'Gucci Mane' by Jessie Murph – Lyrics & Meaning

Jessie Murph has been steadily teasing music from her impending sophomore album and the follow-up to 2024's That Ain't No Man, That's The Devil.

Her most recent offering – and likely her most personal to date – comes in the form of 'Gucci Mane'. Namedropping the iconic rapper and interpolating his 2009 anthem 'Lemonade' within the song, Murph crafts a hypnotic new number, one that finds her pulling from her past, pondering her choices and battling a few demons along the way.

If 'Gucci Mane' is telling of what's to come from the genre-blurring star, fans are in for a treat.

Using Gucci Mane's 'Lemonade' as the backdrop, Murph's new tune is punctuated by the 2009 hit's erratic keys. She goes on to layer those shimmery, pace-setting notes with full-bodied steel and guttural bass. Cymbal crashes and moaning strings soon join the mix, creating a wash of atmospheric sounds, and ultimately, a song that echoes Murph's past pains and trepidation for the future.

"I’m from Alabama
I’m about 4’11
I’ve got a shitty father
And I’d like to go to heaven
Internally I’m scrappy
But I’m afraid to fight
I prefer to keep my hoops in
So I stay in at night"

'Gucci Mane' begins with Murph introducing herself, laying out for fans a map of where she's been as she charts the road ahead. She rattles off a few facts, stating where she came from and her height, adding that she had a not-so great father and that she's doing her best to get to heaven.

She seems to know a great deal about herself and her character, like the fact that she's scrappy but hates to fight, preferring to stay in at night. However, there are some things, some very big details, about herself that are harder for her to grasp.

In the song, she sings, "They tell me not to falter / To tell them who I am / But I’m not fucking sure."

There is one thing she is certain of, though: "I know I love shitty men." She sings that they are likely the reason for the state that she's currently in.

"Sometimes in the morning
I feel bad when I get up
And I look around my house
And I look at all the stuff
I get to feeling guilty
And I think about my mom
I’m the first one in my family to see a million bucks"

It seems like since finding fame, the young star becoming more and more disillusioned with it all – the money, the nice things, this newfound lifestyle. Even with all this stuff, she's still lost, unsure of who exactly she is.

It's not something she's willing to be open to anyone about, preferring to put it all down on paper and turn it, eventually, into a song. She insists in her husky tone, "I don’t want to talk about it / I’d rather write my way around it / Cus I don’t want to talk about it / I don’t like the way it’s sounding / And I don’t know no one around here / And I don’t want to talk about it / I don’t want to talk about it."

She spends much of the song in deep contemplation, with the constant thought of either "Losing all I’ve ever had / Losing all I ever fought for" or wondering what all of this is really for.

She appears to be closely observing her past – she sings of writing songs about her father and "the fucked up shit he did" – while also attempting to reconcile with all she's been through, singing about how she's "learning to forgive."

"I would like to not be bitter
Yeah now I take that back
And I prefer it sweet but still I take my coffee black
It is 4 in the morning
And I wake up in a sweat
Paranoid that someone’s there
It’s only ever just the wind"

Murph seems to be trying to deal with it all on her own, attempting to forgive, forget and ease some of the bitterness she's been battling. She continues to sing about how she'd much rather work it out in a song, reiterating "I don’t want to talk about it / I’d rather write my way around it / Cus I don’t want to talk about it."

By the end of the tune, she finds herself on the cusp of figuring it all out, on the verge of finally pinpointing who she is and who she wants to be, and "What the hell to do with love / And what the hell to do without." If it takes writing more songs to fully work it all out, we'll be here to gladly welcome the album when it comes.

"Somehow now I’m 20
And I’m trying to figure out
What the hell to do with love
And what the hell to do without
I walk in with my head high
I feel like a tall child
I sampled “Lemonade” to make Gucci Mane proud"

I’m from Alabama
I’m about 4’11
I’ve got a shitty father
And I’d like to go to heaven
Internally I’m scrappy
But I’m afraid to fight
I prefer to keep my hoops in
So I stay in at night

They tell me not to falter
To tell them who I am
But I’m not fucking sure
I know I love shitty men

They normally contribute to the state that I’m in
This place that I’m in
This fucking state that I’m in

Sometimes in the morning
I feel bad when I get up
And I look around my house
And I look at all the stuff
I get to feeling guilty
And I think about my mom
I’m the first one in my family to see a million bucks

I don’t want to talk about it
I’d rather write my way around it
Cus I don’t want to talk about it

I don’t like the way it’s sounding
And I don’t know no one around here
And I don’t want to talk about it
I don’t want to talk about it

I’m not much of a cooker
But I like to make my pasta
I throw it in a pot
And I mix it with the thought
Of losing all I’ve ever had
Losing all I ever fought for
And then I get high
And I wonder what it’s all for

I write songs about my father
And the fucked up shit he did
But I take one out the chamber cus I’m learning to forgive
I would rather not throw him right up under the bus
Though I used to wish some days that he’d get hit by that bus

I would like to not be bitter
Yeah now I take that back
And I prefer it sweet but still I take my coffee black
It is 4 in the morning
And I wake up in a sweat
Paranoid that someone’s there
It’s only ever just the wind

I don’t want to talk about it
I wanna write my way around it
No I don’t want to talk about it

I don’t like the way it’s sounding
And I don’t know no one around here
And I don’t want to talk about it

Somehow now I’m 20
And I’m trying to figure out
What the hell to do with love
And what the hell to do without
I walk in with my head high
I feel like a tall child
I sampled “Lemonade” to make Gucci Mane proud

--

For more on Jessie Murph, see below: