G-Eazy makes foray into flavored booze
Five floors above Fourth Street in SoMa, sitting on a black leather couch in the dimly lit bar Dirty Habit, G-Eazy looks restless.
The Bay Area native says he has a lot on his mind — specifically trying to find ways to see family and friends before a concert later in Oakland. He said he’d push some reunions until after the show if he could, but there wouldn’t be enough time to see everyone he wanted.
It’s a new dilemma for the 28-year-old whose rise to fame in the world of hiphop has taken him from selling his mixtapes off Telegraph Avenue to packing venues and walking the Oscars’ red carpet amid a sea of photographers. His recently released album, “The Beautiful & Damned,” is one of the most talked about in the industry. And now, as creative director of burgeoning spirits company Stillhouse, he’s busier than ever.
The latest level of fame is new for him. It takes some adjustment, a fact made evident each time he’s in the Bay Area.
“I love coming home, but I always wish I had more time,” G-Eazy said. “It’s
a challenge. Everyone I’ve known my whole life has to be crammed into this tiny little time at the concert between interviews.”
G-Eazy’s celebrity continues to spread beyond music. His movie star looks and style, which he has said is influenced by music legend Johnny Cash, earned him a Ford Model contract last year. H&M wanted him to participate in a design collaboration, but the collaboration fell through when GEazy said he couldn’t get past a racially insensitive ad produced by the company: “I just couldn’t do it.”
And Stillhouse adds yet another layer, which is why he was hanging out in an empty SoMa bar with friends, photographers and a publicist only a few hours before his show at the Fox Theater in Oakland.
G-Eazy is an investor and the creative director of Stillhouse, known for its clear corn whiskey and unique packaging, among other things. For the last 10 months, he’s been a megawatt human billboard for the brand.
“I have skin in the game. I believe in this,” G-Eazy said. “If I existed in liquor form, I’d be this.”
The company is known for putting its spirits in stainless steel containers rather than glass bottles. With their red color and contemporary graphics, the containers look as if they might hold lighter fluid or paint thinner instead of booze. (Stillhouse has a cooler in the same design.)
Earlier this month, Stillhouse released its first bourbon, made with small-batch coffee beans. The new product has G-Eazy’s fingerprints all over it. He said he told the company to make the bourbon’s container black instead of the normal red: “I wear black most of the time, so the first thing I thought of when I saw it was let’s make it black.”
The coffee bean aspect of the production method reflects G-Eazy’s interests — he grinds his own coffee each morning, a process that he said allows him to better enjoy the coffee. “It’s something I’ve always been
“I have skin in the game. I believe in this. If I existed in liquor form, I’d be this.” Oakland rapper G-Eazy on his bourbon line
into,” he said with a laugh. “I love it.”
Small-batch coffee. Bourbon. Flavored whiskey. G-Eazy said he understands his interests place him in a unique space in the world of hip-hop. Still, he isn’t the first rapper to tie his name to a brand of alcohol.
Hip-hop and alcohol brands have a history that goes back to the 1990s when Bay Area rapper TayDaTay mentioned in a song where people could find the pineapple-and-gin conception “cutty bang.” 50 Cent launched Effen Vodka; Diddy (formerly known as Puff Daddy) partnered with Ciroc; Drake joined the bourbon market with Virginia Black; and Jay-Z paid a reported $200 million for Armand de Brignac Champagne.
Still, success in the market isn’t guaranteed. Effen and Ciroc are rarities in that they have maintained their cult following for years. Many falter, like Houston rapper Lil’ Flip’s mid-2000s brand Lucky Nites liqueur. With an infinite number of well-worn paths laid before him to chart his entrepreneurial course, G-Eazy chose to follow E-40.
The Bay Area rap legend is undoubtedly the most prolific of regional hip-hop figures in the world of liquor and wine. Back in 2013, with the help of winemaker Steve Burch, E-40 released Earl Stevens Selections. The Slurricane, his version of the New Orleans rumbased cocktail mix, came out two years later. In January, E-40 announced plans to release a Tequila for Cinco de Mayo 2018.
“E-40 inspired me. He did it in his own way. I have nothing but respect and admiration for everything he’s built with that,” G-Eazy said. “Every time I’m around him, I just soak up game. When we talked about it, I really paid attention.”
Stillhouse’s flavored whiskeys (all $29) include Mint Chip, Apple Crisp, Peach Tea, Red Hot and Coconut. The new bourbon and the whiskeys are available in 33 states, including California.
Before leaving to set up for his show, G-Eazy said he sees Stillhouse becoming ubiquitous in the hip-hop scene. And as he often does, he’s looking at the past to understand his future.
“I want to be like Puff. I want this to be everywhere,” he said.