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Keisha K
This is an I Heart podcast.
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Gucci Mane
You've been working in the garage with your dad every week, Monday to Sunday, trying to get the old school up and running. Today, after all the hard work, y' all finally finished it. Even better. Your dad says, all yours, son. Yep. Same car that belongs to your grandpa that your dad helped him fix. It's yours. To really keep the tradition going, you need to get State Farm insurance just like them, generation to generation. Remember to choose the agents that your family counted on. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Johnny Knoxville
Hello, America's sweetheart. Johnny Knoxville here. I want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless Hillbilly Heist from Smartless Media, Campside Media and big Money Players. It's a wild tale about a gang of high functioning nitwits who somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist.
Gucci Mane
Kind of like Robin Hood, except for the part where he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. I'm not that generous.
Johnny Knoxville
It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing.
Gucci Mane
They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket to help him escape. So we're sitting like, oh God, what do we do?
DJ Envy
What do we do?
Charlamagne Tha God
That was dumb.
Gucci Mane
People, do not follow my example.
Johnny Knoxville
Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Ed Helms
Hey, it's Ed Helms, host of Snafu, my podcast about history's greatest screw ups. On our new season, we're bringing you a new snafu every single episode.
Maggie Freeling
32 lost nuclear weap.
Gucci Mane
Wait, stop.
Angela Yee
What?
Ed Helms
Yeah, it's going to be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot of fabulous guests. Paul Scheer, Angela and Jenna, Nick Kroll, Jordan Klepper. Listen to season four of SNAFU with Ed Helms on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Charlamagne Tha God
Every day. I Wake up. Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.
DJ Envy
Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Jess. Hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lon Laros is here as well. Got a special guest in the building.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yes, indeed.
DJ Envy
We got Gucci man and his wife Kisha. Kr.
Keisha K
Hi, guys.
Gucci Mane
Welcome.
DJ Envy
How y' all feeling? Y' all look amazing.
Gucci Mane
Thank you.
Charlamagne Tha God
New book out Episodes. Yes, man, I, I, I thoroughly enjoyed your book, Gucci man, because, you know, we give people props when we were younger for being real. And a lot of things that we say is real is like when somebody gangster, when somebody, you know, we call them tough. But to me, the most realest thing you could do as you get older, just be vulnerable, you know what I mean? And go on a journey of healing and share that journey with people. And you definitely did that in this book.
Gucci Mane
Thank you. I appreciate that. I always see you talking about mental health. I've been listening to y', all and you always championing mental health. You know what I'm saying? So that's my. I said, make sure y' all get that book to Charlemagne before I come up, though.
Charlamagne Tha God
Absolutely.
Gucci Mane
Because I knew you was gonna read it.
Charlamagne Tha God
Absolutely.
DJ Envy
Yeah. So what got you to the point where you said, this is the time to share the story? Cause most people will say, like, you know, I don't want to share that story. It might be embarrassing, it might make me look this way. But you were open and completely open about it. What got you to that point was.
Gucci Mane
Like, this is the time when I had an episode in, like, 2019 or 2020 around Covid. And that was just like. Like, after that, I was like, man, I gotta really just hold myself accountable and take care of my health. I don't never want to have an episode again. I'm like, I'm gonna see a therapist. If I had to take medicine, I just, I kind of, like, threw the towel in, like, you know what I need to do to get better. I just didn't never want to have that happen again. And then my wife was pregnant with my little. But I'm like, I don't never want this. I don't want to raise a family. And then my mental health, gone. What if I have an episode I can't come back from? You know what I'm saying? So I just, like, starting to do the work and, like, started seeking the help.
Charlamagne Tha God
I'm glad you here, because we always have conversations about the people who have to deal with the individuals with the mental. Mental health issues. No, it feels like nobody ever speaks.
Keisha K
To y', all, it's tough.
DJ Envy
What made you not run? Cause you could have ran. You could have been like, I'm out now. This ain't for me. But you stood 10 toes down and said, I'm gone.
Keisha K
I experienced him going through episodes before we were married, and I was like, man, somebody gotta help this guy. It was really, really bad. It's really sad because you're seeing someone you don't know. They're saying things to you that are disrespectful, so mean. And you have to just like, but I'm not talking to Gucci. Who is this person? Right? So I felt like if I left, he. He wouldn't have been the same. He needed someone to help him. And then when we were supposed to get married, someone said to me, you know, you're gonna have to deal with this through your marriage. Right? And I'm like, I'm cool with it. I'm gonna fix him, you know?
Angela Yee
How heavy was that for you, though? Because the fixing isn't like an overnight thing. I saw Gucci. You did Big Facts, and you were talking about how one time you said to him, I should record this so that you can see, because he wouldn't even remember some of the things he was doing, but it would, like. You'd be like, oh, my God, like, what's happening right now? How heavy was it? In the process of trying to help.
Keisha K
Him get better, there was one point I had to just go on my knees and pray because it's like, he's like, I don't like you. I mean, the things he would say are really, really bad. And I just have to, like, take a deep breath. Like I said, I'm not talking to you right now. You want to sit here and be crazy alone? I'm not gonna allow you to be crazy alone.
Angela Yee
Yeah.
Keisha K
So, like, I have to, like, set a plan up. Like, at one point, I called his attorney, I called some bodyguards, and I just planned a whole kidnap. And we kidnapped him and took him to the hospital because we could not get him to the hospital. He was trying to fight them and everything, but it was six of them. He couldn't handle it. And we threw him in the car. He would try to jump out the car, so we put him in the center of the car, you know, and that was, like, his last episode.
Charlamagne Tha God
That's a 5150, right? That's what they call it when you.
Gucci Mane
Go to the light.
Keisha K
Yeah. But they try to do things where he could sign himself out. And I'm like, he's not signed. Like, I'm stern with them. He's not signing himself out. I'm his wife, and I'm his power of attorney. He ain't going nowhere. Like, I have to be strict. It's kind of like you have to go in mother mode, you know, and put your foot down.
DJ Envy
Were you ever scared?
Keisha K
I wasn't never scared. He would hurt me. People were scared for me. But it's a scary moment. Yeah.
Gucci Mane
Because I asked her that, was she scared? And she was like, I'm not scared of you.
Keisha K
I tell him all the time during, I'm not scared of you. So you. We gonna figure this out. Like, I have to get gangster with him. Cause he's. And I'm like, all right, we gonna see. Let's do this.
Gucci Mane
You know.
Charlamagne Tha God
In the Ice Cream Fever Dreams chapter, Gooch, you said that the only. You said, when you need help, the only person you can rely on is yourself.
Gucci Mane
Yes.
Charlamagne Tha God
Why did you feel that way in that moment?
Gucci Mane
Because that's how I felt. Especially with, like, you really only person you can do. Like, you gotta do the work yourself. You know what I'm saying? If you wanna, like, really get better, people can want it for you, but you still gotta want it more than they do. You know what I'm saying? You gotta want it. You gotta do the work. You gotta live with it. You know what I'm saying? So that's probably why I said that.
Charlamagne Tha God
The reason I asked is because you start the book off talking about Big Scar, and, you know, you and Keisha definitely helped Big Scarr in that moment when he was having an episode. Yeah. So, I mean, you did help somebody.
Gucci Mane
Nah, I was trying my best to save Scar. I was trying my best to save Scar. And, like, even he was a big inspiration for the book as well. But what was like when I reached out to the co writer, Kathy, on writing the book I was telling her about, you know, like, I had helped Scar. And, you know, I was. My wife was talking to me, but she was on. Like, I wouldn't even let Scott know that she was telling me the stuff to tell him while we writing the book, like, discussing the book and just going over how we gonna make it. Scott died. So I hit her, like, you know, Scott and passed away. It was all. It went for him being an inspiration. Before I can even finish the book, he passed away. So that was just super deep. And it made me like, I gotta do this. I gotta even be more vulnerable because I'm gonna help people that I Don't even know. Cause I was trying to help somebody who was so close to me. You know what I'm saying? And I didn't even. And I didn't succeed.
DJ Envy
You know when you break down in the book, that September 13th episode, right?
Gucci Mane
Yeah.
DJ Envy
And you said you don't even remember a lot of the things that you said. Did you have to go back and say, you know what, let me fix some of those situations?
Gucci Mane
Yes.
DJ Envy
And who did you call first to say, let me fix that? Because we were on air that morning and we just remember it's like, damn Gucci just going crazy on everybody. And the sad.
Charlamagne Tha God
They were tweeting.
DJ Envy
The sad thing about it is for media, press is like, that's gold. At first, like, oh, this, that and the other. Then when you sit back and look at it, be like, damn. Like, maybe we shouldn't have went that hard and promoted. Cause we can see now he was going through episodes. So the first question, you explain that.
Charlamagne Tha God
In the book about the media's role in that. Yeah.
