NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin has openly professed his appreciation for rap and artist Gucci Mane in particular. Now their paths have crossed in a unique new way.
Gucci Mane released a new album, "Greatest Of All Trappers - Gangsta Grillz Edition," on Friday, an album that opens with comments from Martin. The opening track, "GOAT," includes a clip from an April episode of the podcast, "Rubbin is Racing."
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@hqspider and @markmartin have made it onto the new Gucci Mane Album
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨pic.twitter.com/KPjXgWqF8i— Rubbin is Racing (@rubbinisracing) August 16, 2024
"So I got onto Dr. Dre in about, it was 2002," Martin said in the podcast episode. "Kind of evolved from that to Eminem. Then I had one of my son's friends -- you know, they were kids -- ask me, 'Did I listen to Gucci Mane?' I didn't know who it was.
"So as soon as I found him, it was like crazy. But you couldn't get him on hardly anything, on iTunes. You had to go to datpiff.com, and it was free. All the music was free, but you had to figure out how to download it onto your computer and then put it on your phone."
This news was big for Martin, a man who won 40 Cup races and finished second in the championship four times. He immediately headed to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to showcase his excitement.
"I may not have ever won a Cup Championship BUT I made on GOAT @gucci1017 song," Martin posted.
While the clip on Gucci Mane's newest album ends after Martin mentions datpiff.com, the actual interview on "Rubbin is Racing" continues with some strong praise from the Hall of Famer.
Martin says that there is no one "in the same zip code" as Gucci Mane and that the rapper is unbelievable. He said that if he were a rapper, he would not do a duo with his favorite because Gucci Mane "crushes" everyone with whom he collaborates.
One interesting note from Martin during the interview is that he prefers the "more arrogant" version of Gucci Mane. As he explained, he tries to be humble in his everyday life, but he truly enjoys listening to arrogant music.