Gucci Mane has launched yet another new label and is ready to make his first signees millionaires overnight.
The rap mogul posted a video on Instagram on Thursday (July 4) announcing his new imprint, So Icy Millionaires, while also flexing $2 million in cash that he’s offering to the first artists who sign on the dotted line.
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“You got the Trap God right here. All these are $100,000 a pop,” he said while carrying stacks of money in the studio.
Guwop then proceeds to count the money in multiples of $100,000 before reaching a million dollars.
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“That’s what I’m willing to invest in my next superstar ’cause I’m starting a whole new label. Fresh! So Icy Millionaires,” he says. “So who you wanna join my new label ’cause I’m looking for my next male superstar.”
The camera then pans to Gucci’s wife Keyshia Ka’Oir who counts an additional $1 million, which is reserved for the label’s first female artist.
“I got a million for my next female superstar. I got a million for my next male superstar. Who wanna join the So Icy Millionaires? Hit my DM right now. Happy Fourth of July.”
Though the seven-figure offer is tantalizing, Gucci Mane’s labels have been plagued by issues in the past, leading to claims that his signees are “cursed.”
A number of 1017 artists, past and present, have seen jail time in recent years, including Pooh Shiesty, Foogiano, Hoodrich Paolo Juan and Mac Critter.
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Others have tragically died, most notably former signee Enchanting who passed away aged 26 earlier this year due to a drug overdose.
Joe Budden is among those who have taken notice of the trend and called Gucci’s A&R skills into question during an episode of his self-titled podcast last year.
“Who people are signing, how people are signing them, and why people are signing them needs to be under thorough examination I think from all parties involved in the music business,” he said.
“The same thing has happened in rap in the last decade where we have never seen this many people die. We have never seen this many shootings, stabbings, clique beef, arrests, RICOs. I have never seen it in Hip Hop.”
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“That conversation runs concurrent with, for me and the rest of the musicians, the death of the A&R. The death of musicianship. Those are together for me,” he continued.
“So when I say Gucci Mane’s scouting needs to be under examination, it’s because this is now, what? 8, 9, 10? I don’t know. A whole roster that is just suffering from the different strokes curse, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence anymore.”
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Gucci hit back at the criticism by saying: “I think that’s unfair for him to say that, but I guess he’s entitled to his opinion. But to me, who else gon’ give them a chance, y’know what I’m saying?
“Like, I’m not tryin’ to sign the guys who don’t need no help; I’m signing the guys who don’t nobody wanna sign. Who saying like, ‘Ooh, you got a criminal record, we gon’ stay away from you’ — them the guys I’m giving a chance.”
