G-Eazy
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.
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.
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.
What I actually do put much more weight on, in all honesty, is not being critically acclaimed - it's being respected by my OGs. When I talk to E-40 on the phone, every time I talk to him, I'm like, you know, if he tells me I'm doing good, I'm doing good.
I've been in love with music since I was old enough to establish my taste.
I've never been critically acclaimed. I've never been nominated for no Grammy. I've never been on no magazine cover. It's almost taboo to say I'm actually good.
I'm not inherently the most politically or, like, socially conscious rapper, you know? You're not just going to wake up tomorrow and be Common.
I fell in love with hip-hop at an early age as a culture, as a sound, both from the perspective of a fan and a creative outlet.
Sometimes you wake up the next morning after making a lot of bad decisions and have this nonchalant reaction like, 'These Things Happen' - what can I say?
I was making all my own beats, and I really liked sampling stuff, like old '50s and '60s pop and soul and doo-wop records. I was chopping those up and putting loops and drums on them and just rapping over them.
I love the road. The closest thing to home, for me, is being on a tour bus, ironically.
Performing music live, there's a certain magic to it.
I love being in a room in front of an audience who cares about the music, who knows the music, and who has lived with the music. It's kind of like an experience you share. I'm on stage performing it, but they're singing the words, too.
Growing up, I heard as much E-40 and Mac Dre on the radio as I did 50 Cent. It's in our culture to support our own.
Chance The Rapper makes some of the greatest music out, and he build his brand up organically, and the fans have reacted to it.
There's multiple ways I express myself. Music is my first love and will always come first. But, there are other areas and industries I'm interested in that reflect different aspects of my lifestyle.
I think every artist's next work will reflect a new chapter in their autobiography. Each album tells a story about where they were at during a particular period and how they have evolved.
I like to have a lot of girls over and play loud music.
I remember, when I was ten, I wanted to look like Em. I had the bleached blonde hair.
Much respect to Eminem - he's the greatest.
I'm the type of person that rises to the occasion, and when work is in front of me, I do work.
I'll be a Bay kid for the rest of my life. That's in my veins; that's in my bones.
When you use a sample in a big way, when you loop something in the way I did with 'Runaround Sue,' it's like you have your chords and your melody and the quality of the song right there before you add your own production. It's like the song is already made, in a sense.
I just hear a beat and start mumbling words. I just hear sounds and rhythms, and it just kind of comes intuitively. Formatting a song, figuring out a flow, how I respond to the beat.
Touring is a tough plane to get off the ground, and it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of investments.
You open up a lot of tours making nothing just for the fact that you need to start somewhere and get some exposure. When you start to headline your tours, all the money is in headlining, but there's no money in headlining small rooms.
Me personally, I will always be a fan at the end of the day. No matter how big this gets, I still look up to other artists and people I respect creatively.
It's definitely been a long, long... long, long, long, long, long journey since I was selling burnt CD's out of my backpack in downtown Oakland.
I've got some growing up to do.
You can tell when someone is reading the lines of a song or performing it.
Music is only special when it's coming from a genuine place - it's just energy trapped in a bottle.
Less is more. Simplicity is awesome. That's all you need in life. Its just my personal philosophy.Collection: Philosophy
I think it's important to evolve and grow and take risks creatively, instead of repeating yourself and doing the same thing over and over.Collection: Thinking
If you get comfortable, that's how you fall off.Collection: Fall
Nothing tops making a living off your passion.Collection: Passion
Lost in this young world, I'm just trying to navigate See the pie sliced, I'm just trying to grab a plate.Collection: Pie
Never give up and never conform.Collection: Giving Up
I've put myself in this position where I haven't set myself up with a Plan B. I don't have a safety net; it's all in.Collection: Safety
If you push yourself to stay hungry, you're always working towards at least taking steps forward. If you're taking steps forward, then you're making progress.Collection: Progress
In anything I do I try to stay true to myself because I think that's what matters most, and then the challenge is getting all these different sides of my personality to fit together in one box. It isn't an easy task. But that's basically what the end result represents.Collection: Thinking
I wear what I like to wear, I don't pick out clothes to try to fit in or whatever, I just like what I like.Collection: Clothes
I think when people get comfortable is when they fall off.Collection: Fall
I listen to a wide array of music, all depends on the mood I'm in at the time.Collection: Mood
I dunno, there were always people believing in me, but you just gotta be confident in whatever you wanna do.Collection: Believe
I think my style revolves around the philosophy that less is more, that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. That goes for my taste in design and in clothes, and even affects the way I approach music. I'm all about keeping things simple, and minimal, but being able to convey something powerful through that approach.Collection: Powerful
It's important to push yourself to get better at your craft - whatever that is. It's important to grow and evolve with each project.Collection: Get Better
I'm a Gemini, so there's two people in me. Straight up. There's the nerd who is totally zoned out in the studio, EQ-ing this kick drum, raising this snare one decibel, or swapping this high hat out for another. Then there's the other side who's a performer. I have to go out on stage and be electric, a fire cracker, just run around the stage and give a show.Collection: Running
Life is good. I've got a apartment that is paid for with rap money. It's good. It's amazing. It's a blessing. I wake up every day and appreciate how much of a blessing this is getting to do this. But it is important to always stay humble, grounded, focused, and maintain that same ambition you had when you had nothing.Collection: Rap
I grew up on the bus, or riding my bike, or catching the subway, I've never had a car. In college, any girl I ever dated had a car, too.Collection: Girl