The Gucci Mane redemption story is in full swing and it’s a beautiful thing to see.
After spending years in and out of prison over charges ranging from murder, drug possession, weapons, and battling drug addiction, Gucci Mane has gone sober, had his probation terminated, is getting married, and has now released an autobiography.
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, written with help from author Neil Martinez-Elkin, is out today on Simon & Schuster. Gucci wrote most of his autobiography while locked up most recently for possession of a firearm by a felon and found that writing just came naturally.
“I learned that I can be more than a rapper. I really feel I have a future in writing books if I wanted to do that. It came easy, it’s really easy.”
This makes sense given Gucci’s prolific output over the years. He has a truly wild amount of music and to see him focus that creative drive on literary pursuits is pretty awesome.
Gucci Mane found that he has such a knack for literature that in true author form he’s already planning his next text. His next book will be a collection of fan mail that he received while incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Terry Haute, Indiana.
East Atlanta Santa told MTV about the inspiration behind his next book,
“While I was writing this book, I had compiled all my fan mail. I wanted to just make a book of all my fan mail I received in prison, because [there were] some amazing letters I received. Inspiring ones, funny ones, informative ones where people were telling me, ‘This is the hot artist when you get out’ or ‘This is the hot producer you should collaborate with.’ Even with 21 Savage, people wrote me like, ‘21 Savage paid homage to you and did a Free Guwop mixtape.’ All these things I was learning from the mail in prison.”
It’s interesting to think that Gucci Mane, who has basically tapped up an entire generation of new artists from his city in Atlanta, had to find out who was hot from fan mail. It’s unclear exactly how the next book will be formatted but it will be a fascinating look into how one of the most influential hip-hip artists of our time stayed connected to his fans and music while locked up.
Besides his current book, Gucci Mane is also getting married next month to longtime girlfriend Keyshia Ka’Oir. The marriage will come with a subsequent 10-episode reality series Gucci Mane and Keyshia Ka’Oir: The Mane Event on BET.
As for the music, which is after all what we love most about Gucci, he has pushed back the release of his new album Mr. Davis to October 13th (the same date as his wedding). He dropped “Curve,” the latest single off the album with The Weeknd last Friday.
Now it turns out he’ll be collaborating with YouTube personality Jake Paul, which is kinda wack but we’ll let it slide here because Gucci can do no wrong in our eyes.
It’s been a truly great thing to see Gucci Mane turn his life around, get clean, and have unending personal success.
As he said, he’s truly blessed, “The autobiography, the wedding, new album… it’s just a lot. I’m blessed. This has been one hell of a year.”
Long Live Gucci.