Gucci Mane + Jail = Marketing 101

Well, Gucci Mania is officially back upon us now that the political prisoner, rapper born Radric Davis has been released. Locked up since late last year, Gucci walked out of Fulton County jail aka "Rice Street" looking like he hadn't done a day. Fresh haircut, crispy Black tee, jewelry around his neck and wrist. Its the shit rap videos are made of...

I don't know if any of yall have been to jail for an extended amount of time (I haven't either), but, I never knew that they had barbers and jewelers on site to make sure you looked good for your big day. I guess, that's a luxury reserved for popular rappers...hold on, I take that back. Hell, when T.I. got let out of Rice Street before Urban Legend came out, he walked out of that bitch rocking a skull cap, hoodie and carrying a brown paper bag from what I remembered. I guess since Gucci is one of Fulton County jail's most frequent visitors he gets membership privileges.

But yeah. About last night. I was asked to go and cover this "event" but I couldn't make it because of a prior obligation. I didn't really think I was going to be missing anything anyways. I mean, who was going to be at a jail at 12:30 at night to watch a rapper walk out? You can do that shit on a random Tuesday afternoon (*drum kick*). But to my surprise everybody and their mama was there. Channels 2 through 69, the gossip bloggers, the photo bloggers, the "hood" bloggers, photographers...everybody.

But the visitors that caught my eye in the many videos that were posted this morning were Shawty Lo and DJ Holiday. Obviously, these guys are pals and that's cool. I'd love to see my potnas greeting me when I get out too...but I'd also like to see my family too.

At this point, I may be assuming, because like I said, I wasn't there...but where was buddy family at? You mean to tell me after doing a six month bid, the first people this man is seen on camera with are another rapper and his DJ? On top of that, the first people dude thanks are his lawyers and his label? That shit just seems funny to me.

And why have a press conference and read a statement? Gucci went to jail for probation violaton i.e. fucking around and doing the same shit that got him in trouble in the first place. He didn't kill anybody (this time), he didn't rape anyone, he didn't get wrongly convicted and released after DNA evidence finally got him exonerated. Dude had cloudy piss. Then on top of that, the first people who get thanked are his lawyers and label?

I'm probably not saying anything new to the thinking people out there, but am I the only one who thinks this whole episode is just a part of the he and the labels marketing scheme? It seems like EVERYTIME dude has an album about to come out or is blowing up, he goes to jail.

I was at the first Gucci Mane jail press conference back in '05 when he shot ol' boy from Macon and had to fly down from New York where he was shooting Rap City, to report to the jail. That was a scene as well. The label he was signed to at the time, Big Cat, had wrapped trucks, a promo team and publicist on site to make sure you knew that his debut album Trap House was IN STORES NOW!

Damn, I wish I still had the pictures from that shit. Gucci was rocking a Martin Luther King shirt and I remember his lawyer comparing Gucci's plight to the political prisoners and civil rights leaders of yesteryear. Yeah, it was some bullshit. I also did his first interview after he was released. This wasn't much of an event, we was just in the studio with his lawyers listening to the new song he made. The crazy thing is, it seemed like in the course of that interview (one that he didn't answer questions about what got him in jail), some light bulbs went off in people's heads in the room. As I was asking him about how his buzz continued to grow despite him being behind bars, people eyes got big, as if they were saying "you, know, we might be onto something here."

And it just seems like ever since that day, its been the same routine again and again. Hit song-->album release date-->jail...hit song-->album release date-->jail.

After watching the press conference video from last night again this morning, I tweeted that I was convinced that jail time was just a part of Gucci and Asylum's marketing plan. Judging from the amount of retweets it got, alot of ya'll seem to agree.

I was actually joking when I said it, but then I messed around and got my hands on this document...



Yes ladies and gentlemen. This is a copy of the written statement Gucci Mane made to the media last night. Yes, Gucci's label was handing this con-unist manifesto to folks who showed up so that they could read along with Gucci. This further convinces me that all this shit is a farce. I'm starting to debate if buddy was even jail at all. He might've been laying low in Forsyth County somewhere and just snuck in the back and walked out the front last night.

Oh yeah, I forgot...Gucci has a shiny new website boasting that he is "GA's Most Wanted." Its just too convenient.

But yeah, that's about it. What do ya'll make of all this?