G-Herbo Talks Plans For 2018, Growing Up In Chicago, Upcoming Projects & More [PEEP]

I had the chance to sit down and talk to up-and-coming Chicago spitter, G-Herbo, who released his acclaimed ‘Humble Beast’ project last year and made a lot of noise.

In the Q&A with G-Herbo, we discussed the mind state he was in when coming up with the title for ‘Humble Beast’, growing up on the rough streets of Chicago, artists he looks up to, what we can expect from him this year, and more.

Q: What was the mindset behind the title of your last project ‘Humble Beast’
It’s kind of self-explanatory but not so much. Growing up in poverty and coming from the neighborhood I came up in, it’s literally like a jungle. So you grow up with a beast mentality, more just like monster, like you’re living in a jungle. Like you a beast or have a beast mentality, But to survive that you gotta be humble to overcome that and know how to move through situations, you can’t just react. That’s really how I try to carry myself throughout life and that was really my introduction to the world.
Q: How did rap save you from street life in Chicago?
Me, myself I know that I have a passion for music and rap. It’s what I do and what I wanna do. It feels like this is what I was put on earth to do. I’m glad I understood that at an early age, I had to go thru my curbs and bumps cuz I was on the streets all the way. Rap really just kept me focused cuz you gotta stay 100-percent focused at all times, there’s gonna be good and bad times, there’s a lot that comes with it, but you gotta embrace it and take everything that come with it if this is what you wanna do. You gotta dedicate yourself 100-percent to your music (you know what I’m sayin’), your family, God, and everything else will just fall in place. You gotta understand that first, and I’m pretty sure on a higher scale, everyone went through the same thing.
Q: What’s been one of the biggest lessons learned in music?
Life. It’s gonna repeat itself…no matter who you are, where you from. I feel like everyone go through different shit, but life and certain situations just repeat itself and everybody go through the same curbs. You gotta learn and crawl before you walk.
Q: Who were some artists that got you thru tough times growing up?
Meek, Wayne, Beanie Sigel, just listening to songs like that. Not too many artists, but a lot of artists that if you listen to their music, it might give you the chills. My music has done it for me before, other people’s music has too. You know Meek that’s one of my favorite artists and that’s why I named him first, cuz it’s certain situations you might be able to relate to.
Q: What’s your take on Meek’s current prison sentence and situation?
Man, it’s hard, bro. I don’t wanna say it’s life, but it kind of comes with what we doing and the environment that we come from. They’ve been trying to hold us down. Free Meek tho.
Q: What’s been one of the most important tool for you in your career?
Time, patience and doing everything how I envisioned, you know just speaking everything into existence, from music to family, everything. Just taking my time and taking everything one day at a time and just trying to get better, I’m just trying to get better really.
Q: What can we expect from G-Herbo this year?
My project ‘Swervo’ of course, man. Honestly, I was gonna drop ‘Swervo’ last year, but like I said I’m just taking my time and doing everything right is about staying patient and knowing exactly what you doing. Ima drop ‘Swervo’ this year, top of the year, first quarter. It’s fully produced by Southside front-to-back and I’m really excited about that. A bunch of other stuff coming too. I got a lot more in store I can’t even say, I’m just working, you know independently.
Q: Can we expect more than 1 project in 2018 from you?
Of course.
@IAMBNYCE

 

 

Jeremih & Chance The Rapper Unwrap Their Joint Christmas Project [STREAM]

Chance The Rapper is drifting to Chance The Wrapper this holiday season, as he and fellow Chicago artist, Jeremih gift fans with their collaborative Christmas project, Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama: Re-Wrapped’.

The holiday mixtape includes 19-tracks of pure holiday joy and excitement, as Jeremih and Chance go back-and-forth. There are no features on the project and production is handled by a mixture of Bongo ByTheWay, Zaytoven, Noname, Hannibal Burress, and King Louie.

Last year the duo did the same thing with their Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama’ tape. This one includes the original nine tracks with 10 new tracks added to get you really ready for Christmas and bring out that holiday spirit in you.

Grab some Egg Nog and stream it below.

@IAMBNYCE

Justin Credible’s Exclusive Interview w/ Rockie Fresh (Audio)

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Rockie Fresh stopped by the studio with Justin Credible, during their convo they chopped it up his new mixtape that he is working with Casey Veggies, his musical influences both from Chicago and from outside of his home city, Lil Wayne being his favorite rapper of all time, collaborating with Chris Brown and Ed Sheeran, and his first ever rap battle and the lyrics he used.

Listen below…

L.A. Leakers Indie Pick Of The Week : Torrian Ball

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Before this week’s Indie Pick of the Week, Torrian Ball ever thought of pursuing a career in music as a rapper he had the support of one of Chicago’s OG rappers: Twista, who he met at the ‘Chicago Legends Tour’ in 2004.

Ball was 14-years-old at the time, not even old enough to get into a concert without the accompaniment of his mother.

