Gucci Mane spoke to XXL magazine recently, where he discussed the need for more female representation in rap.

Talking to veteran hip-hop journalist Shaheem Reid, Guwop spoke on assembling the roster for his rebranded record label, The New 1017, revealing that he had made sure to give all promising rappers a chance, regardless of gender.

"We need more female rappers in the game," he said. "I had female artist one time, right. My whole thing is I'm not gonna just replace no artist. I'm gonna give female artists a chance, you get what I'm saying? I'm embracing the female artist, like, she hard? I'm fuckin' with it. It ain't gonna be like, I'm starting my label and this gonna be my token female artist. No."

Gucci's imprint features several new artists, including female rappers K Shiday and Enchanting who appeared on his latest album Gucci Mane Presents: So Icy Summer under the moniker "So Icy Girlz." Gucci also used the occasion to clarify that despite the name the two rappers aren't a duo.

"I want some So Icy Boyz. 'Cause whoever I sign naturally we gonna call ourselves the So Icy Boyz. That's natural," he said. "So my whole thing was I'ma sign two dope females and just off the drip I'm naturally gonna call them the So Icy Girlz, but they're solo artists, they're not a group. It's like me, Foogiano, Pooh and Scarr. We all solo artists but we're the So Icy Boyz. So, I wanted to start that type of movement with females, you know what I'm saying? Empower them and boss them up."

Gucci Mane Presents: So Icy Summer dropped yesterday, you can stream the album below. Want to catch up on new music? Or fancy spending those extra free hours on old favorites? TIDAL is offering its premium and HiFi services for $1 per month, with more than 60 million tracks available to stream instantly. Just click here to sign up.