Rapper Gucci Mane will headline this year’s University Union Block Party at the Carrier Dome on April 27. Opening for Mane are R&B singer-songwriter SZA and DJ Medasin.

Tickets for full-time Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF students go on sale Monday at noon until Wednesday at 11:45 p.m. online, according to a University Union press release. Here are five things to know about Gucci Mane before his performance at SU:

His real name isn’t actually Gucci Mane

Born Radric Davis, he got his stage name from a nickname that his grandmother gave his father. Davis was born in 1980 in Alabama but moved to Atlanta in fourth grade with his mother and older brother. For a brief period he considered changing his stage name to Guwop, according to an article from The Fader.

He’s considered a founder of the hip-hop subgenre known as trap music

NPR called Mane a “founding father of trap music” in a September 2017 interview while discussing his life and career after the release of “The Autobiography of Gucci Mane.” In 2001 he released his first underground album “Str8 Drop Records Presents Gucci Mane La Flare” and since then has released mixtapes, singles, collaborations and studio albums, according to NPR.

His latest album, “El Gato: The Human Glacier,” was released in December 2017, and he plans to release a new album later this year according to XXL Magazine.

He served time in federal prison

Mane was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in 2014 and was released in May 2016, according to The Fader. While in prison, he started writing his autobiography “The Autobiography of Gucci Mane.”

He’s married to Keyshia Ka’oir

The couple met on the set of Mane’s 2010 music video “911 Emergency” and got married in October 2017. The model has her own cosmetic product and fitness lines called “Ka’oir” as well as a fitness Instagram account called @kaoirfitness that has about 268,000 followers.

The couple’s wedding aired on BET as part of a ten-part special called “The Mane Event,” which followed the couple as they planned their nuptials. For reasons unknown, neither Mane’s brother nor his mother were invited to the wedding, according to XXL Magazine.

“The Autobiography of Gucci Mane” will be turned into a movie

In January, the rapper announced via Twitter that his book “The Autobiography of Gucci Mane” will be turned into a film, but a release date has not been named. The book was released in September 2017 and is co-written by music journalist Neil Martinez-Belkin.

The book debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times bestseller list and is a “vivid account of the Alabama-born rapper’s personal and professional formative years up to his rise as a rap star,” according to an article from XXL Magazine.

Published on April 8, 2018 at 6:11 pm