Gucci Mane
But to answer envy, I was super embarrassed and hurt by the things I said because, like, I wasn't well then. Right. So then I got locked up. So a lot of those people who I was saying stuff to, they were like, they never gonna mess with me no more. So even when I got out three years later, I still was like, I apologize to Ross, Drake, Nikki. Like, all them people accepted my apology. They just don't know. It's like a weight off my shoulders because I had been like. Cause I was wrong. Like, Ross hadn't did nothing but help me, you know what I'm saying? And I said something about him. Birdman did all this stuff for me. Why would I say something about him? So I felt bad, you know what I'm saying? I felt terribly bad. And it was just eating me. It was like. It was super heavy on me. You know what I'm saying? So I apologize to everybody. Everybody that would accept my apology. I apologize to everybody who accept my call. I apologize to you. Just thank anybody who I was dissing. I apologize to.
Charlamagne Tha God
When you see artists doing that now, do you know exactly what they going through?
Keisha K
Yes, I do.
Gucci Mane
We be like, sense that's going through an episode. I can see it because I'd have been through it then I'd be like, I be feeling sorry for them, you know what I'm saying? But because I see the media, they just go with it. Like this person, like, mad or they being mean or whatever, but they be going through something really mental. It'd be some mental health stuff going on.
DJ Envy
Do you reach out to any of those artists?
Gucci Mane
I'm trying to think, did I reach out? Now? I don't do a lot of reaching out, because some of them, like, I feel like they wouldn't be accepting of it. You know what I'm saying?
DJ Envy
Cause you knew you wouldn't be accepted at the point. At that time.
Gucci Mane
Yeah, at that point. You can't really talk to them like that. But like my wife say, I wish I could talk to the people that know them to tell them how to help them. You know what I'm saying?
Keisha K
I tried to reach out to Kim when Kanye was going through an episode. It bothered me so much, but I don't know her, and I didn't want to feel like a groupie, so I tried to send messages to people I never succeed, needed. But this was during their marriage. I'm like, damn, I want to talk to her so bad. Like, I can help you. But I never was successful.
Angela Yee
We talked about that on air the other day because she sat down and called her daddy and talked about what it was like in, like, on the inside by also trying to protect their public image and the way she thought people would look at her if she decided to leave. For you, what was it like? I mean, because we're talking about Kim, what was it like? Just trying to protect the business that you guys have built.
Keisha K
While I have Assistant, I take his apps off his phone. First thing I do, I delete Instagram. I delete everything. Even if I got to change his password, I'm changing it because I don't need the public to know he's having an episode. You realize you'd never know about any other episodes since September 13th? Because I control that. Because you're not going on Instagram. You're not going on Twitter. It's deleted. You know, And I just control everything at home. And now, before the episodes come, I catch it. So that's why he hasn't had another one. And how you catch that is he doesn't speak to you. He wants to be left alone. He don't eat. He does not sleep. Text messages. There's a period after each word, and I'm like, you're going through an episode. You're sick. No, I'm not. Ain't nothing wrong with me. Why do you think that you're not speaking to me? Well, there's nothing to talk about. I said, well, that's not how you speak to your wife. And I'm like, you're sick. And we snap out of it right then.
DJ Envy
Wow.
Charlamagne Tha God
Wow. You know, we heard Kim this week say how Kanye just used to give away their cars and stuff when he would go through episodes. And in the book, you talk about I did that. You just used to be giving away stuff.
Gucci Mane
I gave away Jury. Money cost so much. You know how much it costs for Jerry? Like, yeah, I gave away. I would give my friends jury and like. Like, they know I went, well, they'll take it. Yeah, I felt like, damn, they know something's going on with me, but they'll take it. So it's like, when I got out of jail, like, I cut off all my friends. My old friends come like, damn, they were taking advantage of you know what I'm saying? It was great taking the bank. I was giving away money.
Charlamagne Tha God
I wonder what the psychology is behind that. Like, why when you're going through an.
Gucci Mane
Episode, you feel like money and, I don't know, you don't care about your mind because the money don't. It's not you. Kind of like in a warp world, it's almost like it's a psychosis. You know what I'm saying? It's not you dealing with stuff. Like you hearing voices.
Keisha K
Yeah, they have voices.
Gucci Mane
And you're hearing voices too, like, it's telling you to. You know, you might think that Charlemagne, I might think that you're trying to fight me. You ain't even did nothing. We'd be like, bro, I ain't did nothing to you. What's wrong? Like, I'll be like, trying to fight you, Charlamagne. Like, you did this. You know what you did? You stole something from me. You'd be like, bruh, I stole nothing from you. But in my mind, I'm like, it's the truth. So that's what I used to deal with.
Charlamagne Tha God
How did therapy and the self work change your relationship with anger? And, like, do you still wrestle with that same inner voice that you talk about throughout the book?
Gucci Mane
I don't. I don't. It's like I seen a therapist. I got a SO taking medicine that prescribed for me what she thought, and it worked. And I haven't had any other problems.
DJ Envy
You know, I always wondered when people have episodes, what sparks it, right? Sometimes, you know, you see homie from the hood, and they'll say it's some bad weed, or they'll say it's some lean or what it was. So I always wondered, do you know what sparked the episodes?
Gucci Mane
I think drug use. Stress and stress.
Keisha K
Not sleeping.
Gucci Mane
Not sleeping. Combined, it wasn't just like, okay, I drank the lean. It was also, I'm drinking lean, and I had like five or six charges, open cases. So I was so stressed out. So, you know, I'm going to the studio and work. I got all these artists, I'm steady working hard, you know what I'm saying? So from the outside looking in, you would think that I'm not phased about it, but it's almost like I pushed the cases out my mind. You see what I'm saying? But they still. It's still a stress, but I'm just not dealing with them, not talking about it. I'm just like acting like it's never gonna happen. Like, court not gonna never happen, but that's a big stress. And I'm steady drinking lean, smoking weed, taking pills to kind of numb that. And then one day, it's just like the scrouda break the camel back, boom. Now my mind can't take it.
DJ Envy
And so what gets there now? Cause you said sometimes now you look at him and say, I can see an episode coming there. Is it stress now? Cause I mean, the craziest, the best thing I heard about Gucci, I was like, damn. I'm like, gucci? He was like, gucci, go to sleep at 8 o', clock, 9 o', clock, he tired. 9 o', clock, I'd be like, kids.
Gucci Mane
It'S time to go to sleep.
DJ Envy
I be tired too. But what gets you to that episode now?
Gucci Mane
When I had the episode in 2019, 2020.
Keisha K
Covid.
Gucci Mane
It was Covid that really just messed me up. And then another thing, what triggered the episode was I got my teeth done and they put me under anesthesia and the drugs messed me up. When I came from out of anesthesia, I was having an episode, flipping out, and I was like, damn, I ain't even do. I could understand that, you know what I'm saying? So even if I go, it's like, damn, I never thought that would be a trigger, but that was a trigger. So it could be a multitude of things.
DJ Envy
Gotcha.
Charlamagne Tha God
Well, it's interesting though. Cause when I read the book, I feel like you always had a level of self awareness. Even when you talk about going to get the ice cream cone tattoo on your face, you said it was a cry for help. It was why you felt like nobody heard you even when you were doing all that. Why you think nobody heard you?
Gucci Mane
Everybody thought it was like a marketing campaign, you know what I'm saying? Nobody. Like, I remember, I remember like the whole. It was like I had went to court. They told me I had to go to a mental hospital. Like. Cause I tried to say, like, you know, try to tell them, like, listen, some of the stuff I'm doing, I'm not in my right mind when I'm doing it. And they sent me to a mental hospital. And then it went on the media, and I figured, just remember when they start saying, like, I gotta go to a hospital, the embarrassment I felt. And then it's like, maybe it wasn't even two, three, three, four days later. That's when I got the ice cream cone tattoo. So if it was almost like a cry for help. You see what I'm saying? I can't explain. It's hard for me to put it in words, you know what I'm saying?
Keisha K
Him being Gucci man without me, no one helped him because he's the artist. No one is gonna say, gucci, you're not well. Gucci, you need medicine. They just keep on giving him the weed, giving him the drugs, and he keep on keeping on. So that's. That was the problem. No one took the time to like, damn, dog, something is really wrong with you.
Gucci Mane
Yeah, yeah.
Keisha K
That's how I came in after all of that. Like, you need help. Let's.
