Gucci Mane is urging his rap peers to stop speaking ill of the dead while admitting regret over his role in popularizing the trend.

On his aptly-titled new song “Dissin the Dead,” the 1017 boss continues his evolution as a Hip Hop elder statesmen by repenting of his old ways of disrespecting his buried enemies, urging other rappers to follow his lead.

“I know my tongue is a sword, I know I should be more careful with shit that I said/I feel like I started a trend that’s never gon’ stop, they gon’ keep dissing the dead/None of this shit no pretend, this shit so for real, a n-gga get shot in the head/Young n-gga wicked on pills and going on drills, we need to stop dissing the dead,” he raps on the chorus.

The song is accompanied by an Omar the Director-helmed video showing Guwop posted up in a cemetery while wearing hoodies that read “R.I.P. Trouble” and “Long Live Dolph” in honor of the slain Southern rappers. “Dissin the Dead” arrived on Wednesday (July 27), coinciding with what would’ve been Young Dolph’s 37th birthday.

Gucci Mane has, of course, been guilty of dissing the dead in the past, most notably in his long-running feud with Jeezy. During their Verzuz showdown in 2020, Guwop brazenly performed “The Truth,” a diss song aimed at Jeezy’s friend and associate Pookie Loc, who he allegedly killed in self-defense in 2005.

Gucci poured salt in the wound by continuing to disrespect Pookie after the song ended. “Damn! Put that n-gga’s ass in the dirt,” he said while taunting Jeezy. “Smoking on Pookie Loc tonight.”

La Flare mentioned Pookie Loc again on his “Rumors” collaboration with Lil Durk in January, rapping, “D.A. dropped my murder, didn’t have evidence to prove it/I think my house is haunted, yeah, by who? The ghost of Pookie.”

Gucci alludes to Pookie on “Dissin the Dead,” only this time in a much different manner: “I’m the one put your boy name on a stone/I dissed the dead and I knew it was wrong.”

Talking down on the dead has sadly become more prevalent in Hip Hop in recent years. Lil Durk dissed his late Chicago rival FBG Duck on the leaked song “High As Duck” in December 2020, while NBA YoungBoy referenced King Von’s murder on “Bring the Hook” earlier this year.

More recently, Soulja Boy appeared to mock Trouble’s death in an Instagram Live rant following his June 5 murder in Atlanta. The pair previously exchanged words online over Soulja releasing his song “Stretch Some” shortly after Young Dolph was murdered.

Gucci Mane isn’t the only rapper changing his stripes, though. Last year, Lil Durk vowed to stop “name dropping the dead” after the release of The Voice (Deluxe), while Florida native Julio Foolio followed suit months later, calling the practice “childish.”