At Gunna’s Hometown Giveaway, His Mom Admires the Man He’s Become

Surprisingly, when Gunna’s cobalt blue 911 Porsche GT3 pulled into his Fall Family Fest, it didn’t make as much of a stir as I expected. He threw the gathering to give back to and celebrate South Fulton, the Atlanta area he grew up in, as well as the 30 families there that he and the Black Music Action Coalition were offering a guaranteed income of $1,000 for one year. However, most of the guests were children who had already been having a pretty blissful afternoon. Gunna had filled a local playground parking lot with massive carnival games, a pendulum ride, face painting, and food trucks dishing wings, fries, and fried Oreos — all for free. Many adults, though, took care to capture the moment on their phones and crowd the rapper for photos with them and their kids — requests he dutifully obliged.

Beyond the lot, a no-cost market sponsored by his foundation, Gunna’s Great Giveaway, alongside Goodr, an organization fighting hunger and waste, had been set up for the families under a wooden pavilion. There, parents packed lush groceries into clear plastic totes. Mounds of fresh fruits, plump veggies, pantry staples, meats, and even bags of frozen seafood boils poked out of them. As the bushels of collards, pineapples, and pork chops depleted, they were simply, almost endlessly, restocked. Next to the foodstuffs was a makeshift sporting goods store, “Gunna’s Drip Closet,” named for his signature slang, lined with Adidas tees, backpacks, sneakers, and some Gunna merch, too, all for the taking. An artist customized children’s new kicks per request, painting their names, flowers, and basketballs. 

A DJ played censored versions of songs like Gunna’s “Treesh” and Young Thug’s “Thief in the Night” from a stage planted toward the back of the lot that Gunna eventually occupied, albeit briefly. He was introduced lovingly by Jasmine Crowe Houston, Goodr’s founder, and South Fulton city councilwoman Dr. Catherine Foster Rowell. “You are our native son, and we will never shun you,” Rowell promised the rapper. “I told your momma and daddy that any time you want to come back home, we’ll make it happen.”

When he took the mic, Gunna thanked them earnestly in return. “This is something I’ve been doing, something I’ll continue to do just out the kindness of my heart,” he said. “We all can do it — all the little homies in here that look up and see it, you can do it too. That’s what it’s about. I just want to appreciate everyone coming out and supporting the Southside. All the kids, y’all have some fun. Let’s go up.” He spent much more time meeting families, holding toddlers, taking photos, and even rapping and dancing with kids by his side. 

Since 2017, Gunna has done an annual giveaway in his community — formerly the unincorporated town of College Park before becoming the city of South Fulton that year.  In 2021, he established a free clothing and grocery store with Goodr in his former middle school and was awarded his very own day in South Fulton. Yet, in 2022, when he sponsored Gunna Fest, a free family affair similar to this one, he couldn’t be there. He was incarcerated in a Fulton County jail awaiting trial under the massive RICO case that swept up several members of his record label, Young Stoner Life, alleging that they were actually a violent street gang under the leadership of YSL boss and Gunna’s close collaborator Young Thug.

They had both been jailed since May 2021, with Thug earring his freedom under a plea deal on Oct. 31. Gunna came home in December 2022 under an Alford plea that became controversial among fans and peers, just missing the September festival. He went on to reach some of the highest heights of his career with the song “Fukumean” and surprise album A Gift & a Curse, but first, he attempted to hold a Christmas giveaway, offering 1,000 families a $100 Walmart gift card. Yet, after Gunna pleaded guilty while maintaining his innocence under the Alford plea, sponsor Walmart pulled out of the event. 

So, as Gunna’s mother, Sheila Kitchens, looked out at the event from a metal picnic table on a hill next to the makeshift market, she beamed, grateful Gunna could celebrate his work for their community alongside them. “It’s good to see what you’re doing,” she said. A former school cafeteria manager of about 30 years, Kitchens retired under Gunna’s encouragement and financial support six years ago.

The roughly seven months Gunna spent in jail looms over her. “That was a time. Do you hear me?” she says. “It’s something that still be on my mind every day, but sometimes, God, take you through things for you to change your life. At first I didn’t understand it, but then, as I look at him, Now, I know why.” Gunna is more fit and lively than ever now, buoyant and sprightly on the many massive concert stages that he books. He chronicled his lifestyle changes in the viral hit “Today I Did Good.” Kitchens calls her son Serge, a nickname for his full one, Sergio Kitchens. “Serge always been Serge, though. That hadn’t changed, but I just see him taking care of himself. Now, that’s what it’s all about. You can’t take care of nobody else until you taking care of yourself. I’m just proud of him.” 

She doesn’t take much credit for his charitable nature, though she thinks it runs in their family. “He always been like that,” she says. “That’s how I was raised. We always fed people, whether we had money or not.” His guaranteed income program for others is the type of thing that would have changed their lives when he was younger, she says. “I got paid on Thursday. Thursday night, I was broke. It was a struggle.”

She sat in quiet awe, her slim ginger locs brushing the black T-shirt she wore with “Gunna” written on it in flowers. “I knew Serge was a giver, but not like this,” she said, overlooking the festival. “And he still got dreams.”