Gucci Mane
And I'm telling. Back then, I used to be like, ain't nothing wrong with me. And they going, they. They kind of like, when I'm saying, nothing wrong with me. Give me the weed. They like going with that. You see what I'm saying? Because I'm like, somebody put something in my drink or something. Like it's an excuse instead of just saying, okay, no matter. I got a problem, I need to fix it. It's almost like, you know, I shouldn't have this problem. Why Meeks type. That's how I feel. Like, why don't nobody else got to deal with this but me? So I kind of like, I didn't want to accept it, you know what I'm saying? Because I felt like, why I got to deal with this? You get what I'm saying? Like, why I gotta have this affliction, Why I can't be straight, Why I gotta have a mental health problem? Like, why I can't drink lean, really? Like, why I can't drink lean and smoke like everybody else. Why if I drank the Leaning smoke, I gotta be in the mental hospital. That's how I used to feel.
Charlamagne Tha God
And it probably. It felt like the people at the label didn't look at you as a human being. Like, you was just the artist. Because you said after you got the ice cream cone tattoo, one of them called you and said, man, you a genius.
Gucci Mane
They did?
Keisha K
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
And you was like, bro, I'm trying. I'm going through.
Gucci Mane
I was going through. I'm like, damn. I never thought that, like, when it went viral back then and just everybody was talking about it. It didn't. It didn't. Like, this was not my intention. I was not doing that. It definitely was like a cry for help. Yeah.
DJ Envy
Let me ask a question, Keisha. Do you wish you were around when. When. You know, I look at Gucci, and if you really think about all the artists that he has touched and could have signed, he could have been bigger than any label out there. If you go through them, we can go from Thug to Waka to the Migos. The list goes on and on and on. Do you think?
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, Waka Waka was signed.
DJ Envy
Do you think if I was there, I could have helped him build that empire? Cause he could have been really like.
Keisha K
An Atlanta DEF chair, 1000% even. Like, we had this conversation many years ago. I said, gucci, you just have to accept that. That you are not well and fix it. Just accept it. I said, people take Tylenol every day. Just take your medication every day. You'll be fine. Just accept that you're sick. Fix it, and you'll be okay. And absolutely. He had so many artists from back in the day, and because of this, you know, he. They resigned with other people or whatever the situation is. And it pisses me off because none of them respects him. I don't. Or give him the credit. Like, Gucci signed me. Gucci's the one that got me out the slum. Gucci's the one that changed my life. None of them talks about that. Not one of them.
DJ Envy
Does that bother you? Cause it's a lot of artists that are multi platinum, that are still selling records that you were the first person to give an opportunity to. We could name the list, but the list goes on and on.
Gucci Mane
I feel like I had to hold myself accountable. I got locked up. I messed up the opportunity. You know what I'm saying? But I'm not saying that they don't have to pay me homage. I appreciate it, you know what I'm saying? But that's part of how I was raised and just who I am. I get fulfillment out of hip and artists, you know what I'm saying? I was reaching out to them, trying to help them, because I saw talent in them.
DJ Envy
And not just Southern artists.
Gucci Mane
No, not just Southern artists, DJs, producers, whatever. That's just like, who I am, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm an open door studio. I'm gonna bring people in. I'm gonna work with the up and coming. That's what I like to do. You get what I'm saying? If it didn't work out the way it did because I got locked up, I got to say, hey, I got myself locked up. You know, I messed that up. But since then, I've been doing. I've been doing well since I got out, I've been on, you know what I'm saying? Been a whole different. Everything been going good.
DJ Envy
I always wondered, did any of those artists reach out when you were locked up and said, let me help.
Charlamagne Tha God
Damn.
Gucci Mane
Let me say this, though.
DJ Envy
Keisha said, nope, Let me say this.
Gucci Mane
It is still kind of like paying it forward. Cause when I got out, all those artists did come back and do songs with me, you know what I'm saying?
DJ Envy
But when you were down, did they help?
Gucci Mane
They didn't.
Charlamagne Tha God
Damn.
Keisha K
They don't acknowledge him. He doesn't care or feel that way. But from the outside looking in, they should acknowledge him.
Gucci Mane
You know, I feel like Gucci gets.
Charlamagne Tha God
Looked at as a hip hop pillar, though. I feel like he looks at. Nah, I feel like Gucci gets his just do as an iconic figure in hip hop and all the artists he put on.
DJ Envy
No, but it ain't.
Charlamagne Tha God
What would you like to see, Keisha?
Keisha K
I would like them, all of them, to acknowledge him. Even if they win an award, acknowledge him because he gave you the stomping ground.
DJ Envy
Most people don't know Nicki Minaj came out of that camp. French Montana came out, all of them. Most people don't know half those people we know. But most people don't know that Migos.
Keisha K
Migos thug like most people, because they don't say it.
Charlamagne Tha God
I love. I love the chapter Pills and Potion too. Because you said you feel guilty for making the song pills because you made a whole generation start getting high on pills. How do you rectify that guilt?
Gucci Mane
I can live with it now because it's like it is what it is. You know what I'm saying? But back then, I know that I like, made a lot of people use drugs. I talked about drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs all through my music because that's what I was on back then. And I'm just like, damn. I know I met a whole bunch of people think pills was cool. I know that for a fact. You know what I'm saying? And Ain't nothing I'm just super proud of, you know? But what can I do? It's in the past now. And at the same time, it was. I was also a user too, so I was going through it with them.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, the interesting thing about that chapter, too. You said that your whole team didn't like that song.
Gucci Mane
They didn't.
Charlamagne Tha God
What would they. Because I'm sure some of them was on pills, too. So what was it?
Angela Yee
Just.
Charlamagne Tha God
They just didn't like the ring.
Gucci Mane
When I first, like, when I had, like, one foot in, one foot out, a lot of my guys who were hustling, we used to think. I like my crew of hustling buddies, they used to think, like, pills and stuff like that was like, jacket stuff. You see what I'm saying? They think, like, if you do coat you like a jacket, you take pills, you're a janky. They only was cool with. With smoking weed, even taking drinking lane, they thought was some jacket stuff, right? So they really. They said, take away from the money. You see what I'm saying? So it's like, if you doing. If you taking pills, you supposed to be selling the pills. So when I came out with pills, they went with that. They was like, bro, what you making a song about taking pills for? Then the song ended up blowing up. But they was like, they didn't like this song. Yeah, yeah.
DJ Envy
When you did versus, right? What was your mind frame during verses? And Keisha, when he. You knew he was doing verses against somebody that was his arch enemy at the time, right? What was your mind frame? Because you knew at any moment it could have went back.
Angela Yee
Did you want him to do it?
Keisha K
I told him not to.
Gucci Mane
And she said.
Keisha K
I said, you're not doing that. I said, I will pay you a million dollars not to do this.
Gucci Mane
She told me that. Swear to God, she's like, I pay you a million dollars not to do the verse. I'm like, I'm gonna do the verses.
DJ Envy
So how did. For people that don't know, how did that verses come about? And what was your mind to do the songs that you did in that moment? Because, I mean, I think everybody felt it watching. And people that were there were like, oh, this is gonna end up nasty.
Keisha K
You.
Gucci Mane
Well, I'm trying to think. I heard. I seen an interview where Jesus was saying, like, if I do a Versus, I want to do it with Gucci, right? So after that, P had hit me like, bro, you heard Jesus say he want to do a verse with you, would you do it? And I was like, I don't know if I do that. I don't know if I want to do no verse. I ain't really, really there yet. Then he came back like, bro, I think this would be big if you do it. So next thing you know, Swiss and Larry Jackson end up hitting me, and we end up doing. Say we're going to do the verses, right? And my mind frame going into it was like, it's going. It was. I was excited about it, like, because all the previous verses were so big. So I'm like, man, it's dope. You know what I'm saying? This is gonna be big for me. Everybody gonna be like, my catalog gonna go up. People gonna just so out looking.
DJ Envy
I was excited about it, actually.
Charlamagne Tha God
Jeezy said he. He said here on Breakfast Club, he wanted to do it with you, but you turned it down. That's what that conversation was. That was back in 2020.
Gucci Mane
I don't think I turned it down. I think I turned down doing verses, period. But I was open to do the verses. When they finally broke it down to me, like, okay, this. The business about it. This how you gonna. All this good can come out of it. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it.
Charlamagne Tha God
Keisha, you didn't want him to do it. Cause you knew he could potentially have an episode or.
Keisha K
No, I just don't trust it. I don't know. God forbid, Jeezy go say the wrong thing and things pop off. I ain't got time.
DJ Envy
Where were you when he was doing it?
Keisha K
I was pregnant at home. No, he didn't want me there.
DJ Envy
So you were watching it?
Gucci Mane
Yeah.
Keisha K
My hands was wet, sweating. I'm nervous. I'm like, lord Jesus, help me.
DJ Envy
So when he did that song, what were you thinking when he did that song? When he think that song, like, oh.
Keisha K
My God, I'm just like this, like, every. Like any normal person. I'm in the bed watching it, like everybody else scared.
Smart Water Announcer
And.
Angela Yee
Jeezy, you said you were lucky that. I'm sorry, Jeezy. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Gucci, you said that you were happy that Jeezy took the moment to kind of, like, kind of shift the energy.
