The Conversion of Gucci Mane
By Niela Orr
The Baffler
'Perhaps for some, Gucci’s jumping the broom felt too sudden a pivot from his old ways, from the days when he released the Trap House series of albums and mixtapes. This was the man, after all, who penned “Freaky Girl”—now he had brought his girl home to mama. To them this marriage, not to mention Gucci’s new lease on life, is highly suspicious. The whole scheme, in fact, risks alienating Gucci’s core fan base. Which is to say that the “Gucci is a clone” meme is internet catnip taken curiously far, but it is also the articulation of an idea that has historically been projected onto black people—the idea that we don’t have, or shouldn’t exercise, interior agency.'
By Niela Orr
The Baffler
'Perhaps for some, Gucci’s jumping the broom felt too sudden a pivot from his old ways, from the days when he released the Trap House series of albums and mixtapes. This was the man, after all, who penned “Freaky Girl”—now he had brought his girl home to mama. To them this marriage, not to mention Gucci’s new lease on life, is highly suspicious. The whole scheme, in fact, risks alienating Gucci’s core fan base. Which is to say that the “Gucci is a clone” meme is internet catnip taken curiously far, but it is also the articulation of an idea that has historically been projected onto black people—the idea that we don’t have, or shouldn’t exercise, interior agency.'
