Deb purchased a big house in a subdivision of Eagle’s Landing. For a while I stayed there too. I became a part of that family. There were good times and bad times in that house, but there was definitely a lot of love. Eventually I got my own house down the street and the boys came with me. There were a lot of good times there too. The So Icey Boys clubhouse.
Out of all ’em Waka was always the one who stood out. He wasn’t from Atlanta, so people started wondering, who is Gucci’s new goon? He started hangin’ around me so much that people identified him with me, expecting him to always be by my side. Everyone called Waka my shooter, and he was, but he was a lot more than just muscle. He and I became incredibly close. Inseparable. Like brothers.
I remember Waka was in the studio with me while I was finishing up Back to the Trap House. I was working with Polow da Don on a song called “I Know Why.” Waka had never rapped a verse in his life, but for some reason Polow gave him a look up and down and then turned to me.
“That dude who with you, Gucci,” he told me. “I think he could be a star.”
“You know what, Polow?” I said. “I been thought that.”
XIV
* * *
MAKING THE MACHINE
Back to the Trap House debuted at number 57 on Billboard’s Top 200, selling fewer than thirty-two thousand copies in its first week. My major-label debut was a dud. I knew those beats were not suited to my style. I’d taken too much outside advice. I should have stood up for myself and put out the album I wanted.
The label planned on following the “Freaky Gurl” remix with “I Know Why,” featuring Pimp C, Rich Boy, and Blaze1—the song Polow and I had been working on when he said Waka was going to be a star. But two weeks before the album came out Pimp C died. Something about a sleep apnea disorder, compounded by drinking lean.
My own habits with the stuff had gotten bad. Over the years there had been times when I’d gone too hard with the X pills, but that had always felt recreational. With the lean I’d developed a dependence. It became something I needed. My life was moving fast and this drink helped me slow everything down. I was now on the road nearly every weekend, which meant long bus rides of smoking weed and sipping lean to pass the time. I just wasn’t as outward with my usage as a lot of other rappers were with the Styrofoam cups because I was still on probation.
In the beginning lean had been something special, a vice I enjoyed. An indulgence. Now it was something I required to operate. My fame was at an all-time high and these pints helped me calm down and relax in situations where I would otherwise feel anxious, like a big performance or a radio interview where I knew I’d get asked about some shit I didn’t want to talk about.
A known side effect of codeine is constipation and all the drank sitting in my stomach had given me a gut. I didn’t give a fuck. My little potbelly wasn’t stopping these beautiful women from wanting to fuck me. The lean would have me so nonchalant and relaxed, it would only make them want me more.
After Pimp C died the label stopped pushing “I Know Why” as a single and after that the whole album fizzled out.
Things weren’t all bad. Ever since the success of “Freaky Gurl” and “Pillz” I was getting booked for shows across the country. My fee was up to thirty thousand dollars a performance.
In December 2007, the weekend before Back to the Trap House came out, I was in Columbus, Ohio, opening for Lil Wayne on his Best Rapper Alive tour. I had my own tour bus by this point, but for whatever reason we were in a ten-passenger Sprinter van that day when we pulled into the parking lot of the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Wayne had two huge tour buses parked nearby.
I hopped out of the van and was making my way toward the venue when I saw this pretty girl get off Wayne’s bus and start running toward us. She was small, no taller than five-two, but right away I saw a big personality.
“Gucci! I always wanted to meet you,” she said. “I’m Nicki, I’m here with Young Money.”
She told me she was a fan and had even put out her own remix to “Freaky Gurl.”
“Why would you put a bitch from Brooklyn on there, though?” she asked, referring to Lil’ Kim. “I know you got people in Queens. You supposed to have a bitch from Queens on there.”
For her to know my connections to Queens, she really must be a fan, I thought. This girl was cool. We exchanged numbers and I went inside to perform.
After the show I was back on the van, telling Waka and Frenchie about the interaction. Turned out they knew of her. Nicki Minaj. They’d seen her on one of The Come Up DVDs. They thought she was rolling with this New York dude Fendi and signed to his label Dirty Money Records. Apparently she was rolling with Young Money now.
I kept in contact with Nicki and over the next few months she started driving to Atlanta in her white BMW to work on music. Then I started flying her out, putting her up in hotels, until she eventually got a spot of her own.
Nicki had gotten a big look from her feature on Wayne’s Da Drought 3 mixtape, but outside of that she felt like the label wasn’t taking her seriously. She wasn’t happy with her management either. So I introduced her to Deb, who ended up signing her to her management company Mizay Entertainment. Later on I put her in touch with my partner DJ Holiday, who a year later would host her Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape, Nicki’s breakthrough release.
People think I dropped the ball not signing Nicki, but from the day we met my understanding was that her loyalty was with Young Money and Wayne. I just saw a lot of talent, enjoyed working with her, and wanted to help any way I could.
Speaking of Wayne, all my young niggas were always bringing his new mixtapes on the tour bus. It seemed like Wayne was putting out new shit every week. I fucked with Wayne’s music but there was a part of me that didn’t like that my protégés were on my bus, vibing to another nigga’s music. They should’ve been listening to me. Except I wasn’t recording like Wayne was, so I didn’t have a whole lot of new songs to be playing on the long trips.
The disappointment of Back to the Trap House already had me feeling like I had something to prove. So I made up my mind. I would flood the streets with music too.
I hit up every DJ I knew and told them I wanted to do a mixtape with them.
EA Sportscenter with Holiday, Mr. Perfect with DJ Ace, So Icey Boy with Supastar J. Kwik, Ice Attack with Dutty Laundry, WILT CHAMBERLAIN with DJ Rell, Gucci Sosa with DJ Scream, From Zone 6 to Duval with Bigga Rankin.
I made plans to do all these projects, which meant I needed to start recording like hell. And that’s what I did. When I wasn’t on the road I was at Zay’s house first thing in the morning. If I wasn’t at Zay’s, I was at Shawty Redd’s. If I wasn’t at Shawty’s, then I was at Patchwerk with Drumma Boy. If I wasn’t at Patchwerk, then I was at Fatboi’s. The studios switched up but one thing remained constant: I was recording nonstop.