G-eazy d s t
Britney Spears collaboration catapults rapper to stardom
OAKLAND, Calif., rapper G-Eazy is used to people writing him adoring fan letters, but when Britney Spears heard this year’s breakout hit “Me, Myself & I” (recorded with New York singer Bebe Rex- ha), she wrote him an e-mail asking him to collaborate.
“I was on tour in Australia when I heard she wanted me to do something for her,” he tells The Post of the song “Make Me,” which was released last week. “There’s no way you can pass on Britney — I remember having a
crush on her when I was 8! So we found a recording studio the same night to make sure it was done.”
“I was blown away when I first heard ‘Me, Myself & I,’ ” Spears tells The Post via e-mail. “As soon as I heard it, I thought it would be great to work with G-Eazy . . . I think he’s so cool.”
G-Eazy’s legions of female fans have long thought the same. The 27-year-old (real name Gerald Gillum) plays at Barclays Center on Tuesday, marking a long road to success that began with his self-recorded and released mixtapes — his first was in 2008. He later scored a minor hit with “Runaround Sue,” a track based on Bronx legend Dion’s doowop classic of the same name. G-Eazy’s army of admirers are drawn to him partly because of his James Dean looks, but also because of lyrics that tread the line between arrogance and anxiety. “The fans often write me long letters, and I read every single one,” he says earnestly. “I even met one girl who had a tattoo of my face on the side of her stomach!”
But it seems that even the most ardent of fans, or even a big pop megastar like Brit Brit, can’t compete with the main woman in G-Eazy’s life: his mother, Suzanne. Working two jobs, she raised G-Eazy and his two brothers alone, after separating from their father when G-Eazy was just 5.
So in April, while “Me Myself & I” was riding high, he made a point of paying Suzanne back for her sacrifices. “I was on tour, but I had a half-day off so I went home,” he says. “We went past the car dealership in Berkeley I used to walk past every day on the way to high school, and I bought her a brand-new Jeep. This is the first time we’ve been comfortable, and it feels good to finally thank her for all she did for me.”