2005–2006: Trap House and Hard to Kill In 2005, Davis released his independent debut album entitled
Trap House, which featured the single "
Icy" with
Young Jeezy. Disputes over the rights to this single caused a rift between the two artists.
Trap House was considered a success for an independent artist. The album crept into the Top 20 of the
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and landed at the top spot on the
Billboard Heatseekers Album chart. Guest appearances include
Bun B,
Killer Mike,
Lil Scrappy,
Jody Breeze and
Khujo of
Goodie Mobb.
Hard to Kill followed in 2006. It included the hit single "
Freaky Gurl", which 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
Billboard Hot 100. He also shot videos for the tracks "Street Nigazzz" and "Pillz". In 2006, Davis released the mixtape
Chicken Talk, beginning a series of mixtapes in the late 2000s.
Chicken Talk has come to be recognized as one of hip-hop's best albums by outlets such as
Pitchfork and
Rolling Stone Australia.
2007–2010: Mixtapes, Back to the Trap House, The State vs. Radric Davis 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. Following the success of his mixtapes
Bird Money and
Writing on the Wall, Gucci Mane signed with
Warner Bros. Records in May 2009. 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 made a total of 17 guest appearances in 2009. Gucci Mane's sixth studio album,
The State vs. Radric Davis, was released by Warner Bros. Records on December 8, 2009. Its lead single, "
Wasted" featuring
Plies, was originally from Gucci Mane's 2009 mixtape
Guccimania. 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 was "
Spotlight" featuring
Usher. The third single was "
Lemonade." The fourth single was "
Bingo", featuring
Waka Flocka Flame and
Soulja Boy. On October 2, 2009, Gucci Mane was listed at number 6 on MTV's annual
Hottest MC in the Game list.
2010–2012: ''The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted'' and other projects 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 "
Gucci Time", produced by and featuring
Swizz Beatz. It premiered on Gucci Mane's MySpace page on August 6 and was released to US urban radio stations on August 24, 2010. On March 18, 2011, Gucci Mane released his 10th EP,
The Return of Mr. Zone 6, mostly produced by
Drumma Boy. It debuted at No. 18 on the
Billboard 200, and is his highest charting EP. The album also debuted at no. 2 on the Rap albums chart and No. 8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. He also released a collaboration album with Waka Flocka Flame named
Ferrari Boyz on August 5, Gucci Mane's first collaboration album. Its first single was "She Be Puttin On" featuring Brick Squad labelmate Slim Dunkin.
Ferrari Boyz debuted at No. 21 on the
Billboard 200. Gucci Mane released another collaboration album, this time with rapper
V-Nasty, called
BAYTL, on December 13. The album's first single was "Whip Appeal" featuring P2theLA. , on August 29, 2010. He is rapping into his microphone.|Gucci Mane performing on August 29, 2010|238x238px Three days after
BAYTLs release, while traveling to the video shoot of "Push Ups", Slim Dunkin, who was featured on the song, was shot and killed after an argument at an Atlanta recording studio. On February 5, 2012, Gucci Mane released his
Trap Back mixtape. It features guest appearances from
Yo Gotti,
Rocko, Waka Flocka Flame,
Jadakiss,
2 Chainz, and
Future, the latter three appearing on the third studio album of Jeezy (who had removed the "Young" from his name)
Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition. The first single was the mixtape's title track. Music videos were filmed for the songs "Quiet", "Face Card", "In Love With a White Girl" featuring Yo Gotti, "Chicken Room" featuring Rocko, the title track, and "Sometimes" featuring Future.
Trap Back was met with positive reviews, scoring a 7.8 from
Pitchfork Media, a 7.5 from
AllHipHop, and an "L" from
XXL. On May 25, 2012, Gucci Mane released another mixtape, ''
I'm Up. Music videos were released for the songs "Supa Cocky", "Kansas" featuring Jim Jones, "Wish You Would" featuring Verse Simmonds, and "Too Damn Sexy" featuring Jeremih. Gucci Mane released yet another mixtape, Trap God'', on October 17, 2012. The mixtape included features from Brick Squad affiliate Waka Flocka Flame and frequent collaborators Rick Ross, Future, Meek Mill and Birdman, among others. On September 13, 2012, he appeared on Waka Flocka Flame's mixtape
Salute Me Or Shoot Me 4 on two tracks.
