Although we've heard his name recently, it's been a while since Gucci Mane has given the world some new music. Or spoken out publicly, for that matter. In fact, Gucci's last official project, The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted, dropped half a year ago, in September 2010, and the Brick Squad leader

it's been Part of that mini hiatus comes to an end now, with the second half to follow in the coming weeks. Gucci is prepping his upcoming street album, The Return of Mr. Zone 6, slated for a March 22 release. On the album, which will be available for purchase online and in stores, the Southern spitter links up once again with Drumma Boy, who produced the majority of the 13-track release, as well as Waka Flocka Flame, OJ Da Juiceman, Birdman, Wale, Master P, Webbie, 8Ball, Rocko and Wooh the Kid.

Below, Gucci Mane speaks for the first time in the new year, as he offers a track by track breakdown of The Return of Mr. Zone 6. —Vanessa Satten with additional reporting by Adam Fleischer

Gucci Mane on the mixtape, in his own words:

The new mixtape is called The Return of Mr. Zone 6. It’s just like the return of my roots. It’s just like the old Gucci. It’s really hardcore. It’s an emphasis on the streets. It’s me going back to my core friends and just giving them a lot of what I didn’t give them on my album—fifteen straight, just gangsta songs. No singing on the songs, just all just straight rap.

On this mixtape, I didn’t holdback. I didn’t cater nothing to no artist. I just went [with] what was on my mind. And there was a lot on my mind at the time. It’s a mini album, but it’s actually, more of a hood albumN=; not a commercial, mainstream album. My fans that have been with me from day one, they gon’ be really pleased on that. And I hope that I gain a couple of new fans, as well.

Most important thing I felt I put on my album that I didn’t put on my last album, I got Waka on there.

Yeah. And the song, I got Wooh Da Kid on there. I got more Brick Squad people on there. My last album, I wanted to show people that I could really do it on my own, so I collaborated with a lot of artists like Wyclef and Swizz Beatz. I took my album as an opportunity to meet people and make music with people who I know’s repertoire. My mixtape, I just took that as an opportunity to really show people what I got, and what me and my boys could do.

Hit the next page to see the track by track breakdown...

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"24 Hours"
“24 Hours” came at a time when I was recording the mixtape early on. I’m so dedicated . You put so much hard work and you put so much into your music; you give away so much good music; you always in the studio recording to give away good music; your grind is a 24-hour grind. Until I’m at the point where I want to be, I’m not taking no breaks. I’m up 24 hours, and I’m not gon’ shit, shave, or shower ‘til I get my money up. I got to get my money up. That’s something that I have to do.

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"Mouth Full of Gold" feat. Baby
Baby is a close friend of mine. We always text and call each other just keeping each other on point as far as letting each other know what we got going on, when we be in the studio, or when we’re touring. Anytime we in town together, we always try to come to the studio or come to each other’s shows. So, you know it’s basically a friendship we made through the industry. He’s one of the friends I made in the rap game. So, it was a privilege and a pleasure for me to reach out to him and for us to do a song together. The man behind Cash Money and the man behind Brick Squad doing a song together.


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“This Is What I Do” feat. OJ Da Juiceman and Waka Flocka
We got a video for that too. It’ll be our hit. It’ll pop off the song. Waka snapped so hard on this song it just don’t make no sense. He really crushed his verse on that, and he crushed the chorus on that. So, “This Is What I Do” is going to be a very powerful, like strong summer record. Just like “Blow Kush in My Hater’s Face,” it’s a very arrogant, confident song. It just shows what Brick Squad can do. OJ is coming back on the scene very strong. He also got “Where You Been,” that’s been going hard on satellite radio. He’s been recording like hell. He’s working on a couple of mixtapes, and we’re working on our Brick Squad album. He’s also working on his solo album The Otis Williams Jr. Story.

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“I Don’t Love Her” feat. Rocko and Webbie
Oh, that’s a hit. That’s a bonafide hit record. A friend of mine knows Webbie, and is cool with him, and brought him to the studio, and we collaborated. Me and him was all cool with Boosie, but we ain’t never did a song together besides the “Tat It Up” Remix. So we collaborated on it. We made a hit record off the top. And Waka came with the chorus, and it was just a hit. It wasn’t a song we had to email to each other. We all actually went to the studio together and all collaborated on that song. It was beautiful.

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“Better Baby”
“Better Baby" is a song I made dedicated to my ex-girlfriend saying that she could do better than me. I know that I wasn’t the best boyfriend, and she was a great girl. Just being honest. The song is kind of saying she can do better than me as far as why have a guy that’s cheating on you and in the streets all the time. Get you a guy that may need be financially straight as I am, but may be able to love you more than I could and have more time for you. She liked it—maybe it was the fact that I was in that 450 helped a little bit. I was in that Ferrari when I played it for her. That might’ve made it a little better.

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“Brink” feat. Master P
That’s a very hard song. I brought P back. P went hard on that song. I asked him a favor. I said, ‘P, I really want you to rap on this song with me.’ At first, he was reluctant to do it but then he did it for me. Shout out to the big homie for doing it for me because people are going to be so excited to peep that record, and he got a great verse.

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“Pretty Woman” feat. Wale
That’s a hard song. I used autotune on that. That’s my first time experimenting with autotune, and putting it out in stores. People gon’ trip out on this song ‘cause it’s a record for the women, but it’s crazy.

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“Pancakes” feat. Waka Flocka and 8Ball
8Ball is a legend. Me and Waka was so excited to have him come to the studio and do a verse with us that we made a hard song for him. I came up with the chorus. Me and Waka did our verses, then 8Ball did his verse.

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“Hell Yeah” feat. Slim Dunkin
“Hell Yeah,” it’s a deep song. Slim Dunkin is an up and coming Brick Squad member. He’s just on fire right now. He’s got the Internet on blaze. I wanted to team up with Dunk and give him a chance to show more people what he really can do. I wanna blow him up. I feel like by him getting on this song with me, a lot of people are going to get the chance to hear him that haven’t heard him yet, or heard about him and they gon’ love it. They gon’ like it. Introducing Slim Dunkin to the world.

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“My Year”
It’s another attitude song. It’s a song talking about it’s my year. It’s my time. How much I put into this game, and how much I want out of it.

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“Trick or Treat”
That’s a hard one. That’s another Drummer Boy beat again. It’s not about Halloween. It’s actually about a Halloween-colored car—an orange car with orange rims on it. Everybody’s feeling the trick or treat, whatever they want to do on their verse with it.

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