Gucci Mane Talks Ice Cream Tattoo, Upcoming Projects

After a rough 2010, Gucci Mane tells Billboard magazine about overcoming his problems through music and the "Ice Cream Man" album named after his face tattoo.

In 2010, Gucci Mane was arrested twice—once for allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road and again during a raid on his protégé Waka Flocka Flame’s house. The charges in the moving vehicle violation case were eventually dropped, but Gucci found himself in custody. Gucci Mane eventually entered a plea of mental incompetency for his legal issues, and spent a stint in a Georgia mental institution. He emerged with new music, which he said is reflective of his experiences.

“When I was going through all the things I was going through…I just stayed in the studio,” Gucci told Jason Lipshutz of Billboard. “It definitely helped me. The studio is where I go to just let everything out. I can go and just speak my feelings and what’s on my mind—just get it off my chest.”

Upon his return, most were more interested in what was on Gucci’s right cheek—a large tattoo featuring three ice cream scoops with that generate red lightening bolts.

“Everybody wants to know why I got the tattoo, did it hurt...what it means,” Gucci added. “I jut tell them it’s my trademark. It represents being the coldest in the game.”

While Gucci’s boast is open to interpretation, the soft-serve tattoo sporting rapper did move 25,000 retail copies of what Warner/Asylum is calling the “soft-release” of his The Return of Mr. Zone 6 mixtape. And in the near future, Gucci says more of his time in the studio and the tattoo parlor will manfest itself on wax. In addition to a Ferrari Boys album with Waka Flocka Flame, Shawty Redd and FATBOI, Gucci will co-star in a movie with the original Ice Cream Man, Master P. He also says he wants to name his upcoming album The Ice Cream Man.