Gucci Mane
I would say in hindsight, I'm like, I respect the way he did what he said. You know what I'm saying? And I, you know. You know what he said made sense. You know what I'm saying? But at that moment, in the moment, like, in the heat of the moment, I wasn't thinking, like, I'm happy he said that. And he the moment, I was just like, man, what is he talking about? You know what I'm saying? Let's get on to the. To what we're doing. I ain't.
Charlamagne Tha God
And.
Gucci Mane
But when I look back on, I'm like, that was smart. You know what I'm saying? That was small and it was deep.
DJ Envy
Did y' all speak before y' all did the verses personally or y' all did speak beforehand? How was that conversation? Was that the first time y' all spoke throughout the years, or.
Gucci Mane
Man 1. It was funny because we seen each other on the airplane, right? He was sitting in my seat. Oh, God, it's the craziest job ever. I ain't never told the story right. He's sitting in my seat, right? So I'm like, damn, I don't even want to talk to him, But I gotta tell this dude, get out my seat.
DJ Envy
So it like.
Gucci Mane
I'm like, hey, man, you and my seat. You gotta get out my seat. But he see who it is. He like, well, I'm sitting in the same seat. Can you sit in mine? I'm like, nah, I can't sit in your seat. You just gotta get up. That was the conversation we had prior. Damn, if it would have been anybody.
DJ Envy
Else, you probably would be like, God, go ahead, sit down.
Gucci Mane
I got. You gotta get up. You got to get up.
Charlamagne Tha God
And he don't want to get up.
Gucci Mane
Cause my pride. My pride won't let me say that you in my seat. And I just, okay, I'm gonna sit over here.
Keisha K
Yeah.
Gucci Mane
Nah, dog, get up.
Angela Yee
When was that?
Charlamagne Tha God
But his pride won't allow him to be like, man, Gucci man told me to get up.
Gucci Mane
And I'm like, oh, he got up and moved. He got up and moved.
DJ Envy
Yo, that's funny. Cause I remember 50 and Josh said the first time they seen each other was on a flight. They were both. It's like, you can't wild out in there because you're going to jail, so you got to be easy.
Charlamagne Tha God
But, no, in your first book, you said y' all had dinner somewhere before.
Gucci Mane
No, we. We. We met up at a. A restaurant. Yeah. Yeah. So we had met before, but I'm saying just since I got out, that was like. We met at that restaurant way, way back. That was like, 2010 or something like that.
Charlamagne Tha God
But you say y' all had decided. If I remember correctly, in the book, you said y' all decided to squash the beef then.
Gucci Mane
But then we end up. I think he ended up.
Charlamagne Tha God
He saw each other at a club.
Gucci Mane
Yes. And it didn't go right. Yeah.
Angela Yee
What is it like now? Like, have you guys spoken since verses? And you know, both of y' all are so evolved at this point.
Gucci Mane
I did an interview on Big Fats and I'm like, it ain't really been no disrespect since then. Everybody everything cool but you know they okay. We okay.
DJ Envy
She said they okay. We'll make sure they okay.
Keisha K
They are.
Angela Yee
Got you.
Charlamagne Tha God
I love it in Episodes. You call yourself a recovering madman, right? Yeah. What does madness look like to you today and how do you recognize it when it tries to creep back in?
Gucci Mane
Madness is like a very evil side of me, you know, it's very no compassion, no empathy. Like bored of, just of good. You know what I'm saying? It's like empty eyes, soulless. Like I say the most meanest things. Like that's why I said so embarrassing afterwards. Like God, like I can't even believe I said I be saying stuff. I can't even think I know how to curse and say stuff like that. I've been going so deep into the dungeon I'm talking about seriously that it's.
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Maggie Freeling
Little to your life.
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Ed Helms
Hey, it's Ed Helms. And welcome back to Snafu, my podcast about history's greatest screw ups. On our new season, we're bringing you a new snafu. Every single episode.
Maggie Freeling
32 lost nuclear weapons.
Keisha K
You're like, wait, stop.
Charlamagne Tha God
What Ernie Shackleton said sounds like a.
Ed Helms
Solid 70s basketball player who still wore knee pads. Yes, it's gonna be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot of guests. The great Paul Scheer made me feel good. I'm like, oh, wow, Angela and Jenna, I am so psyched you're here.
Gucci Mane
What was that like for you to.
Maggie Freeling
Soft launch into the show?
Ed Helms
Sorry, Jenna, I'll be asking the questions today.
Gucci Mane
I forgot whose podcast we were doing.
Ed Helms
Nick Kroll. I hope this story is good enough to get you to toss that sandwich. So let's, let's, let's see how it goes. Listen to season four of SNAFU with Ed Helms on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
DJ Envy
All I know is what I've been told.
Gucci Mane
And that's a half truth is a whole lie.
Maggie Freeling
For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
Gucci Mane
I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.
Maggie Freeling
We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.
Gucci Mane
Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky.
Johnny Knoxville
Housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.
Maggie Freeling
My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.
Charlamagne Tha God
I did not know her and I did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff.
Gucci Mane
That y' all said.
Keisha K
They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her.
Maggie Freeling
From lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame America.
Gucci Mane
Y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.
Maggie Freeling
Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
Gucci Mane
I'm so embarrassed about what I said afterwards. Like, that's. That's where the madness, like, it's. It's bad. It's on. You see how, like, when Kanye flip out, he starts saying he just like, go deep. I'm like, that. It just get bad. Like she said. Only thing about it was my wife been keeping it. So, like, when I did have episode nobody in the public side, but, man, you know, I just want to give grace and just say thank you to all the people who close to me who. I said some stuff too. Y' all know I didn't mean it.
Charlamagne Tha God
You know, what does madness look like to you, Keisha, when you see it creeping up and goo.
Keisha K
There was one time he stood outside for 24 hours at the door, just standing. I said, get inside. No. I said, did somebody give you a cookie or lace it? What is wrong with you? Because I'm not even catching on. I just want to stand up out here. He said, They're 24 hours. So I said, okay, there's an episode coming. I wasn't that good of a pro yet. So the episode came like a week or two after that. So that was a sign.
Charlamagne Tha God
So you do you have to just let him be in those moments, even though he just standing outside, you just let him stand there?
Keisha K
No, now. No, I don't play with him now. Then I let him stand out there for the 24 hours. Even 4 or 5am he out there. But if he wants to do that now, oh, he going to the hospital.
DJ Envy
Do your kids break you out that episode? Like, when you see the kids, you're.
Keisha K
Like, nah, he hasn't had that episode since they were born.
Gucci Mane
That was scared me. Like, I cannot leveling my kids see me like that, and I can not be well. Like, I'm not on point to be needed to handle the business of raising the baby. Like, I. I'm, you know, saying, like, I get them up for school every day. I can't be in the hospital. You know what I'm saying? My little boy, he can't even stand a day without me like that. I miss you when I leave. So I just want to be on point for my kids.
DJ Envy
Do you miss old Gucci? Me and When I say old Gucci, I mean going out, being in the.
Gucci Mane
Studio with your artists, I kind of miss being. It's only certain things from like my manic behavior that. That is good. And that's like. I kind of like used to be in the studio. I used to be way more productive, you know what I'm saying? I work out two times a day. I used. I'd be. I'd be restless, you know what I'm saying? So I do like. I ain't trying to like, romanticize that part about it, but it's a part about this madness that it make you like super hard working. Like, you don't even need sleep. You just stay in the studio. You just always. So you so prolific. It probably. It made me really prolific. So I do miss that part. Like now I'm not as prolific. I don't put out a hundred mixtapes. I only put out one album every two years. I'm not, you know, I'm just like a family man now. You know what I'm saying? I'm slow down.
DJ Envy
Do you like that better?
Gucci Mane
I love it.
Keisha K
Now he's normal.
DJ Envy
Now he's normal.
Angela Yee
I saw you say that. Going to East Atlanta sometimes, like, triggers different episodes for you. You can talk about that. Were you about to say something?
Gucci Mane
No, I'm saying it does trigger me. Going to East Atlanta.
Angela Yee
In writing this book, what other things from your upbringing did you realize? Like, oh, that was one of my triggers, these episodes. And I didn't even know, like, family stuff or just, you know, stuff from like young.
Gucci Mane
Yeah, like stuff with my mom triggers me. We had like a strained relationship. Stuff from my youth triggered me, you know, old friendships, you know, that went sour. There's a lot of stuff can be triggers. I can, you know, some songs even trigger me, you know, just from like. Like you said, like strained relationships. Like, even handsome icy. I don't like Handsome Icy.
Angela Yee
Wow.
Gucci Mane
You know, it's kind of like a trigger. Stay Scrapped will be a trigger. You know what I'm saying? Hearing that, like, I got 10k on your boundary. Like, that's why I say I probably couldn't have took that.
