a night in which the show took every possible opportunity to reference Atlanta — which is odd considering the crowd is made up entirely of industry fucks (artists, publicists, label reps, promoters, radio heads, etc.) and almost zero fans. (more…)

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Like Michael Jackson when he was alive, R. Kelly is simultaneously worshipped and reviled. Few inspire such widespread curiosity about their private lives, and the intrigue surrounding the pied piper of R&B (great nickname) certainly hasn’t died down since his acquittal on child pornography charges last June.

He recently admitted he was functionally illiterate, and a press tour of his palatial Chicagoland home this summer put his Neverland-like environs on full display. New York radio personality Miss Info reported that the outside of his house looks like a suburban church, the inside looks like a luxury ski lodge, and that he served a punch called “Sex in the Kitchen.” Like his choice of cocktails, his recent music similarly has not shied away from explicitly sexual material.

Continue Reading “R. Kelly recruits Atlantans for new album, Untitled“

(Photo courtesy Parrish Lewis)

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Many hip hop beefs — 50 Cent vs. Rick Ross, say, or T.I. vs. Shawty Lo — are all bluster. But when Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane beef, people die. That’s why it is troubling that the two are at it again.

As reported on Miss Info’s blog, Jeezy apparently took issue with a recent Gucci song and fired off a diss track, “24 23,” which take aim at Gucci and associate OJ da Juiceman. “Tell him this ain’t what he want, not the boy Snow,” Jeezy raps of Gucci. “But between me and you, I think the boy slow.”

It’s not entirely clear what Gucci song Jeezy takes issue with. Sure, his recent Big Cat Records album Murder Was The Case contains plenty of Jeezy disses, but most of that material was recorded years ago. If there’s a shot taken at Jeezy on Gucci’s latest Writing On The Wall mixtape, I can’t pick it out. Anyone?

Finally, as Miss Info notes:

Mind you, this Friday, Gucci Mane, OJ da Juiceman and Young Jeezy are booked to perform at the 102 Jamz SuperJam in Greenboro, NC.

And then on Saturday…again…Gucci Mane, OJ da Juiceman and Young Jeezy are booked to perform at the Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash in Atlanta, GA.

hmmm…let’s hope both sides respect their radio sponsors and keep the peace.

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Back in ’06, when NY hip-hop critics began hailing the arrival of Atlanta-based rapper Young Jeezy, it left a lot of southern rap aficionados a little mystified. It wasn’t so much that we weren’t feeling Jeezy’s trap-or-die flow, we just didn’t expect those East Coast hip-hop snobs to jump on the Snowman’s jock so quick.

Well, looks like it’s about to snow again. Another Atlanta trap-rapper OJ da Juiceman (coincidentally affiliated with one-time Jeezy rival, Gucci Mane) has been creating quite a buzz with such mixtapes as Culinary Art School and I Got the Juice. And Fader, for one, has taken notice. The music mag typically favors alternative progressives (Kanye West and No Age cover reversible sides of its December issue — argue amongst yourselves), so the interest in OJ is suspect.

Call me a paranoid Southerner, but their praise of the artist seems like a joke everyone is in on but da Juiceman, himself.

You make the call. Check out the video interview above that Fader filmed over lunch with OJ in NY.

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