Gucci Mane gets interviewed by shock rocker Marilyn Manson for the cover story in the March issue of CR Men's Book, which hits stands March 2. “I wanted to focus on strong personalities — renowned men we admire for their talent, confidence, and unique flair,” says namesake editor Carine Roitfeld, who notes that the rapper “emerged from prison last year a changed man in every way: his body, his mindset, his music.”

While serving three years in an Indiana federal penitentiary for federal drug and gun charges, the Atlanta MC channeled his creative energies into multiple album releases (his Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner albums all dropped simultaneously while he was still incarcerated) and there's also a forthcoming memoir, to be published by Simon & Schuster.

“When I was locked up and they put me in the hole, this is what I was doing to keep my sanity. This is how I was protecting myself,” Mane tells Marilyn Manson about his memoir.

Today he’s never looked better. As Manson greeted him in the story: “You look f--king handsome as shit, first of all.” (The Terry Richardson portraits for Men’s Book don’t look half bad either.) Mane and Manson share a rock ’n’ roll spirit, according to the rapper, who will release his 11th album this year and embark on his first tour. “I ain’t gonna lie, I think I could be a hell of a rock star. I’m a free spirit, I love having fun, I don’t give a f--k. Even the way I record, the way I perform, I’m unstructured. I just let the wind blow through me.”

What can fans expect of his tour? “I want to look like Liberace, just big diamonds, shining. But I want the production to be like the [Flaming] Lips. I want the crowd to feel that sweat, like Hendrix.”

Mane joins the likes of Grammy-nominated actor Michael Shannon, The Crown star Matt Smith, UFC’s Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto in the issue, which along with CR Fashion Book, is now under a new partnership with Hearst Magazines. Visit crfashionbook.com for more.