Gucci's Appeal In Hip-Hop, A Brief History

From Dapper Dan to Facial tattoos the Gucci brand has enjoyed preferred status in the ‘hood for decades.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when hip-hop fans became obsessed with the high-end label but there is no denying its popularity. With rapper Gucci Mane’s new album The Appeal coming out on September 28th TheUrbandDaily.com wanted to take a quick look back to the “appeal” of his namesake over the years.

Gucci Man

Yes, before there was Gucci Mane there was a rapper named Gucci Man. Sam Jacobs, Jr. originally went by MC Holiday and released a 12″ single in 1986 called…”The Gucci Man.” Jacobs also produced the hit “Nightmares” for Dana Dane. The alumnus of Music and Art High School died in 2008.

Dapper Dan

The Harlem born hustler and stylist made a great career making customized Gucci sweatsuits and jackets. His shop on 125th st was open for 24 hours a day for eight years. His clientele included Mike Tyson, Big Daddy Kane, Salt-N-Pepa and Rakim.

“All of my customers were gangsters,” Dapper Dan said in an interview with his son. “And the rappers wanted to look like the gangsters. But they didn’t always have the money. Their video budgets were $5000 that’s why they’d have to wait. I used to have to let them owe me. LL you still owe like $2200!”

The Gucci Crew

The Gucci Crew II was a Miami Bass group popular between 1986 and 1994. The group was made up of MC V and TFS (aka 240 Shorty), along with Disco Rick, who was their DJ early on. Their first song, “Gucci Bass”, was inspired by LL Cool J‘s “Rock the Bells”, but they’re breakout hit was “What Time is It? Gucci Time.” So now you know here Swizz got some of the inspiration for his collabo with Gucci Mane, “Gucci Time.”

Schoolly D “Gucci Time”

This classic from 1986 was on Schoolly’s debut album on Jive Records.

The Gucci Boys

In 1987 The Gucci Boys released a single called “Blockhead” based on the Peanuts character Charlie Brown.

S.Carter Reeboks

In 2003 Jay-Z introduced his signature brand of Reebok Sneakers, “S.Carter” which many saw as a tribute to old Gucci sneakers. “The S.Carter was a big moment, not just in the sneaker world, but in the hip-hop world,” Bun B told Complex magazine. “Shout out to the Gucci model that it’s based on, which actually just got re-released a couple months ago.”

Gucci Mane

In 2005 Alabama Born, Atlanta based rapper Radric Davis released his first project Trap House under the name Gucci Mane. One of his biggest hits from that album, “Icy” featured Young Jeezy and Boo of the rap group Boo & Gotti.

“Gucci Bandana”

In 2008 Soulja Boy put out the the single “Gucci Bandana” from his second album, “I Soulja Boy Tell’em.”