At the concert there was a contest where anybody in the crowd could go up on stage and kick a freestyle. The winner was chosen by the crowd and given the opportunity to meet Twista backstage.

Considering he grew up emulating Twista’s chopper style of rapping, this was a big deal for Ball and his Illinois bloodline.

“I used to rap just like Twista, that’s where my major influence come from,” Ball said. “I grew up on the Twistas, Do Or Dies era—the whole fast rap era with the Common and the Kanye West, all of that is where I got my inspirations from because I got to see it all evolve.”

He recalls the night he met Twista, where he won the contest in a landslide and was given the opportunity to go backstage.

After the show backstage, Twista pulled Torrian’s mother aside to express his admiration for the young rapper and invite him to go on the rest of the tour with him. Ball’s mother was a huge supporter of her son and granted permission for him to hit the road.

On the tour, a young Torrian would hit the stage in each city they resided to cover one of Twista’s hits at the time. Throughout the tour Ball continued to build a solid bond with the established Chicago rapper.

He maintained the relationship with Twista after the tour and would occasionally hang at the studio to soak up game. At the studio he also learned how the whole music-making process went down and became “the little kid they would send into the store to go get pops and shit.”

“That’s really how I got my feet wet,” he said. “I was in the studio with him [Twista], when him and Kanye were working on “Overnight Celebrity,” “Slow Jamz,” I got to be behind the scenes when they were working on that, doing all the fine tweaks.”

Seeing Chicago heavyweights like Kanye and Twista work on their craft was enough for Ball to really take his rapping to the next level and pursue it as a career.

“I’m one of those artists that really, really takes pride in putting in that work,” he said in a stern tone. “I like to mix both my hustles from the old school to the new school.”

Mixing his hustles was something he had to do when he returned to high school for his junior year. On the first day of class he was involved in a disastrous car accident that left him paralyzed for 11 months.

“I had to teach myself how to walk again,” he said. “Just going through that time in my life I feel that one part of your body shuts down, the rest of them enhance. I really got in-tuned with my mind and expressing myself with words.”

The calamity further motivated him, serving in the interest of his hustle that didn’t stop even after his unfortunate accident.

Torrian’s grind has opened a lot of eyes and ears besides Twista’s. He has received support from fellow Chicago rapper GLC and Taylor Gang head-honcho, Wiz Khalifa, who he had the pleasure of meeting and making a song with.

Ball met Wiz through a promoter during a private summer pool party in Chicago which Khalifa performed at.

After Wiz was kicked out of a handful of hotels for smoking, the promoter called to ask Ball if they could bring Wiz to his house until Khalifa’s manager Will, was released from the police station for the smoking incident.

“I was like yeah, nigga. Of course you can bring this nigga to my crib,” he said giggling. “After they left my producer called me and was like, “yo Wiz wants to show love for letting him stay at your house, he said he has a hook for you.” I was like huh, for real?”

That hook was put on their single, “Wings”, which was released a year later and reached over 150,000 plays on Ball’s SoundCloud. Listen to it here:

Ball hasn’t gone idle or let the Wiz feature get to his head. Instead he’s continued to work hard on his next project, ‘The 4 God’ EP which he says represents him as well as the “Quad Cities” by way of East Moline, where he’s from.

“I wanna be heard, I’m hungry,” he said. “The title basically is saying I’m the nigga running the city, doing my thing while I’m putting on for the city.”

His first single off the EP, ‘4 God’ illustrates that vision with lyrics like : “Niggas watch me starve, now they wanna play, when I was down wouldn’t front an eighth, had to fall back get my money straight, now my money coming like andale.”

Peep the entire song and fierce lyrics:

https://soundcloud.com/torrianball/4-god

Aside from the verbal abuse, the EP also demonstrates Ball’s skills on the board with the mixing and mastering which he is responsible for on the entire EP.

“I could never pay for enough time to vibe in the studio for them to mix and master my songs,” he said. “I was like fuck that, I’m gonna save my money and teach myself, I was blessed enough to know engineers that let me shadow them and come in after-hours.”

Torrian will be dropping ‘The 4 God,’ March 13th, the same week he is expected to perform at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

His overall goal in music isn’t limited to getting signed but also to touch the heart of those who listen.

“Whether I make you wanna party, I make you wanna laugh, I wanna make you cry, everything I put out is gonna make you feel something,” he proclaimed.

Follow Torrian Ball on his socials @TorrianBall to keep up with all his moves and also the positivity he embraces through his movement.

“The movement is, ‘The Good Fly Young,’ do good, be fly, live young,” he said. “You go to my socials you see me encouraging my following on the daily basis to push that negativity out and let that positivity come in, because you can’t receive blessings in life until you push that negativity out.”

Learn more about him here:

WRITTEN BY: BRYAN MELARA – @beeroxx90

Robin Thicke & Chicago Perform At The Grammys (Video)


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Robin Thicke teamed up with legendary Chicago to perform “Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?,” “Beginnings,” and “Saturday in the Park.” To finish his performance off Robin Thicke performed “Blurred Lines.”