Keisha K
Yeah.
Gucci Mane
You know, like, that would have triggered me.
DJ Envy
You don't do those songs and you.
Gucci Mane
Don'T do them songs.
Charlamagne Tha God
What triggers you more? East Atlanta or what is it? Burma, Alabama, Birmingham. Birmingham.
Gucci Mane
Bessemer. I would say East Atlanta, but I don't wanna. I don't wanna. Vesma kind of depresses me because it, like, when you go down there, it's so like, it's like, damn. You know what I'm saying? It's like, damn. It's a tough place to grow up at. And when I go back there, it's like it down there made me cry just looking at the. The buildings and. Because you're from a small town, so you know how like I'm from. It's so small and rural and like, you know, it's. It's no money down there, you know what I'm saying? So it just looked. It feel dark. Yeah. East Atlanta, just dangerous. It's still dangerous. It's always going to be dangerous. It just. When I go there, it just made me change. It made me like. I just. It. I almost turned to a different person. Like the corners, the blocks just. I just. Just reliving all the stuff I did on those blocks, you know, the people there. It's just I try to still stay away from triggers.
Charlamagne Tha God
And you say even reading the book and seeing the effects that like systemic racism had on you, like watching the kkk, you know, march, march through your town, is that still a trigger nut?
Gucci Mane
It kind of is. It is. It is. I still like hold some of that stuff in me, you know what I'm saying, that I seen when I was young from Vessel. That's why I kept my label 1017. Cause I'm like, I don't never want to forget. Even though I was raised in Atlanta, people always associate me with in Atlanta. I never want to forget, you know, the life I led there. And I never want to forget, like my family there and what they going through.
DJ Envy
You said during the Big Facts interview that the police, you feel like they still have it out for you in Atlanta.
Gucci Mane
I feel like they did. They did back in. When I first got them. I feel like, like. Cause they used to do stuff like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I would be. When I first had got out of jail, I would go places and the police would just run my name. You know what I'm saying? And then I was on probation, so my probation, I was like, hey, did you go to such and such because the police ran your name there? Like they were just trying to see if I could. They just. They just. It's just too much.
DJ Envy
So what do you tell artists, like your thugs and your little babies that probably feel the same way as you do? You say, it might be time to get out of Atlanta.
Gucci Mane
I told the baby that I've been told the baby, hey, man, he might be too big for the city, might need to move. I know what I'm saying I never got a chance to tell Thug that, but I definitely told Baby that before.
Angela Yee
Because he used to be there. Baby used to be there. Just walking around, like, regular, like, in grocery stores and everything.
Gucci Mane
Because he's so comfortable, though. I got a comfort that, like, even time I went, if I'm in Atlanta and I have an episode, I. I go straight to my block, because I know that block like the back of my hand. I'm always, like. I always go down. It's like them. The familiar. It's like, it's two for me. For me, you know what I'm saying? It's two for me. Sometimes something too familiar for you, you got to get away from that, because it's too much comfort there. It ain't no growth and comfort. I need to be well. Like, I'm held accountable. You can get held accountable if I go to East Atlanta Lane. Coming. We coming. All I got to do is just stand on the block.
Charlamagne Tha God
I want to ask you, Keisha, how do you. How do you define recovery? Because you've seen him at his worst, and now you're seeing him at his best. So how. How would you define recovery for somebody that is dealing with somebody who's trying to recover from their mental health issues?
Keisha K
The first thing you need is medication. You cannot. It cannot go unmedicated. And the quicker the better, because once they're medicated, they usually get better in, like, two weeks. It's not. It's not overnight. It's literally like, 14 days for them to be back to normal. So for him, like, let's say he started his medication after an episode. He started his medication today. Right. Three days later, he'd be like, oh, my wife, you're so beautiful. I could tell by his words that he's getting better. And then tomorrow, he might say. And I'm like, oh, he's not better yet. Like, I could just tell by his tone.
Charlamagne Tha God
Who do you talk to, Keesh? Like, who? Do you have a therapist?
Keisha K
No, I'm. I'm. I'm the therapist. I'm. He'll tell you. I'm like a real therapist. I know how to speak to him. You have to speak calm. You cannot scream. Sometimes you have to agree with what he's saying. Like, he'll say, give me 500 grand. And I'm like, okay, I don't do it. But I. I say, okay. Whatever he asks for, I say yes, but I don't do it. But you can't go against them. So he'll text somebody and Cuss him out. And I'll go back to his phone and I'll say, block him. He's having an episode. So I just. I'm just a cleanup lady.
Gucci Mane
Listen, I gotta say this. You remember Julie? Julie Greenwald, used to be the head of Atlantic. I had an episode and said so much bad stuff to Julie that I said that when I came from the episode. I said, listen, Julie, from now on, if I text you anything crazy, block me for. Block me and call my wife. Don't call me for two days and call my wife. Because this episode coming. Because I ain't want to lose my position at the label going through an episode. And she was like. I'm like, if you just see, like. If you see, like, the Texas getting crazy, just block me. Cause I don't want to say. I'm telling you. I start saying stuff so bad, it's like you can't come back from it. Gucci.
Charlamagne Tha God
We seen it before. Gucci. Every time they said it, we seen it. But how do you protect your peace, though?
Angela Yee
Yeah.
Gucci Mane
Like, you.
Angela Yee
Because there has to be times where you feel like the walls are just caving in because it's so much. And it's so personal for you.
Keisha K
Honestly, I. During the moment, I'm kind of, like, stressed out. I'm a prayer warrior. I just pray. And once he starts getting better, honestly, I'm okay. And he doesn't stay sick long. Like I said, it takes 14 days to get him back. And after, like, day three, he's already coming to his senses. But those deep episodes won't happen ever again. We're in 25, so the last one was five years ago. He had a mild one coming maybe two years ago, and I caught it. So now I catch them before they come. And, like, people be saying stuff about him like, oh, he's soft. He's this, he that. The madman is still there. So I try my best. I don't want them to provoke him. It will come back.
Angela Yee
Yeah.
Keisha K
And he's very dangerous. So y' all, listen. Please leave him alone. Cause the Mad Max is still in the head.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah. When I saw young Thug say that, I was just like, man, you know, Thug is just young.
Keisha K
Yeah. They don't understand.
Charlamagne Tha God
Gucci ain't soft. He just. He grown. He's grown. He's evolved.
DJ Envy
When did you develop the trust for Keisha K. All right? Because it's not just a little bit of trust. It's almost like you gave everything and trusted that she was gonna be there.
Gucci Mane
For you, and she was I knew she was a. A great woman, you know what I'm saying? But I just wasn't. I wasn't there. You know what I'm saying? But once I went to jail and, like, some people had stole my money, you know what I'm saying? So the rest of the. I was like. It got to the point where I was like, the rest of the money I got. I gave it to her. I'm like. Because it had. I already had somebody steal, you know what I'm saying? So it's like I had nobody else to trust. You know, I couldn't trust. I didn't even trust my mom. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, baby, you take this. She said, nahla, I don't want it. She said, don't give it to me. Find somebody else. I'm like, you're the only person I got to trust. So it probably. When I got locked up and had went through so many, just had went through a betrayal.
DJ Envy
Because you give her everything where it's like, you trust her with your life, with your business, with everything. And most people will be so reluctant with that. And that's also a lot of power for you because you know that he trusts you so much.
Charlamagne Tha God
But, you know, that pops up on the timeline all the time. I forgot how much it was, but they said Gucci gave Keisha this amount of money, 206.
Gucci Mane
That was facts. That was facts.
Keisha K
When he tried to give me money all the time, I'm like, I don't want it. I don't want it.
Gucci Mane
She wouldn't take it for a long time, but until. Until they stole the money, and I'm like, hey, people stole some of this money.
Keisha K
And then I'm the one that found out.
Gucci Mane
She found out. That was a stealth. It was a theft.
Keisha K
Yeah, like all his businesses and stuff. I'm like, this one's stolen that one. Like, I'm really good at business. So I'm like, hey, you're being robbed, sir. And he's like, can you do it? And I'm like, I'm not getting involved. I'm just letting you know that's a.
DJ Envy
Jamaican woman in you. My wife the same way. Then you send your wife to curse him out. Oh, sit back and just watch.
Gucci Mane
Oh, it's the best.
Charlamagne Tha God
Did you tell Gucci you were going to invest the money, or you just went and did it? And when he came home, he was like, look what we got.
Keisha K
No, I told him because I was doing stuff with my own money, and he's like, just do it. And I'm like, but then he was like, just do it. And I did it, and it worked out dope.
Charlamagne Tha God
You also talk about in the book how you was at an award show with Waka and you was having an episode. Yes, but what I loved about that chapter, you said when you sat down, you just felt shame in that moment.
Gucci Mane
I did.
