G-Eazy
G-Eazy
Gerald Earl Gillum, better known by his stage name G-Eazy, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Oakland, California. His first major-label album, These Things Happen was released on June 23, 2014, and received positive reviews from critics. The album peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard 200. His second album, When It's Dark Out, was released on December 4, 2015...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRapper
Date of Birth24 May 1989
CityOakland, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I read the Steve Jobs book, and that kind of changed everything. I've been, like, an Apple geek my whole life and have always seen him as a hero. But reading the book, and learning about how he built the company, and maintaining that corporate culture and all that, I think that influenced me a lot.
Word of mouth is the most valuable form of marketing, but you can't buy it. You can only deliver it. And you have to really deliver.
Something I stand for is being brave enough to invest in creative ideas that I firmly believe in and bringing those to life.
You have this ability in hip hop to be invincibly cool, and that is a part of G-Eazy.
What's weird is the Hot Boys and the whole New Orleans Cash Money thing had a really big impact on the Bay when that was popping off. I don't all the way understand it. I mean, I know that they were big everywhere and had a lot of commercial success in the mid to late '90s, but they were really, really felt in the Bay Area.
In the past, my process would start with a sample of another song, and I'd chop it up and use that as the basis of the song that I was making.
When I first decided I wanted to make beats and write songs and stuff like that, it wasn't like I sat down and the first thing I wrote was even halfway legit. It took a while to find my way through it.
Touring is starting to feel more like home than home does.
When you sample something, you're using the crutch of borrowing chords and melodies from a song that's already great, that's already stood the test of time, that's already special. When you're trying to do it all from scratch, you're writing something brand new that has to stand on its own.
You have an entire generation of kids who grew up with the idea that music is something that you can download for free.
When I started making music, I was so heavy into the hyphy movement. That's something you only know so much about if you were right there living in it, submerged in the culture.
I was fortunate to have teachers that were flexible with allowing me to miss more class than I was supposed to be able to, for the sake of being able to tour.
In my opinion, creative control means a lot, I feel like I'm really in touch with who my fans are and what they like about my music, and I'm able to communicate directly with them.
I know what it feels like to walk out in front of a sold-out crowd of a thousand people that are there for you, and how good that feels, but as an opener, you just have to train yourself to think that it's going to be harder.