Gucci Mane Signed Young Thug Without Hearing His Songs
“I didn’t really know what I had with Thug, I was just taking a chance.”
[gallery columns="3"]In recent weeks, Gucci Mane has been enjoying his time as a fully-free man after appearing to be off of house arrest late September. The 1017 general has been hitting the road on a media run. His latest comes in the form of an interview with XXL for their fall cover story. In the conversation, one of the topics the Zone 6 rapper addressed was the process behind singing Young Thug to Brick Squad a few years ago. Recalling a studio session with fellow Atlanta rhymesayer Peewee Longway, Wizop shares:
“When Peewee 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.’”
Watch Gucci’s interview above, where he also shares his thoughts on the modern rap game’s new wave.