Charlamagne Tha God
What's something you learned, like, in the process of you healing that you just now view with compassion instead of judgment?
Gucci Mane
About myself. Yeah, I'm trying to think. I used to be hard on myself, like, kind of like what Andrew said. Like, damn, I should have this big Def Jam label. And it's. You know what I'm saying? But then I had to give myself, like, listen, you went through a lot. Just be okay. You still got. You still got a great career. You know what I'm saying? You still make money. You're still doing good. But, yeah, at first, I would just be hard on myself about that.
Charlamagne Tha God
Do you still beat yourself up? Like, how you were sitting in the award show, ashamed of what you did? Do you ever just be like, damn, man, maybe I need to pick up the phone and call this person?
Gucci Mane
Because what I'm trying to think. Everybody apologized to everybody. I really did. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know how, like, a. A means they tell you, hey, call everybody back, that you have a wrong. That's how I approached when I got out. I really was, like, I wanted everybody to, like, know I was sorry, that. You know what I'm saying? You know, I still don't want to, like, use mental health as not being accountable for what I said, because some of that stuff, I wasn't going through no episode. I said some stuff that was wrong. And I just want to let everybody know, like, I'm wrong. I'm sorry. You know what I mean?
Angela Yee
I thought it was hearing you talk about why you called Young Thug so quick when he dropped the Miss My Dogs, because you understood with that apology, like, you were there. I thought that was, like, really? We played this morning on air, and it was really great to hear. What was your conversation like?
Gucci Mane
I didn't call them. I just forgave. I just. I'm saying I forgive him.
Angela Yee
Oh, so y' all didn't actually talk?
Gucci Mane
Never talk.
Angela Yee
Oh, wow. So he found out you forgave him on that interview?
Gucci Mane
Yeah.
Angela Yee
Has he reached out to you since the interview?
Gucci Mane
To be honest, he was like, he. He hit me like, let's. Let's. Let's talk. But I ain't really want to talk, but I do forgive him. I just didn't want to talk.
DJ Envy
Yeah, I understand. I'm the same way.
Gucci Mane
I could forgive you, but I still.
DJ Envy
At certain times, I just, just don't wrong with that. Do you mind being the og? And the reason I say that is, is you look at Atlanta, you see everything that Atlanta's going through. Gucci's that one person that could stop it all. I. I think because every artist in Atlanta respects you. Do you. Do you mind that. That label as the OG that can do that? Or you just say, you know what?
Gucci Mane
I've been og. I do. You know what I'm saying? Like, I've been in the game 20 years now, so, like, I embrace that. You know, I'm not the hot artist trying to drop a, you know, the hottest singer every year and do all that. You know, I want to be the person that they can come to and talk to.
DJ Envy
Would you want to do that with everything that's going on in Atlanta?
Gucci Mane
I would, I would. I feel like, if they would come to me, but they don't want to come. I feel like people don't come to me for advice because it's like, even with my own artists, it's like a lot of them, you know, don't come to me because you're like, talking to your dad. I ain't got nothing but positive to say. I'm trying to lead by example. And I'm going to tell you, like, you shouldn't do this. You shouldn't. You should. So they don't even want to talk to me.
DJ Envy
They'd have loved to talk to old Gucci, but new Gucci, they don't want to talk to.
Gucci Mane
I don't want to talk to new Gucci because new Gucci ain't really got nothing going on. He go to sleep at 8:30, like, ain't on that.
DJ Envy
And did y', all, every once in a while, the pictures come out and say, gucci's a clone. Did that make y' all laugh or do y' all die laughing when y' all see the clone Gucci?
Gucci Mane
I didn't used to like it at first. When I first got out, I felt like it's discredited everything that I had been working so hard to do, you know what I'm saying? I felt like people was hating saying I was a clone instead of saying, yeah, I didn't like it. Yeah, it done died down now. But when I first got out, I ain't gonna lie, I used to be annoying I used to be like, that's so lame.
Charlamagne Tha God
Did you talk. Did you talk to O.J.
Gucci Mane
Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
About what you was gonna put in the book?
Gucci Mane
Yes, I talked to O.J. i taught O.J. yesterday. That's my dog. Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
What do you think about it?
Gucci Mane
He loved it. I told him, I like O.J. i want you to be a part of the book. I want you to have your own chapter in the book. I want you to tell your story. Because I feel like I was seeing him doing a bunch of podcasts, telling his story, and I'm like, I'm. Use my platform, use my book so Juice can tell his story even more, you know what I'm saying? Because that's, like my best. That's like one of my best friends since I was nine years old. Yeah. Yeah. We used to pick up cans together, you know what I'm saying? That's my dog.
Charlamagne Tha God
And you start. Like I said, you start the book talking about one of your newer artists, but then you start in the book talking about, you know, O.J. what were the similarities, you think?
Gucci Mane
Just two people that are close to me, you know what I'm saying? That mean a lot to me. Losing Scar was something that, like, I wanted to use that to help other people because it just. That still, like, I still ain't okay from that, you know what I'm saying? And O.J. been going through a lot, and I just wanted to show him, like, I just want to show him love.
Charlamagne Tha God
What emotional release did writing this book give you that music couldn't.
Gucci Mane
I'm so. I'm more proud of this book than I'm proud any album I ever put out. Because like you said, it's kind of like talking about stuff that I used to be kind of like, had a stigma of, you know what I'm saying? You got mental health. You crazy. It's like, I used to be embarrassed about some of these situations, and I didn't used to want to talk about it, but now I'm confident in talking about it because I know that I can help somebody else. And it's like, I don't even feel. I don't feel no shame no more.
Angela Yee
The conversations that you've been having recently, you know, have you begin to help people in that space where you're like.
Gucci Mane
Yo, I did it. Like, everybody people, I did a book sign in in Atlanta, and a lot of folks are coming up to me saying, hey, you know, thank you for this book. I've been sober eight years, or, thank you for this book. You know, I Got bipolar. Thank you for this book. My. My friend, you know, saying, be going through episodes. Like, I was getting a lot of that, and it felt good to feel that love. You know what I'm saying? It really did.
DJ Envy
Are you still surprised about the love? I heard you say something. You were in Miami doing a book signing, and you were surprised about how many people came up to me and asked for an autograph for your book. But then I'm thinking about. I'm like, you just did South Carolina homecoming. That was sold out. You just did this show that was sold out.
Keisha K
So I tell them that all the time. Yeah.
Gucci Mane
Like, it's different when they come up, like, with that book. I don't know why, but it's like the book signing saying, when they say about your book, you know, I've been rocking with you since I was in junior high. You know, you got me through college. Like, it just. The energy was, like. It made me feel good. I ain't felt that in a long time. You know, like, touching the people, shaking their hand, taking a selfie with them. It's like when you do that to about 2, 300 people and they telling you that you can't do nothing but feel good.
Charlamagne Tha God
But as I said, you're like a mythical figure to a whole generation. You got Sexyy Red calling herself the female Gucci Man. South Carolina State. Them kids asked for you. Yeah, Like, I seen the list. I'm like. I said, I don't even know who that is. It was about five. I'm like, I don't even know who these people are. But it was like, oh, Gucci, man. I know Gucci. Like, they wanted you at South Carolina State. How did that make you feel, knowing a whole generation?
Gucci Mane
I feel good. I feel good when I go through these. I've been doing a lot of college. I do Norfolk State on Tuesday. But, like, every time I go to the college, and they're like, the kids know all the words. You know what I'm saying? They 19 years old. Like, bro, you still touching people. 19 years old. They know this song. They singing songs that came out of 2005, 2006, how old we all then? So that feel good?
Angela Yee
Did you.
Charlamagne Tha God
How make you feel, Keisha, when you see Sexy Red call herself the female Gucci?
Keisha K
I love it. I love when younger artists pay homage to him. Like, I be in the background. Like, when people don't pay homage to him or treat him with respect. I'll be mad. He don't get mad or whatever, but I watch everything online. And I analyze it. And if and anybody go against him, I'm going against them too.
Angela Yee
I was going to ask, does the book. Because you said, you know, seeing people come up to you with the book is, like, a great feeling for you. Does the book make you feel like a. A. A superhero versus, like, music didn't. Because we talked about, like, our OG, like, rappers being, like, superhero size, which a lot of people. I feel like they look at you that way.
Gucci Mane
I'm super proud of being an author. You know what I'm saying? I read a lot of books. I read people. Judges don't know that about me, but I read a ton of books. You know what I'm saying? I probably read two, three books a month. You know what I'm saying?
Charlamagne Tha God
Big Malcolm Gladwell fan. You are huge.
Gucci Mane
Big Malcolm Gladwell fan. You know what I'm saying? He just did a book, Revenge of the Tipping Point, that I read, that I love, you know? But I'm proud of being an author because I love books. And so it's like. It's a different thing than being a rapper. That's what I'm saying. I want to make some more books. I like being a prolific author. I'm trying to have more books than Charlamagne. I think we tired by now.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, we tired. I got three. Yep.
