Bay Area rapper G-Eazy is a product of the new generation of do-it-yourself rappers. Born Gerald Earl Gillum, G-Eazy’s core fanbase of college kids have brought the relatively new artist some unseen buzz that show that the oft-forgotten market is still very viable.
“Well I just finished school, so I’m not too far removed from them in age,” G-Eazy tells Hip-Hop Wired in a sit-down. “You have to know about the college market. They have a disposable income and they are usually a captive audience that are young and just want to have fun,” said the 23-year-old rapper.
After releasing his EP, Must Be Nice for free on his website, he later on put it on iTunes after an extremely strong response. To his surprise, the album peaked at No. 4 on the iTunes Hip-Hop charts after a late September release. Since then, he’s been touring the country as one of the fastest rising independent artist in Hip-Hop.
“We really worked hard on that album,” G-Eazy says about Must Be Nice. “We decided we might as well put it on iTunes for the hell of it , I figured it couldn’t hurt. The response was pretty unexpected.” The college kid who majored in Music Industry Studies at Loyola University in New Orleans knew what he wanted to do midway through college, and it wasn’t going back home to his mom’s couch.
“I wanted to make sure I put myself in a position to where I can do what I wanted to do when I got out of college, and that was rap,” said G. “I knew I had to get it done before I graduated.” Despite his heavy college influence, he quickly brushes off the “frat-rap” gimmick that may have been bestowed upon him. “I wasn’t in a frat, I never did keg stands or any of that, you know? Yeah I rap about partying and having fun and stuff but I talk about a lot more than that.
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