Pooh Shiesty is reflecting on the lessons that reshaped him during and after his time behind bars. Moreover, he’s giving major credit to Gucci Mane for showing him what growth looks like. In a new interview with XXL, the Memphis rapper opened up about how his mentor’s well-documented transformation became a blueprint for his own comeback.
Shiesty said watching the way Gucci handled prison, and the discipline he came home with, pushed him to rethink how he wanted to move in his career and personal life. “The way Gucci came home, that motivated me,” he explained. “How he switched up, got toned up. That motivated me to move how I’m moving. He showed me how it’s done.”
Shiesty also said Gucci didn’t waste a single moment during his time locked up. “He woke up when he was in there. He wasn’t just in there playing,” Shiesty recalled. That seriousness resonated with him, especially as someone who entered the system at a much younger age. “You 20 years old going to see what I saw at 35,” Gucci reportedly told him. A perspective that stuck.
Pooh Shiesty Gets Honest
For Shiesty, the experience became a wake-up call. He says he sobered up, refocused, and started recognizing the similarities he shares with Gucci. Not just musically, but in temperament and drive. “We got a lot of similar traits,” he said, adding that although the situation was difficult, he’s choosing to view it as something he got “out the way early.”
In 2022, Pooh Shiesty pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence and drug trafficking. In October of this year, he was released early from federal prison. His original sentence was for five years and three months. Videos that flooded social media showed how excited he was to be home.
With Gucci Mane as both mentor and cautionary example, Shiesty says he’s now approaching his second chapter with intention. Additionally, he has a much clearer vision of the artist he wants to be.
