Davis was born on February 12, 1980, in Bessemer, Alabama, to former U.S serviceman and power plant worker Ralph Everett Dudley (born 1955),^[9] and social worker and teacher Vicky Jean Davis (born 1955).^[10] Davis's family had a strong military background. His paternal grandfather, James Dudley Sr. served in the military for twelve years, including during World War II, as a chef,^[11] and his maternal grandfather, Walter Lee Davis, served in the Pacific during World War II and on the USS South Dakota.^[10]Davis's father also served in the military, being stationed in Korea for two years.^[10]

Davis's parents met in 1978; Davis's mother had a son, Victor Davis, from another relationship. When Davis was born, his father was on the run from the police for dealing crack cocaine and heroin,^[12]and had fled to Detroit, Michigan.^[13] Davis's father was not present to sign the birth certificate, and Davis took his mother's last name.^[14]

Growing up, Davis was raised by his paternal grandmother while his mother attended college to get her degree.^[15] Davis's mother was a teacher who taught him to read at a young age, and spent most of her time teaching him scriptures from the Bible.^[16] Davis's first school was Jonesboro Elementary, where he attended kindergarten and the first several grades of elementary school.^[12]His older half-brother Victor introduced Davis to hip hop when Davis was six years old by bringing Davis to a Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and LL Cool Jconcert.^[17] Before moving to Atlanta with his mother, Davis had a distant relationship with his father, who would visit at irregular intervals;^[18] the visits stopped when Davis's father had two children with another woman and began to prioritize his children in Atlanta over Davis.^[19]

Davis moved with his single mother to Atlantawhen he was nine years old due to family problems in Bessemer. Davis's mother had a boyfriend in Atlanta and planned to move in with him, but she decided otherwise at the last minute. They later moved in with someone Davis's mother met in church.^[20] Davis's family was kicked out of the house and did not have a stable living environment until his father set them up in a Knights Inn.^[19] Davis grew up in an area which was high in crime.^[21]

Davis's mother moved Davis and Victor to East Atlanta and Davis attended Cedar Grove Elementary School.^[16] He was generally good in school and considered himself athletic although he did not participate in school sports.^[12] Davis dealt drugs, mainly selling cannabis with his older brother. Davis sold cannabis on his own and ended up using his Christmas money to acquire crack cocaine while in the eighth grade, starting his career as a drug dealer.^[22]

By the time Davis began taking his side hobby as a drug dealer as a career, he was a freshman at Ronald E. McNair High School, where he got good grades and was considered popular among his peers.^[23] Davis never actually took drugs for the first few years that he was dealing drugs, though his first experience was smoking cannabis with a girl he had a crush on. He entered a friends-with-benefits arrangement with the girl with whom he regularly smoked cannabis, leading to a slight psychological addiction.^[24]

Even though Davis had been selling drugs for nearly two years by 1995, he had never encountered a violent situation. When he was 15, Davis was riding his push bicycle when a man stopped him and pointed a Desert Eagle at his head. Davis was robbed of all valuable items following the encounter^[25] and began to carry a .380 caliber handgun.^[26] Davis had numerous other life-threatening situations, including a feud with a local street gang who called themselves "the East Shoals Boys" in 1997. The feud resulted in Davis's friend Javon being beaten close to death^[27] and adult men walking into McNair High School looking for Davis.^[28] The feud resolved itself when Davis and several friends got into a fistfight with members of the East Shoals Boys, who have since then left Davis alone.^[29]

Davis graduated from McNair High School in 1998 with a 3.0 GPA and a HOPE Scholarship to Georgia Perimeter College. He took a computer programming course, though he rarely attended and was kicked out in 2001^[30] after being caught in possession of crack cocaine by an undercover police officer.^[31] Davis was sentenced to 90 days in a county jail and then probation.^[31]

Davis enjoyed writing poetry at a young age, and began rapping at the age of 14.^[2] Following his first arrest, Davis began to take music seriously and released La Flare on Str8 Drop Records. It was pressed onto about 1000 CDs and distributed throughout East Atlanta.^[32] Following the release of La Flare, and being inspired by Master P, Davis decided he wanted to start a music label.^[33]Davis began to manage rapper Lil Buddy in 2001.^[34] In 2002, Davis linked up with SYS Records as a member of the Sign Yourself Click. Davis also linked up with producer Zaytoven and made his own label, LaFlare Entertainment.^[35]

After heading to New York in search of a distribution deal and returning home empty, he was introduced to Big Cat, the head of Big Cat Records. Ultimately deciding to form an alliance with the label that brought Khia to prominence, Davis released the song "Black Tee", a response to the Dem Franchize Boyz hit record, "White Tee", as well as a collaboration with fellow rising local rapper Young Jeezy with "So Icy."^[35]Securing a distribution deal with Tommy Boy Records, Davis continued to work the underground while preparing for the release of his debut album.

In 2005, Davis released his independent debut album entitled Trap House, which featured the single "Icy" with Young Jeezy. Disputes over the rights to this single caused a rift between the two artists. Trap House was considered a success for an independent artist. The album crept into the Top 20 of the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and landed at the top spot on the Billboard Heatseekers Album chart. Guest appearances include Bun B, Killer Mike, Lil Scrappy, Jody Breeze and Khujo of Goodie Mobb. Hard to Killfollowed in 2006. It included the hit single "Freaky Gurl", which peaked at number 12 on the Hot Rap Tracks, number 19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also shot videos for the tracks "Street Nigazzz"^[36] and "Pillz."^[37]

The official remix of "Freaky Gurl" featuring Ludacris and Lil' Kim was included on his 2007 commercial debut album, Back to the Trap House. Gucci Mane appeared on OJ da Juiceman's "Make Tha Trap Say Aye" and began working on various mixtapes.^[38] Following the success of his mixtapes Bird Money and Writing on the Wall, Gucci Mane signed to Warner Bros. Records in May 2009.^[39]

He appeared on remixes of the songs "Boom Boom Pow" by The Black Eyed Peas, "Obsessed" by Mariah Carey and "5 Star Chick" by Yo Gottiand made a guest appearance on Mario's "Break Up." He made a total of 17 guest appearances in 2009. Gucci Mane's second studio album, The State vs. Radric Davis, was released by Warner Bros. Records on December 8, 2009. Its first single, "Wasted" featuring Plies, was originally from Gucci Mane's 2009 mixtape Guccimania.^[40]It peaked at number 36 on the Hot 100, number 3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and number 3 on the Rap Songs, making it Gucci Mane's most successful single to date. The second single was "Spotlight" featuring Usher. The third single was "Lemonade." The fourth single was "Bingo", featuring Waka Flocka Flame and Soulja Boy. On October 2, 2009, Gucci Mane was listed at number 6 on MTV's annual Hottest MC in the Game list.^[41]

After being released from jail,^{[clarification needed]}Gucci Mane stated that he would start or change the label name from So Icey Entertainment to 1017 Brick Squad Records. The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted, was released on September 28, 2010.^[42]The first single from this release was "Gucci Time",^[43] produced by and featuring Swizz Beatz. It premiered on Gucci Mane's MySpace page on August 6^[44] and was released to US urban radio stations on August 24, 2010.^[45]