Gucci Mane Discusses Drug Addiction & Painful Withdrawal In New York Times

Gucci Mane's a big deal in the rap community.

But he's never had a number one hit type album, and he's more of a fringe cult figure in the larger pop cultural landscape.

Is that changing?

Today, Gucci was the subject of a long profile in the New York Times.

In the article, Gucci discusses what a huge drug addict he'd been for his entire adult life, and how prison cleaned him up.

I felt like I couldn’t make music sober, I couldn’t enjoy my money sober. Why would I wanna go to a club and couldn’t smoke or drink? I felt like sex wouldn’t be good sober. I associated everything with being high. “In hindsight I see it for what it was: I was a drug addict,” he said. “I was naïve to the fact that I was numb.” “I can’t say I felt happy my last six, seven years in the music business,” he continued. “I was just numb. You told me that I was doing good or told me I was doing bad, you hated me or loved me, either which way I greeted with nonchalance. It was sincere nonchalance — like, I really didn’t care.”

Gucci says cleaning up wasn't easy and that withdrawal felt like "death."

However, getting sober in prison had some big advantages: There were fewer temptations and it allowed Gucci to get into a routine that included working out and reading the Bible and self-help books.

Will a clean and sober Gucci Mane be able to make the jump from cult hero and regional trap lord to legitimate super star?

We'll have a better answer after his first post-prison album, Everybody Looking, drops on Friday, July 22.