My first impression of Gucci Mane was that he is slow/retarded. He raps like he is reading the lyrics and having a hard time with that task-enunciating almost each syllable. But his song “Lemonade” stands out. First it’s not straightforward about hoes and kilin people; it takes an ordinary colorful food, uses figurative language to glorify it, but more importantly he interprets it, paints an inciting story that is at once vivid, and convoluted. First, Lemonade is a short for Liquid Hydrocodone. Gucci is referring to a drink with promethazine and codeine and sprite (or substitute)-Lemonade, which he is selling, and in the first verse explains he is movin’ slow because his lemonade has codeine. This realization becomes poignant when coupled with the way he raps, almost struggling to say the words, slowly, at times passively and other points adamantly. Either way the general tone is blurry, and drags on, as if he is not sure what will come out of his mind next conveying the influence of this drug/lemonade. for example in the start of the song he seems to randomly list yellow things that cross his mind:
“yellow errthing this time, you know what im talkin bout [not exactly?] yellow rims, yellow, big booty, yellowbones [wtf?]
yellow lambs,”
Second, and interestingly enough, selling lemonade is considered “an excuse for little kids to make money” by urban dictionary.com. Possibly to buy drugs or any other things that he lists in the song, he doesn’t even know, “woke up in the mornin, fuck it, bought a yellow aston martin. In the video he is selling lemonade to little kids and the chorus is hauntingly cute. The childish repetition of the chorus could indicate the customers, (mainly women) don’t know exactly what is in the lemonade, or why they hang out with Gucci, but they do because they see “it” like kids see candy, tasty, with no worries. Additionally he is selling this song which on some levels is stupid and defective, but arguably has a tasty sound. He takes selling lemonade, an innocent activity with good intentions, and transforms it into a sinful one. Intentions, content, meaning aside, the repetitive beat of the song indicates this doesn’t stop; it continues.
Third, lemon is “a person [or item] that proves to be defective, imperfect or unsatisfactory.” Him, his product, his song, his lifestyle?
Gucci makes sexual reference, including Lemons, which mean perky breasts. mentions they are watching him mix the lemonade throughout the song. also remember a lemon is “a fan-fiction that is based on an anime/manga or video game that is sexualy oriented.” An interesting and humorous part of the song is:
“she say i be killin her, i say i be feelin it
four days then im sick of her, cause her brain is lemonhead” killin here might not refer to dieing, but in the slang use of the word meaning to awe. either with his persona or his drink, and “i say i be feelin it” (yes i know that), like he is sick of her hanging around him, and four days later she gets annoying cause she a “lemonhead”-her brain is too defective, or intoxicated, or she keeps wanting to give him bj’s. This part is vague, which makes it funny.
At times the listener feels Gucci is just “trippin”, and Gucci even states this: “Gucci mane… …he dont got all he say he got.” in otherwords you are just listening to mumbo jumbo flowing from an intoxicated mind.
He ends the song cautioning that gucci rocks yellow.
