Star Apps: G-Eazy
G-Eazy is not passive about his career, as his new album title, "These Things Happen," might imply. "No, they don't just happen," said the Bay Area rapper in our recent interview. "That's one of the twists to the title, that you have to kill yourself for 10 years, working so hard at something, to finally see something happen." I chatted with the Billboard chart-topper and MTV Artist to Watch, who is finally making his mark, about his rhyming style, his fan base, and his favorite apps.
It ain't easy being G-Eazy.
(Credit: The Chamber Group)
On Wikipedia it says that you were born in Oakland. Is that accurate?
I don't know if I've ever answered this in an interview. I traveled a lot when I was a kid and got to the Bay when I was five.
How did you end up there?
My parents split, and my mom brought me and my brother up there. We were living in Fresno, California, when my parents split. My grandparents had a house in Berkeley with my uncle and aunt. It was kind of a family home with open doors, where anybody who needed a place to stay could move.
At what point did you realize you had an affinity for hip-hop?
The Bay Area is such a melting pot, and that's what I identified with. It was what they played on KMEL, and it's what everybody around me was into. The Bay Area is a place that supports our own, and I feel like it embraces the local scene a lot. So when I turned on KMEL, you'd hear a lot of E-40. You'd hear a lot of the local guys that were doing it. That was what was so exciting, that it was so close to us.
You recently worked with E-40 on your "Far Alone" track. What was that experience like?
Surreal. I hadn't met him in person. We had spoken on the phone, and he told me he heard the record, loved it, and wanted to add a verse to it -- he was ready to shoot the video tomorrow if we were ready. When I met him, I was totally starstruck. I was in the presence of a legend.
Like many rappers before you, you first became known by releasing mixtapes. What's the place of the mixtape in 2014?
It's very important. It's an album now. It has to be. You can't sell anything without giving away something for free first. You develop a following by giving away music for free online. Most people can't afford to press up, nor does it make sense to. Drake's "So Far Gone" was the tipping point. When I was in high school, making mixtapes, it was half original music, half remixing songs on the radio, and we'd press them up, 'cause it wasn't all Internet yet. We'd buy cases, print out covers I'd make out of my bootleg version of Photoshop, and sell them out of my backpack. I learned that Too Short sold them out of his truck.
Where should aspiring rappers host their rhymes?
SoundCloud, DatPiff, LiveMixTapes, and YouTube even. You have to put it in front of people on every platform you can place it on to make it easier to find. If it's not super duper easy to find, you've lost them.
How did you develop your own style of rapping?
Some of it is what you're inspired and influenced by, and some of it is what naturally and intuitively comes. When I sit down with a beat, I don't know where it comes from. I start mumbling, and from there I find rhythms and patterns, and from there I find words that I like, and ideas and concepts I wanna develop. And then 15-30 minutes later, that's turned into a verse for a song.
You became famous for using an early '60s sensibility in your "Runaround Sue" track. Where does that come from?
I'm always a fan of the idea of a juxtaposition of two completely different worlds that you'd never think could live together, and combining those and creating something brand-new out of it. I stumbled on that idea, just listening to a bunch of old music. I'm a huge Beatles fan, and a lot of stuff from early to mid-'60s. It was Dion's "Runaround Sue" that initially caught my attention, because it started with that clap. I thought if I loop that sample right there and chop those four bars and half-time the drums and use 808s, I could flip this whole concept and turn it into something contemporary, 'cause the same story is still relevant. I thought it was fun to combine this No. 1 hit from 1961 with 808 drums, so let's keep going with this.
The idea for the rapper's version of Runaround Sue started with a clap.
(Credit: Josh Rotter)
You have a track called "Almost Famous." Is that the stage you're at in your career?
It's all relative. I think we're on the part of the roller coaster, where it's just clicking up and about to get crazy. I think having the album out and available to the world will be a real turning point.
There was a time when if a rapper was Caucasian, their color was the primary focus. Have we moved beyond that?
I think, in general, the whole world of music today is open to a lot of stuff, and the Internet has somewhat contributed to that. The walls of genres have been broken down.
Are there any specific Caucasian rappers that inspired you?
Hell yeah, Eminem. He's like top five, period. He's one of the greats to ever make hip-hop.
Your new album is called "These Things Happen." I'm assuming you're not talking about your career, since from what you said you've been working at it for quite some time.
No, they don't just happen. That's one of the twists to the title, that you have to kill yourself for 10 years, working so hard at something, to finally see something happen. The other side of the title is this nonchalant response to a morning after a wild night and not being able to explain what happened.
Speaking of wild nights, who are these Tumblr Girls you rap about?
They're socialites who live in Soho and like to go out and party all the time and spend their allowance money. They're party girls. It's a character I find interesting to talk about, kind of like a modern Edie Sedgwick character. They're pretty, and they know it and love the attention. They look at cool sh#t on Tumblr and Pinterest all day, 'cause they don't have jobs and just hang out in their Soho lofts and go out and buy drugs all the time, and like music.
Like a lot of other rappers, you are still rhyming about "bitches and ho's." When will more rappers start embracing women rather than degrading them?
I think hip-hop is just expanding and evolving, and the walls of genres are breaking down. So there's room for positive hip-hop, and there will also be room for the other kind. Tupac has talked about this in tons of interviews. I write this song for this type of woman and this song for this type of woman.
Which type of woman do you tend to encounter more?
In terms of quantity? I live on the road most of the year, and you know [laughs]. The type of women you meet on tour -- go figure. Does that sound bad? I meet a lot of really nice girls. It takes all kinds. We do meet-and-greets at every show, and getting to talk to people who are the avid fans is always an inspiring experience.
Have you ever had a "Stan" experience, like in that Eminem track, inspired by a crazed fan of his?
Yeah, it's gnarly. Every time I see tattoos, it's kinda a trip. Somebody just got lyrics from "Let's Get Lost" tattooed on them like yesterday or the day before. This other girl on Twitter got my face tattooed on her. When I started making music, I thought, "If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go all the way." I don't want to do this as a hobbyist, in my spare time. I want to be an icon, and that's what happens to all the legends.
What are your top five mobile apps?
1. VSCO Cam, because I really appreciate the aesthetic of their filters.
2. Whitagram, because if you take a picture this way, then instead of posting it on Instagram, where it has to be made into a square, it fits the white borders on top, so it looks really clean. It's another way to make my Instagram look more aesthetically pleasing.
3. Spotify, because I love their service, and they're an amazing company. I have good friends there, and they've shown us a lot of love. I've been a huge fan of of their service. They're really good to DIY, self-made artists.
4. The Sonos app, because they've shown me a lot of love and sent me a lot of free products, so my new apartment sounds amazing.
5. Sports Center, because I like to keep up with basketball.
