Having become an entirely-free man within recent weeks, Gucci Mane is hitting the road to run the gauntlet of media outlets. Among a host of other high-profile interviews, Guwop sat down with XXL for a fall cover story. Speaking to XXL, the Atlanta legend revealed the unique process behind signing Young Thug to Brick Squad a few years ago. Recalling a particular studio session with fellow Atlanta champion Peewee Longway, Gucci shares:
When Pewee got to the studio, Peewee brought Thug and two other guys… Peewee is like ‘Gucci listen, they hard, they’re the ones who got me to start rapping, sign them!’ I had a bag with some money and got $25,000 out and I signed Thug right there. Never even heard a song from him … I value Peewee’s opinion so much … From that day on, Thug didn’t leave the studio, he spent the night there. He’d have 30 people in the studio, but he’d never leave … I already had Scooter and I was working with Dolph … I didn’t really know what I had with Thug, I was just taking a chance. A week later I was like ‘oh, he’s a star.’ Once we did [a] video, and I seen Thug doing the video, I’m like ‘he a star, he outta here,’ and I started putting more focus on him.'”
Gucci Mane also shared his thoughts regarding the modern rap game’s new wave, the latest trends in hip-hop’s sound and more. You can check out a video of Guwop’s XXL interview above and read up on the feature’s choice quotes here.