2013: Trap House III and The State vs. Radric Davis II: The Caged Bird Sings On February 12, 2013, Gucci Mane released his mixtape
Trap God 2. By the end of March, Gucci Mane released three more mixtapes –
Free Bricks 2 with
Young Scooter,
Trap Back 2 and
EastAtlantaMemphis with
Young Dolph. Gucci Mane announced in February 2013 that he was releasing a new studio album entitled
Trap House III, the third installment of his
Trap House series. It was released on May 21, 2013. On May 31, 2013, Gucci Mane also announced he was releasing a new album entitled
Mr. GuWop later that year, featuring appearances by personal friend and
industrial rock performer
Marilyn Manson, who also helped him to give shape to the album's sound and musical direction. On June 5, 2013, Gucci Mane announced that 1017 Brick Squad would release their first group compilation album,
Big Money Talk, in 2013. On September 7, 2013, various members of 1017 Brick Squad and Brick Squad Monopoly traded shots back and forth on Twitter, including Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, Frenchie, Wooh Da Kid, and OJ da Juiceman. Gucci Mane would go on to say "fuck brick squad" and accuse his former manager, Waka Flocka Flame's mother Debra Antney, of stealing money from OJ da Juiceman and
French Montana. Frenchie also accused Gucci Mane of paying for Young Vito's lawyer, the accused murderer of former 1017 Brick Squad artist Slim Dunkin, which Gucci Mane denied. Frenchie would release a diss record towards Gucci Mane the following day. During the following days, it was revealed that OJ da Juiceman, Young Dolph, Frenchie and Wooh da Kid were no longer, or in some cases had never been, signed to 1017 Brick Squad Records. It was also revealed that 1017 Brick Squad had lost their distribution deal with Atlantic Records, and the label might be disbanded. On September 9, 2013, Gucci Mane advertised on Twitter that he sold the recording contracts of what he considered his main artists: Waka Flocka Flame, Young Scooter, and
Young Thug. The following day he released a new single, "Stealing", featuring OJ da Juiceman, produced by
Zaytoven. On the song he disses T.I., Jeezy, and Yo Gotti. That night he also released a new mixtape
Diary of a Trap God. Following the mixtape's release his barrage of tweets stopped, and he claimed his Twitter account was hacked by his former manager Coach K for $5,000. Subsequently, he deleted all the controversial tweets and hours later deleted his Twitter account. On September 22, 2013, Gucci Mane admitted to making the tweets, and claimed he was binging on
codeine and
promethazine during the time. He went on to apologize to the fans, his family, and the music industry members he offended. Gucci Mane also said that he would be going to rehab while incarcerated on his gun charge. Plans to release his album
Mr. GuWop were scrapped indefinitely, and Gucci Mane would go on to release his tenth studio album,
The State vs. Radric Davis II: The Caged Bird Sings, on Christmas Day 2013.
2014–2016: Incarceration; multiple project releases from prison Gucci Mane released his first music of 2014 on April 20, a free collaborative mixtape with Young Thug called
Young Thugga Mane La Flare. He later released another collaborative project with 1017 BrickSquad artists,
Brick Factory Vol. 1, on May 24. Then, he released three digital albums on the same day,
The Purple Album (with Young Thug),
The Green Album (with
Migos) and
The White Album (with
Peewee Longway), collectively known as
World War 3D. His eighth digital album,
Trap House 4, was released on July 4, 2014. The album features guest appearances from
Chief Keef, Young Scooter,
K Camp and
Fredo Santana. On July 17, 2014, he released a collaborative album with Young Dolph and PeeWee Longway (labeled as Felix Brothers) called
Felix Brothers. On July 22, 2014, Gucci Mane announced that he would release a new album, titled
The Oddfather, on the day he would go back to court, July 28, 2014. On August 15, 2014, Gucci Mane released his tenth digital album,
Gucci Vs Guwop. Gucci Mane released the follow-up digital album to the mixtape
Brick Factory Vol. 1,
Brick Factory Vol. 2, on September 3. On September 13, Gucci Mane released a free mixtape,
The Return of Mr. Perfect, the follow-up to his mixtape
Mr. Perfect. Following his September releases he started promoting
Trap God 3, which was released on October 17, 2014, and became the highest-charting release during his prison sentence. On October 31, 2014, Gucci Mane and Chief Keef released a collaborative mixtape titled
Big Gucci Sosa. On Christmas Day, Gucci Mane released his 13th mixtape,
East Atlanta Santa, featuring artists such as
Raury,
Shawty Lo and OJ da Juiceman. He capped off the year by teaming up with producer Honorable C Note for a Christmas mixtape,
C-Note Vs. Gucci, a compilation of old collaborations between the two and new records. In total, he released over twelve projects in 2014 and made over $1,300,000 from prison. Gucci Mane released his 14th mixtape on January 3, 2015,
1017 Mafia: Incarcerated. On his birthday, February 12, 2015, he released the third installment of his Brick Factory series,