Gucci Mane
Yep.
Charlamagne Tha God
I want to see Keisha write a book. I really do, because I'm telling you, man, people who have to deal with those of us with mental health issues don't tell their stories enough.
Keisha K
I think it's harder being me than him going through an episode because it's scary. Like, we had a condo. We were on the penthouse. And I'm like, shit, is he gonna jump? Is the voice gonna tell him to jump? Like, that's the scary part. Not me being scared of him hurting me. So, like, during episodes, I make sure no one is around him with guns, knives, high buildings. But he wouldn't leave that. That's where I had to kidnap him from. He would not leave there. He wouldn't come to the house. And I'm like, I had to get, like, a babysitter for him because he hated me. Different episodes, he hate different people, that if you have an episode where he hates me, that's a problem. He hated me. He wouldn't come home. He got the damn balcony. And I'm like, is the voice gonna tell him I can't sleep at night? Right? I have to. What is he doing now? Did he eat today? Like, I have to play games with his friends. From Atlanta, who he want to be with. And. And then I'm like, don't give him any weed. Throw it in the garbage. They call me back, oh, he needs weed. I gave him weed today. I said, no, you didn't. You know, like, stuff like that. It's hard. It's so, so, so, so stressful. Like, you want to cry.
Angela Yee
Yeah.
Keisha K
And I cannot read that book. It's too sad. It's too much for me. It's too. I don't read it. I read probably, like, three pages, and I had to quit.
Charlamagne Tha God
What about. What about you, Gooch? When you got to relive all of that?
Gucci Mane
It almost made me cry, too. My autobiography almost made me cry, and this book almost made me cry.
Keisha K
Not almost made him cry. That book was putting him through an episode that I caught about day one.
Charlamagne Tha God
So revisiting the trauma, it puts him back.
Gucci Mane
It do, bro. I can't lie. Especially the Beltsman, Alabama part. It's like, damn, that take me back down.
Angela Yee
Yeah.
Gucci Mane
You know, it's like, then I started thinking about, you know, when I was young, my granddad and my mom, like, damn, we was poor. Damn. Like, I don't. I don't think about that no more. You know what I'm saying? That was like, I know we were poor, but it ain't like nothing I dwell on when you go back to think about it like, damn, man, we're in the racist ass town. We poor as hell. You know, staying with my granddad, me and my mom, my brothers. Like, we have shit. Yeah, we have shit.
Charlamagne Tha God
So how do you protect yourself while revisiting that trauma?
Angela Yee
And on a press run.
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah. And how do you. How do you protect them, Keisha?
Keisha K
Well, the press run doesn't bother him. It's just like when he was writing the book because he has to keep saying these things over and over and over. And actually, this was my idea. I was like, you need to do a movie called Episodes and let people know what's going on. I said, I can tell you everything you've done through your Episodes. Because he doesn't remember. And I was telling him how to make the movie. And that's how.
Gucci Mane
That's how we started with the book, because she told me to make a movie.
Keisha K
As soon as he had the episode, I was like, this. People need to see this. I said it. I said, you don't have to use your name. Let's just say you're.
DJ Envy
No.
Gucci Mane
You said, you know, have you ever seen that movie that's about mental health with dying Is it Diane? I've seen a movie about mental health with Diana Ross, and you need to do a movie about Elvis. That's how I went. But I can't remember. It's like, it's old Diana Ross play Billie Holiday, and they say Bill Holiday had mental health issues.
Charlamagne Tha God
Oh, lady Sing the Blues.
Gucci Mane
She saw that. She saw that movie and then she was like, you need to make a. Make a move about yourself with the episodes.
Charlamagne Tha God
Wow. Did you ever have to tell Kathy you need a break? Like, yo, man, let's. Let's take a break.
Gucci Mane
No, I never tell her. I just. I just ain't gonna lie with therapeutic. I like doing it. I was having fun doing it because it was like, even, like, okay, when I was talking to Rocco and talking to Juice and they were telling me stuff that I did, I had to tell them, like, Brian, I don't remember. Like, Rocco, like, you don't remember what's in Vegas? And you had told me to come to the room. I told you. I'm like. I'm like, rock. I'm telling you, I don't remember. I was going through episode doing. He like, damn, bro. For real. He didn't. He didn't. Of course he didn't know. Yeah.
Charlamagne Tha God
You know, and Paul, Zaytoven, man, I would have never let you in the studio.
Gucci Mane
You know, he's so sanctified, him and his family. It's like, you don't bring nothing over their house. They like the church. The house is like going to church. You know what I mean? You don't bring drugs there. You don't bring beef there. You don't bring nothing. Now you just come there with good intention. It's all good. It's a bit. It's a. That's when you see, like, that family unit. You see that at, say, house, you know what I'm saying? You see somebody. You see a mother and a father who really care about their child, which is they and the game. Whole basement studio right there for him to create with his friend. Like, you can't even bring that over there.
Charlamagne Tha God
But you could tell he loved you, though, because he. Yes, he would answer every call. You would come over and he'd be like, man, what's wrong with you?
Gucci Mane
Say one of my. That's one of my best friends ever like that. Like, I love Zane for that. Like, he always opened his doors for me. He knew I'd be going through stuff. Like, he never held that against me. He always Room for me. Like, if anybody ever had my back, like, far as Music like, they had my back. Yeah.
DJ Envy
I wanted to ask, you know, what was. What is your vice now, right? Is it working out? Is it the family? Is it praying? Like, what's what gets you away?
Gucci Mane
Working out is advice. Yeah, working. I work out six. Six days out the week. Sometimes two times. Two times a day.
Keisha K
That definitely helps with the mental health.
Gucci Mane
Yeah.
Keisha K
Shopping out?
Gucci Mane
No, not really. Shop. I don't shop no more. I don't even. Like, I don't even buy cars. Like, I used to buy cars every year. Like, you know, switching my life down. Now I ain't bought a car since 2020. I suggest you got one funnel and I take the kids to school in the final.
Charlamagne Tha God
That was a while since that, Carter.
Gucci Mane
That's right.
Charlamagne Tha God
In the book. You said something. I'm like, there's no way. You said you used to spend just as much money on drugs as cars and jewelry.
Gucci Mane
I did, man. Lynn used to be so high. I used to be. I'm like, I used to have so much we. You know, remember? Like, I got a studio. I got all the artists, so I would supply everybody. Yeah, I got Lean and Weed for us. That's why they never used to leave the studio. Yeah, they come over there, just like a party house.
Keisha K
Then when I go there, the lean is in. Juice bar.
Gucci Mane
Yeah, we switch it up.
Keisha K
He's not allowed to drink around me.
Gucci Mane
I switch it up. So I put it in. I put it in juices.
Keisha K
What if I was to drink it?
Gucci Mane
You don't drink juice.
Keisha K
So I was being tricked back then, because when I go there, it's like, oh, she's here. Hair. Put the lean up. But now that we didn't live together then. Yeah, but now he. I mean, he would never. But wow.
Angela Yee
You just.
Charlamagne Tha God
We all married the beautiful black women. But I want Gucci. You tell me, how important is it to have a good woman, man?
Gucci Mane
It's the most important thing you can have. It's the best decision you can make. My best decision ever was to marry her and be with her. Like, I got somebody to, you know, hold me accountable, and I got somebody, you know, watch TV with. Sometimes that's all you want to do. Just sit back and chill, bro. I'm kind of like, I don't really need a lot.
Keisha K
We like. We just like best friends. And we just home just chilling. And we. Everything we do, we have it in common. We like the same food, the same shows. We both bored. We like to just go to bed.
Gucci Mane
Stay at the house.
Angela Yee
Well, Keisha, I want to say, you Know, watching y', all, like, from afar, you have. You've been so strong throughout all of this. We would have never known how much you were taking on because you also have, like, the businesses you were doing at the same time. Like, did you. Do you feel. Because there's a whole, like, lane of women who do, like, the makeup, like Keisha K. Or. And because of the products that you were doing, do you feel that impact as well while holding all this down? Do you feel that for yourself sometimes?
Keisha K
No, I'm really strong, you know, and I still. Still do my makeup.
Angela Yee
Yes.
Keisha K
I have my company. I still. I still do everything. I. I have, like a schedule. I have everything down that I do daily, and I still do. Even during his episodes, I still get myself.
Angela Yee
How you did all of this because Keisha Kor cosmetics literally influenced such a generation.
Keisha K
The.
Angela Yee
The hairstyles, the clothing, like, and people. I mean, people know, but I don't know if they talk about that enough with you. But then you're also holding down all this stuff as well, too.
Keisha K
Yeah.
Angela Yee
Like, God bless you.
Keisha K
I have to thank. Thank you and thank you, God.
