I think some people (hood nikkas of the time) looked at Gucci the same way they were looking at Iverson. He made them feel like anybody could make it, even if they didn’t have the traditional chops.
Of course either comparison would be incorrect. People were overlooking AI’s freakish athleticism, huge hands, ability to analyze the court, mental toughness, and years of work. They just saw somebody with similar height to theirs, busting everybody’s shyt with crossovers and getting to the rim automatically. They thought he was the GOAT for a time.
They also thought Gucci seemingly came out of nowhere with no dedication to being an artist, and no real connections outside of the street. Still wrong, dude out in WORK leading up to shyt like “So Icey”
To the people who popularized Gucci, he represented a low barrier to entry, music they didn’t have to think about, etc. image played a huge part in that.
TI was a polished recording artist and entertainer who rapped about “the trap”, but Jeezy and Gucci had two sides of a visual image that would probably overpower any Tips lyricism, verbal imagery, or felony filled rap sheet.
Jeezy was the rapper face of a drug empire and rapped like it.
Gucci was the face of any random street nikka that was irrationally confident that he would eventually land a recording deal while he sold dimes and quarters and errantly rhymed stupid bullshyt together.
They didn’t have the luck, looks, or talent of Tip. Some pretended to have the money and street backing of Jeezy, but a lot more felt like they could relate to and emulate the image of Gucci the most.
I guess it all ends up being preference. All three come from some facet of a street background.
At the end of the day the genre of “Trap Muzik” is exactly what Tip said on the song Trap Muzik “… sound underground like I’m rapping in a dope house, might as well be the way the feds got me scoped out…”
