GUCCI MANE IS FREE. That has been the hot topic in popular culture and clearly one of the most iconic moments in hip hop history. This is just another additional action that contributes to the question, "Is going to jail a true marketing tool that will help an artist’s career?"
When you hear the name Gucci Mane, you instantly picture a rapper in jail recording or writing a song along with a trap beat playing in the background (with the iconic ice cream tattoo right below his eye, of course). It will always pop into your head because that is the marketing and branding strategy that he uses. And if you don’t acknowledge that Gucci is insanely intelligent in every decision and idea he makes, please go back and do your research.
The reason this picture pops into your head is because Gucci Mane relies heavily on his background. He has been in and out of jail and a popular figure for being in prison. He is popular for recording in jail, having his aesthetic orbiting around his time in jail, and just being a rapper in jail. He hails from Atlanta, GA., where he runs heavily in the streets of his city. Gucci is known for this.
But what he is most known for is what the whole idea is centralized around, which is doing time and actually living what he is writing about. Most artists in the music industry tend to lean towards either writing about things that they fantasize or having ghostwriters write things that are bound to be popular with their audience. So, when you stumble along someone that is writing about what they truly lived through, you reach a different level of respect that you won’t ever find with an artist that ghostwrites. Having Gucci Mane in jail during a majority of recording his mixtapes does just that as he is gaining fans left and right because people are starting to recognize that yes, he is writing honest and real lyrics. And we go back to the main question, "Is this just a well-thought out marketing strategy?"
Many people see what Gucci and Tupac have in common, which is the glamorization of being in jail. However, during further examination, you get to the core of Tupac and see that despite being a legend and a groundbreaking artist, he used getting in trouble with the police as a marketing tool for his career. Before he was famous, 'Pac was a man that stayed out of trouble, had a clean record with the government, and tried focusing on music and expanding his mind to new things. As he grew more popular, he was charged with felonious assault, battery charges, sexual assault cases, and therefore experienced time in jail. As the nation got word of all of these charges, his record sales soared and he became the star we know him as today. This similar situation happened with Gucci Mane, but in a different way. He was always bad and people understood that. But as he became a regular prison-goer, his mixtape sales soared, his tweets became iconic, and when he was released from prison, his new song, "First Day Out Tha Feds" instantly broke the internet.
Having been released from jail just last week, he still remains at the top and maintains his image of just being himself. I think that in Gucci’s case, even though he probably would have gone to jail if he weren’t famous, it was a strategically smart move on his career, and he will always be remembered for that. That is why his song was so popular, and that is why it mattered so much when he was released. Everyone can see that he is a real artist and will always remain true to himself.