Charlamagne Tha God
Do you think your healing journey is over, Gooch, or is it still working?
Gucci Mane
No, I know even like we talk about from the verses to now, like, I knew I'm matured a lot from 2020 to 2025. I'm still growing and it's in a good way, you know what I'm saying? Like, don't really nothing get me mad no more, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't hold on to petty beast. I don't hold on to grievances. I don't care about slights. I ain't used to be like that, you know what I'm saying now it's like I'm in a real calm space, you know, but it ain't even. That's just who I am now. It ain't who I'm trying to be, you know what I'm saying? That's who I grown to be.
Charlamagne Tha God
If you could redefine what it means to be real in hip hop culture, what new code would you give that this new generation?
Gucci Mane
Oh, man, I let them know, like, they talking about their hood, but the best hood is fatherhood. That's right, you know, that's what I'm most proud of, you know what I'm saying? I love. I love being in called that, you know, I love being a present dad. That's like, I didn't even know that it was so much joy in raising kids. That it is. But you know what I'm saying, like, raising the family had changed me. It has changed for the better, man.
Charlamagne Tha God
It's interesting. Have you spoken to, like, other artists that are on the healing journey? Like, we had little John up here. You can see the trend. You know, I've seen that he on his healing journey. You know, even people like Jeezy. Do y'.
Keisha K
All.
Charlamagne Tha God
Do y' all speak about that? How far y' all come?
Gucci Mane
Probably like me and Zay, Mike, Will Metro. Yeah, we just spoke about that.
Charlamagne Tha God
All right, so what does peace feel like for you right now?
Gucci Mane
Peace feels like just, you know, running my label, being with my family, being content with what I did in the industry, you know what I'm saying? And just keep building. I love it.
Charlamagne Tha God
What does piece feel like for you, Keisha?
Keisha K
I like to see him. Well, I. I don't like to see him, like, stuff stressed out. That's why in my interview with Carlos, I said, only thing he got to do is shower and go to the studio. I don't allow him to do anything else because I don't want him. He can't handle stress, cuz stress is a trigger, and stress brings on episodes. So I don't allow any stress. He just be calm, wake up, go to bed early, take care of the kids, go to the studio, and that's it.
DJ Envy
I was gonna say they criticize about that, but I think people don't understand because they're not in a good union. Right?
Charlamagne Tha God
Yeah, they're not even.
Angela Yee
I think reading the book and hearing the journey that you guys have been on behind the scenes that a lot of people didn't know about, I was sitting here thinking, like, you. You created a safe space for him.
Keisha K
Yeah, I did.
DJ Envy
But that's what marriage. That's marriage.
Keisha K
Him out of Atlanta. And he didn't want that either. He wanted to go back to Atlanta. And I'm, like, going where? He got another house in Atlanta, and I refused to go there with him. So, like, I have to just put my foot down. So we got rid of the house.
Gucci Mane
He never would go to the house.
Keisha K
And if I go to Atlanta, I stay in a hotel. We're not living. This is not good for you.
DJ Envy
I was gonna say they got on you for that. But like I said, people don't understand union.
Gucci Mane
Right.
DJ Envy
And the reason I say that is I'm sure Gucci's whole thing is, I want to make sure my wife is good. I want to make sure my family is good. I want to protect her from the Outside thing. But as a wife, you're the total opposite. I want to make sure he's okay. I want to make sure he's not going to have a stressful. I want to make sure he can work and whatever it takes to do that. That's what a wife does. That's what my wife does. That's what his wife does. But that's what a union is. And most people who don't have a.
Keisha K
Union, they don't get it. And every marriage relationship is different. You might have a relationship where you have to take care of your wife.
Angela Yee
Right?
Keisha K
But I have to. My husband takes very good care of me. I'm not need or want for anything, but I have to take care of him first because he has mental health issues. I don't. I'm stronger than he is.
DJ Envy
Well, the biggest thing. We appreciate you for joining us. I just want to say the biggest thing that made me so happy is when you see Gucci talk about his kids. I don't know if you see the smile on his face.
Keisha K
Oh, my God. He's in love with them. Joy. Oh, my God.
DJ Envy
He starts smiling and start grinning. He like, I can't wait to get back and get to my. My son's this my daughter.
Gucci Mane
Like, that is the biggest thing.
Johnny Knoxville
And I love seeing it.
Keisha K
I smile him right now. He'll leave.
Gucci Mane
I love it. I love it.
Charlamagne Tha God
Do you feel like a generational curse breaker?
Gucci Mane
Yes. Yes. I know my little boy. He gonna inherit all this. He got so much. He's so turned up. He got trust fund, baby.
DJ Envy
Ain't nothing wrong with it. Ain't nothing wrong with it.
Angela Yee
Oh, he know. He said it with a smile.
DJ Envy
Ain't nothing wrong with it.
Gucci Mane
That's right, man.
Charlamagne Tha God
Go get Episodes, The Diary of a Recovering Madman. There's some books that are good. This is good. But it's also important, man.
DJ Envy
It is important.
Gucci Mane
And my album out today, too. Sh.
DJ Envy
That's right.
Charlamagne Tha God
Episode. I ain't even get to the album yet.
Gucci Mane
I didn't even get to read the book.
Keisha K
I ain't get to alb today.
DJ Envy
Well, let's get to a joint off the album. What you want to hear off the album?
Gucci Mane
Voices. Voices.
DJ Envy
It's Gucci, man. Keisha Ko. Thank you so much for joining us. Now, Gucci, I know you don't come out, but every couple of years. But you got to come back. I know you will. Every once in a while you got.
Angela Yee
To come back with Pushy. I want to.
Gucci Mane
I bring him.
DJ Envy
Yeah, you used to listen to the Breakfast Club. In the morning when you worked out. I don't know if you still do.
Gucci Mane
But you gotta come back. I listen to y' all every day before I go to the gym. And my favorite part is the positive note of the day.
Charlamagne Tha God
There we go.
Keisha K
No, Charlemagne, he loves that. He listens to all your positive.
Gucci Mane
As soon as I'm going to the gym, we're on the gym. We listen to y', all, but it's like the positive day. Hey, stop. Let me hear what he say. That's what it is. All right.
DJ Envy
It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.
Charlamagne Tha God
Every day I wake up.
Gucci Mane
Wake your ass up.
Charlamagne Tha God
The Breakfast Club. Do y' all finish or y' all done?
Johnny Knoxville
Hello, America's sweetheart. Johnny Knoxville here. I want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless Hillbilly Heist from Smartless Media, Campside Media and big Money Players. It's a wild tale about a gang of high functioning nitwits who somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist.
Gucci Mane
Kind of like Robin Hood, except for the where he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. I'm not that generous.
Johnny Knoxville
It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing.
Gucci Mane
They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket to help him escape. So we're sitting like, oh, God, what do we do?
DJ Envy
What do we do?
Gucci Mane
That was dumb. People, do not follow my example.
Johnny Knoxville
Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Ed Helms
Hey, it's Ed Helms, host of Snafu, my podcast about history's greatest screw ups. On our new season, we're bringing you a new Snafu Every single episode.
Maggie Freeling
32 lost nuclear weapons. You're like, wait, stop.
Angela Yee
What?
Ed Helms
Yes. It's gonna be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot lot of fabulous guests. Paul Scheer, Angela and Jenna, Nick Kroll, Jordan Klepper. Listen to season four of SNAFU with Ed Helms on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Keisha K
Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over. But one of them will end up.
Gucci Mane
Dead and the other tried for murder three times. It starts with a dream. A nature reserve and a spectacular new home.
Keisha K
But little by little, they lose it.
Gucci Mane
They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts.
Keisha K
Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven. On the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Maggie Freeling
The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
Gucci Mane
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.
Maggie Freeling
Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
Keisha K
This is an iHeart podcast.
Podcast Summary: The Breakfast Club Interview: Gucci Mane & Keyshia Ka'oir Open Up About Schizophrenia, Controlling Mental Health Episodes + More Date: October 20, 2025
This episode dives deep into Gucci Mane and his wife Keyshia Ka'oir’s journey through his struggle with mental health, particularly schizophrenia and manic episodes. The couple discusses the impact on their marriage and family, the process of healing and accountability, and the lessons they hope to share with the community. The conversation is anchored around Gucci Mane’s new book, “Episodes: The Diary of a Recovering Madman,” and covers both their darkest moments and their ongoing path toward healing and peace.
The episode is honest, vulnerable, and occasionally raw, but always grounded in love and mutual respect. Gucci Mane and Keyshia are candid about the pain, shame, and difficulty, while often infusing humor and warmth, especially when discussing their relationship and children. The hosts are supportive, sometimes awed by their guests’ openness.
A moving and insightful episode highly recommended for anyone interested in hip hop, mental health, or the power of love and accountability.