American Rapper G-Eazy Shares Experience Of Performing In India: 'It's A Dream Come True...' | Exclusive

American Rapper Gerald Earl Gillum or most popularly known by his stage name G-Eazy is a prominent face in the Hip-Hop industry. The American rapper, songwriter, and record producer hailing from Oakland, California recently concluded his three-days debut tour in India, as he traveled across Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, enthralling his Indian fans.

With his smooth flow and introspective lyrics, he has solidified his place as a prominent figure in the hip-hop scene. His unique blend of rap and pop sensibilities has garnered him a dedicated fanbase and critical acclaim. G-Eazy has consistently pushed the boundaries of his artistry, collaborating with a diverse range of artists and constantly evolving his sound.

From “Me, Myself & I” to “No Limit,” each track is a trip through the highs and lows of fame, love, and the pursuit of artistic truth. In his stellar career, G-Eazy has collaborated with names like American music icon has collaborated with industry icons like Lil Wayne, Halsey, Demi Lovato, A$AP Rocky, Bebe Rexha, Britney Spears, Dillon Francis, Post Malone, Cardi B and has been a recipient of several music awards such as Billboard Music Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, People’s Choice Award and American Music Awards.

G-Eazy spoke exclusively with News18 Showsha and reflected upon his journey as a rapper, songwriter and music producer and most importantly his experience performing in India.

Here are the excerpts:

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You are performing in India for the first time in your life. What do you have planned for the Indian listeners? How are you planning to make this tour memorable?

India is incredible. I’m extremely grateful that I get to travel the world, doing what I love the most, perform my music and India is a place I wanted to visit my whole life. India is a beautiful country and there is a lot of culture here. I’ve always been fascinated by India, its people, the culture, the cuisine and it’s a dream come true to actually be able to come here and perform and explore the country and interact with my fans. People used to say the fanbase is crazy In India and you have to visit and I never knew till I actually came. At my first show in India there were thousands and thousands of people and they knew every word. The energy was so beautiful and I’m mind blown.

What inspired you to choose a music career at a young age?

I’m not sure what exactly inspired me but I think it was being a fan of music in general. It is something that I’m grateful for every day, which is finding work that I love to do in life at such a young age. Everybody doesn’t find what they love to do in life, and I think that the ones that do are really fortunate.

What do you enjoy most about performing live, and how do you connect with your audience during a show?

It’s just what I do and just being grateful to have that platform to be able to do it because nothing is guaranteed and nothing is given. Touring is like a Saturday night every night, and some fans may come to one show but you go to all of them. Art can be such a powerful language of connection to other people. And it’s almost like you have a responsibility to the rest of the world to share. And that’s the power of art when it’s genuine, honest and emotional and truthful. I don’t know a life other than that and it’s beyond just getting to travel and see people, it’s that energy and rush I get from being on stage and performing my music to people that love, you know love the music itself. It reminds you of your purpose.

What’s the story behind your stage name G-Eazy? And how has that name given you an unparalleled identity and fame over the years?

I went by my initials when I was a kid. My real name is Gerald, I went by “G.E.” because my middle name starts with “E,” and I don’t know, G.E. just kind of naturally grew into G-Eazy as a nickname.

You started your musical career at the time when social media was just starting to get popular and it was much harder for new artists to put their music out let alone making it reach the global audience. What can you recall about the initial struggles from the Easy Bay area days?

I just figured that if I’m going to do this, I want to do it and take it as far as I can go. I want to be a legend. I feel like college really helped give me that extra push I needed to get me to where I needed to be. I would take all my free time in college working on music so that by the time I finished, hopefully that plane would be off the ground and I could be doing music full time. I’m very grateful for a lot of things I’ve been able to achieve. Getting to travel the world, getting to make friends and see new places and reach people with the music that I’ve made, it’s truly a blessing. I’ve been blessed to have worked with idols of mine, people I admire and respect.

How do you think your experiment with college mixtapes helped you? Would you like to share any fond memories of your college?

