Spotlight on G-Eazy
The Californian rapper talks about his latest album and how he likes to mix genres and cultures in his music
The 28-year-old is flying high with his hit tracks No Limit and You & I. Here are a few things you didn’t know about the artist from Oakland, California.
He describes his music – and his image – as ’50s culture with contemporary rap. “I was raised on records like Johnny Cash, so I’m all about pulling together different genres, different cultures” he says. G-Eazy – real name Gerald Earl Gillum – started rapping at age 15 and later studied music at the University of New Orleans.
He got his big break when he released his mix- tape The Endless Summer in 2011, which earned him a chance to go on tour with Drake and Lil Wayne.
His third album, The Beautiful and Damned, went to No 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in January. It’s named after American writer F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about a couple’s obsession with decadence which leads to their moral decline.
G-Eazy says it took him six years of living the sex, drugs and rock ’n roll lifestyle to realise he was doing the same. “This album is about the yin and yang of my personality.”
He’s a huge fan of Bodak Yellow singer Cardi B, who features on No Limit along with A$AP Rocky. “I think everything she’s doing right now is incredible. I think she represents where music is today. It’s real, it’s raw, it’s not contrived or overly thought out. It’s just what the youth are reacting to.”
He says he and his singer girlfriend, Halsey (23) – who features on You & I – relate “on almost every single level. We can talk for hours endlessly. She’s been through a lot in her personal and professional life. It actually shocks me all the time that she’s as young as she is because I think she’s my age.”