Brick Factory 3. Soon after, on February 18, 2015, Gucci Mane released a surprise EP,
Views From Zone 6. The title is a play on words on the upcoming album from
Drake Views From The 6. Gucci Mane released a triple digital album for the third time on March 20, 2015:
Breakfast,
Lunch and
Dinner. It includes guest features from
iLoveMakonnen, Waka Flocka Flame, Chief Keef,
Rich The Kid,
Andy Milonakis and others. Four days later, Gucci Mane released a follow-up EP entitled
Dessert, containing production from
Mike Will Made It and Honorable C-Note. On April 6, 2015, Gucci Mane released the final installment of his
Trap House series,
Trap House 5 (The Last Chapter), the first installment in the series to be released as a mixtape. Production was handled by Mike Will Made It, Zaytoven and Honorable C-Note, and it had guest features from Young Thug, Peewee Longway and Chief Keef. On May 20, 2015, La Flare released his tenth project of the year,
King Gucci, with appearances from
Fetty Wap,
Migos, PeeWee Longway and
RiFF RAFF and production from Chief Keef, TM88,
Metro Boomin, and Zaytoven. On December 25, 2015, Gucci Mane released a mixtape titled
East Atlanta Santa 2. On April 26, 2016, Gucci Mane released a 36-track compilation album on
iTunes consisting of his
Breakfast,
Lunch,
Dinner, and
Dessert projects called
Meal Ticket. 2016–2018: Release, Everybody Looking, The Return of East Atlanta Santa, Mr. Davis & Evil Genius On May 26, 2016, Gucci Mane was released from prison five months early: it was ruled that the five months he had spent in prison waiting for his trial had not yet been deducted from his sentence when they should have been. The next day, Gucci Mane released the first single under his new deal with Atlantic Records, "
First Day Out tha Feds". On June 3, 2016, Gucci Mane appeared on "Champions", the first single off of
GOOD Music's
Cruel Winter album. On June 17, 2016, Gucci Mane made his first performance since being released from prison at the Elan Mansion, an Atlanta club. On June 25, 2016, he announced his ninth studio album and first since his release from prison,
Everybody Looking, which was released on July 22, 2016. One day later he headlined the "Gucci & Friends" concert at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta; the show featured Fetty Wap, 2 Chainz, Future and Drake. In September 2016, Gucci Mane collaborated with
Rae Sremmurd on the single "
Black Beatles", which in November 2016 reached number one on the
Billboard Hot 100, Gucci Mane's first number-one single as a featured artist. The song was described by
Billboard as the "unexpected commercial high point for Gucci" as it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 7 non-consecutive weeks between November 2016 and January 2017. He released
Woptober on October 14, 2016, and released a side project called
Free Bricks 2 with Future. On November 23, 2016, Gucci Mane and
Lil Uzi Vert released a collaborative 7-track EP, "
1017 vs. The World". His tenth studio album, "
The Return of East Atlanta Santa", was released on December 16, 2016. On May 26, 2017, Gucci Mane released
Droptopwop, a collaborative mixtape with Metro Boomin. The 10-track mixtape features Rick Ross,
Offset of Migos, Young Dolph and 2 Chainz. In August 2017, Gucci Mane announced his eleventh studio album,
Mr. Davis. The album was released on October 13, 2017. It includes "
I Get the Bag" featuring Migos, which peaked at number 11 on the
Billboard Hot 100, his most successful single as a solo artist to date. Two months later, Gucci Mane released his twelfth studio album
El Gato: The Human Glacier, produced entirely by
Southside. A week after its release, in similar fashion to the announcements of previous projects, Gucci Mane announced his thirteenth album,
Evil Genius, released on December 7, 2018.
2019–present: East Atlanta Santa 3, So Icy Summer, So Icy Gang Vol. 1, Delusions of Grandeur, Woptober ll, Ice Daddy, and Breath of Fresh Air. In 2019, he released two studio albums, including
Delusions of Grandeur and
Woptober ll. On July 3, 2020, Gucci Mane released the 24-track
So Icy Summer compilation album, marking his first project of 2020, following
East Atlanta Santa 3 in 2019. On July 30, he collaborated with rapper
Mulatto for the single "
Muwop", a play on his moniker "Guwop." On October 16, 2020, a day before October 17, Gucci Mane released another compilation album with his label
1017 Records, titled
So Icy Gang Vol. 1, and credited as Gucci Mane & The New 1017, indicating that new members of the label are featured. In 2021, he released his fifteenth studio album,
Ice Daddy. On November 15, 2022, the rapper released the track and video "Letter to Takeoff", dedicated to the rapper
Takeoff. Through 2023, Gucci released about ten singles including "
King Snipe", "
06 Gucci", "
Pissy", "
Bluffin", and "
There I Go" which all had guest features, along with other non-guest feature songs that appeared on his sixteenth studio album,
Breath of Fresh Air released on 10/17/23 and it is his largest project ever, with 24 songs and 12 music videos. ==Other ventures==