No matter what you want to do in life, most of the time it’s going to take a lot of practice and a lot of hard work, and a lot of time spent trying to improve your craft. There’s this humility that comes with being hungry for that long and putting that much work in. I remember the first time I tried to perform, it was in college for a talent show and I got booed off the stage. Those kinds of things humble you. It’s important to try things and to fail, but to get back up and to keep going.

Your first breakthrough in your career was to open for Lil Wayne. How did that pan out and what sort of learning did you imbibe from him, considering that he was already an established and well renowned name in the hip hop genre?

Opening for one of my favorite rappers was a dream come true. But it was humbling at the same time, because I was the first opener and I was performing for a mostly empty venue every night. But it gave me the chance to watch his set over and over and study one of the greatest ever up close and take notes.

Your major-label debut album These Things Happen peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard 200, how did it change your career and life?

It changed my career in a massive way. It opened so many doors for me, and it put me on the map, so to speak. I’m very grateful for the success of the album – it helped me buy a house and it helped me take care of my family. These Things Happen I recorded primarily while living out of a suitcase. I was saving up every dollar I was making from touring, and an independent project I’d released prior to that, and I was reinvesting it all back into the music. I was funding my own music videos. I paid for the album art out of money I’d saved up. I was living with very few possessions. It was a bit nomadic, but it was an exciting time because I was just all in on this dream and this goal that I had in my mind.

You worked for 3 years for a sequel These Things Happen too of your debut album, what was the idea behind it?

I wanted the album to feel full circle, to be a proper sequel to the first one. In a sense, it should feel like a round trip coming back home and reminding people who Gerald is. It’s getting back to my roots.

Me, Myself & I with Bebe Rexha was an out and out hit. It was trending all over social media and streaming platforms. And it was also the very first viral song which assimilated well with Musically/Tiktok culture. What does that song mean to you?

That song changed my entire life. I’m forever and eternally grateful to Bebe and for getting the chance to make that song. That song took me around the world and back multiple times.

Tell us more about your single “Tulips & Roses”. Why did you decide to write this for your comeback song?

I don’t go into a song with the intentions of what I want it to be about. I just let the music write itself and I just follow my instincts, I just follow my gut. I was in Paris and I had a break in between shows for a while and I didn’t want to come back to the States so I just decided to stay in Paris and tried recording out there. I wanted to get away from Los Angeles. I want to try a different process creatively and just trust myself that this song was the first song I wrote when I got to Paris and it came out naturally. When there’s anything coming out of you that easily, you have to trust the process.

What interests you apart from music?

I love reading classical literature and biographies. I also like watching basketball and hiking. Music is pretty time-consuming. and it’s a pretty obsessive relationship I have with it.

Are most of your albums, mixtapes and EPS interlinked?

My body of work captures different times in my life when I was inspired by different things, wherein I was living in different places. That’s like a snapshot or a time capsule from that window of my life. If you listen to my albums through and through, you would see the growth and narrative changes and those are all reflective of my life experiences

That also brings me to the question about your next album. Whether you have something in the pipeline and whether your listeners would get to hear a different side of your music?

What I am most excited for is my new album that I am putting out this year. I’ve worked on it for over a year and we have some exciting collaborations on it.

How do you approach the creative process when collaborating with other artists on a song?

I enjoy collaborating with diverse artists, finding inspiration in their styles and perspectives to push my own creative boundaries.

You come across as someone who believes in energies?

People who give out good energy get good energy back. I’m very big on energy. Energy’s such a real thing, you’ve got to protect and preserve yours. You gotta be careful who you spend time around, it absorbs. I have a very powerful energy.

How do you balance your personal life and the demands of a successful music career?

As human beings, we need balance ultimately. And it’s also important to be able to identify when you need time to reset, time to breathe, time to heal, time to recalibrate. I really had to force myself to step back and just live a little bit and just take a look at my life and my career and decide what it is that I want to achieve, what I want to say, and who I want to be.

Being a rapper is a cool quotient for today’s generation, do you want to share a piece of advice for them?

Love what you do and do it for the right reasons. If you love what you do and do it for the right reasons, you’ll do it very frequently. You do anything frequently enough with enough repetition and consistency, you get better at it, and then you have a better chance of being recognized for it. Do it because you love it and do it every day, but don’t expect anything other than the reward of doing something that you love.