Radric Davis (born February 2, 1980)^[1] better known by his stage name Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and CEO of So Icey Entertainment.

Biography

Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama and moved with his single mother to Atlanta in the fourth grade. Since elementary school, he had enjoyed writing poetry, and he began rapping at age 14. He signed to Big Cat Records after his debut single "Black Tee" was frequently played on local radio. In 2005, he 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.^[2]

Hard To Kill included the hit single "Freaky Gurl". The song peaked at #12 on the Hot Rap Tracks, #19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and at #62 on the Hot 100. The official remix 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 the Trap Say Aye" and began working on various mixtapes.^[3] Gucci Mane signed to Warner Bros. Records in May 2009.^[4]

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 relesead 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 #36 on the Hot 100, #3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and #3 on the Rap Songs making it Gucci Mane's most successful single to date. The second single is "Spotlight" feauring Usher. The third single is "Worst Enemy". The fourth single is "Heavy".

On October 2, 2009, Gucci Mane was listed at #6 on MTV's annual Hottest MC's In The Game list.^[5]

Legal issues

On May 10, 2005, Davis was attacked by a group of men at a house in Decatur. Davis' companions shot at the group, killing at least 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 his party were in self-defense^[1] 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. ^[6] Davis was released from jail in late January 2006.^[2]

In September 2008, Gucci Mane was arrested for parole 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.^[7]

On November 12, 2009, Gucci Mane was sentenced to 12 months in prison for probation violation and taken away to jail in handcuffs.^[8]

Discography

Studio albums

• 2007: Back to the Trap House
• 2009: The State vs. Radric Davis
• 2010: The State vs. Radric Davis: The Appeal^[9]
• 2010: The State vs. Radric Davis: The Verdict^[10]

References

External links

• Official website
• Atlantic Records page
• Gucci Mane at MySpace
• Gucci Mane at the Internet Movie Database