Gucci Mane and Zaytoven have been working together since they both scored there first hit in 2005 with "Icy," and have developed their respective sounds together ever since. Since 2013, Gucci Mane has been behind bars, unable to record music (though constantly releasing songs from his stash), while Zay has been further fine-tuning his sound, adding his signature church-informed organ sound to mixtapes from Future, Migos, and more. Gucci was released last month, and has already released one song, "First Day Out Tha Feds," a sequel to his Zaytoven collabm "First Day Out". He and Zaytoven have now officially announced that they've been recording together, sharing a clip of the two jamming on Guwop's home piano. Judging by their recent material, it's clear that together, they still have the potential to make some great music. Until that happens, we're taking a look at their past glories. Click through the gallery to listen to 5 of Gucci and Zaytoven's most memorable collaborations.
"Pillz" (Hard To Kill, 2006)
Quotable: "East Atlanta slum man is where I come from/ Pass that bubble thrax and put this bean on your tongue/ Now everything was gravy 'til yo' bitch came in/ 'Bout the same time that that thang kicked in/ Now she ain't really pretty but she got a nice body/ I'm geeked up thinkin this Buffie The Body/ Ain't yo' name lil' Trina? Cause you look like Janet Jackson/ I'm off three double stacks and I'm lookin' for that action"
"Bitch I might be" is probably the most well-known Gucci phrase outside of his iconic collection of ad-libs, and it originates from "Pillz," a highlight from his 2006 independently released album, "Hard To Kill". Zaytoven handled production on all but two of the songs on the project, and this was one of them, supplying a dancing organ riff, accented by brash synth stabs. The hook is a call and response, as brushes off suggestions he's "rollin'" or "geek'd up," as his colorful MDMA tales remind us the molly era wasn't the first we heard about pills. His shoutout to Fabo reminds us of the song's relation to snap, Atlanta's most relevant movement around this time, and a possible influence on Gucci's knack for hooks that isn't talked about enough.
Bricks
"Bricks" (EA Sportscenter, 2008)
Quotable: "So Icy C.E.O., I'm a fool with the snow / They think I'm putting VVS jewels in the coke / My watch a cool hundred, paint-job a cold 20/ And after this flip, I'm quitting the trap cold-turkey... psych!"
EA Sportscenter was yet another Gucci project that had Zaytoven handling the majority of the production, and it contained one of the rapper's biggest street hits at the time, "Bricks". This is a perfect example of Gucci Mane's ability to manipulate, twisting them both in pronunciation and meaning as he crafts hooks out of a repetition -- something we'd later see artists like Future and Migos adopt in their own music. Meanwhile, Zaytoven lends his signature, church-trained organ squeals, informing the intensity of Guwop's flows throughout. The video is a reminder of Nicki Minaj's days working with Gucci as a client of Mizay entertainment -- one of the many artists Gucci would help throughout his career.
First Day Out
"First Day Out" (Writing On The Wall, 2009)
Quotable: "Gucci back, bitch, Yeah, I'm back bitch / Did you miss me or miss my raps bitch? / This that new shit, that county jail shit / That seventh floor Rice Street straight out a cell shit / You on my shit list, I'm on the Forbes list / Since I'm a rich nigga, I need a rich bitch / I gotta sick wrist it cost bout six bricks/ I'm on that slick shit, that Zone 6 shit"
Gucci just dropped "First Day Out Tha Feds," his comeback recording after spending three years in prison, and likely earning him some new fans. The newcomers may not realize that the song is actually a sequel to Gucci's "First Day Out," a 2009 track released just after serving previous jail time. While Mike WiLL, another early collaborator of Wop's, was behind the board on"Out Tha Feds," it was Zaytoven who came through with the beat for the Writing On The Wall original. His blistering, high-BPM instrumental has Gucci at his mosyt energetic, a delivery that peaked around the time of this tape before he settled into a slightly more reserved, but still very playful flow on his later work.
Make The Trap Say Aye
OJ Da Juiceman - "Make The Trap Say Aye (Feat. Gucci Mane)" (Single, 2008, The Otha Side Of The Trap, 2009)
Quotable: "The way my plug kick, you'd think he had a black belt/ My scale so big, Boy can weigh his damn self/ 2000 pounds of mid, I sold that shit my damn self/ Washer full of cash, dryer full of X pills/ Red rag in my pocket same color my 'Vette is"
Before Waka Flocka Flame would eventually take his spot, OJ Da Juiceman was Gucci Mane's protege, and "Make The Trap Say Aye" was his "O Let's Do It". Much like his mentor, Juice's single featured a catchy Zaytoven organ riff, and was heavy on the ad-libs. Unfortunately, Juice would never make the same impact as Gucci, which Gucci credited to his lack of focus on music. "He's still got one foot in the street... he already had money.. so he's spoiled... he doesn't have the drive a starving artist would have," Guwop said, very repectfully in his Breakfast Club interview. Still, OJ's single has proved to have staying power, and plays well up against any of Gucci's singles, plus, Guwop went off on his verse, delivering some complex rhyme schemes that sound deceptively effortless.
Icy
"Icy (Feat. Young Jeezy & Boo)" (Trap House, 2005)
Quotable: "Young Gucci Mane, don't kiss me baby you can kiss my chain / You gotta be a dime piece / Just to look at the rocks in my time piece / I come through in a drop top Jag / Or a Old-School Chevy with the antique tags"
Gucci Mane's "Icy" was an important for a number of reasons. The most obvious might be that its a rare collaboration between himself and Jeezy, who would later go on to be sworn enemies, but perhaps the more significant aspect of the single is that it was both Gucci Mane and Zaytoven's first hit, and came together in a rush of anxious energy. Zay recalled getting the call that he'd be getting in the studio with Gucci and Jeezy, and what transpired from there in an interview with Noisey.
I ran home, met him at my momma’s house, made the beat in, like, five minutes, and then we went down to the studio to meet Young Jeezy. We had to sit and wait for a while, so we were waiting to get him on the song and then play it. I was almost nervous to play my beat, because Gucci Mane hyped me up so much, like, “Man, Zaytoven, he the best!” and I’m like I don’t know, I’m from The Bay, I don’t even know if they’ll like my beat. So when we play the beat, he wasn’t even feelin’ it for real. We did the hook. Nobody wasn’t really feelin’ it. Until after the dude Lil’ Wheel sung the hook, you know, “All these girls excited.” Once he heard that and the beat going together, then you started looking around the studio and everybody in the studio got a pen and paper trying to write to get on the song.
To this day, Zay describes it as his favorite song he's been involved in, mainly due to it being a piece of Atlanta history, but in a way, each and every one of he and Gucci's collabs is in some way or another.