"The sophomore album is one of the most treacherous obstacles for any rapper," said G-Eazy in his recent HNHH interview. "I dug as deep as I could until I was literally drained of inspiration."
His sophomore album When It's Dark Out drops on December 4th, and G-Eazy is excited. He whittled it down from 60-some songs to about 15, and last night he held an "intimate listening party" at Premiere Studios, formerly known as Quad Studios, aka the studio where Tupac got shot. HNHH was lucky enough to score an invitation.
Young Gerald was on his The Outsiders shit as usual, wearing an off-white Supreme jacket and high-top Converse sneakers. Once the studio had filled up, he ordered a chicken and rice bowl from the curry spot across the street and told the studio manager, "dim the lights." Sitting at the massive studio console, he swiveled around his chair, hunched his lanky frame over his laptop, and pressed play.
There were some Mets fan in the room who were initially trying to multitask and watch Game 2 of the World Series that was playing on the TV in the adjacent room. But the Mets were forgotten almost immediately once the album got going. The crowd nodded along enthusiastically throughout, but no one nodded harder than G-Eazy himself, Gerald Gilliam with his hands in the pockets of his Supreme jacket.
It was inspired by horror films
G-Eazy said that he wanted the album to be like a soundtrack to a horror film. "I wanted it to feel like dark, cinematic vibe," he said. He explained that he wanted the album to sound like a soundtrack to a horror film and that he drew inspiration from the work of gothic specialist Tim Burton and horror auteur Wes Craven. Piano and foggy synths appear throughout the album and give it a cohesively dark sound.
Though the song that he felt best captured that horror vibe the best was track #9 (feat. Grace), the darkness is present from the jump. The soundtrack to G-Eazy's album trailer (watch below) is actually the first two songs on the album.
In the intro, he recites the same Dylan Thomas poem that Michael Caine recited in "Interstellar." “Do not go gentle into that good night… Rage, rage against the dying of the light." He then jumps into the second song, which is called "Random," and like many songs on the album, it's a banger but with a darker feel, a dark intensity that indeed conjures up nighttime images.
The features are on point
G-Eazy wisely avoided pulling a Troy Ave and seeking out the most popular names he could find to deliver guest features on his album. Instead, Young Gerald opted for a tasteful salad of big features and small features while also keeping it true to the Bay. "The features came in last second after all the meat and potatoes were in place," he said, and he chose who to invite to appear on the album with care.
Bay-wise, we have Too Short, E-40, Kehlani, and two up-and-coming singers, Marky Bassy and Quinn. Interestingly, aside from Too Short, all these artists appear on the last 5 songs.
Gerald recruited a young Australian lady named Grace to sing a hook (lot's of female hooks on the album) and Bebe Rexha lends her chocolate river of a voice to "Me, Myself, & I," the album's lead single.
Now for the big features. Keyshia Cole (if you want to call her a big feature), Big Sean, and Chris Brown. All three of these artists showed up big time, most notably Big Sean. "Big Sean record goes hard as fuck," I wrote in my notes.
The producers aren't bad either
This list of producers is admittedly incomplete. Presumably Gerald produced a few tracks himself. Boi-1da brought his usual magic on "Of All Things" feat. Too Short. DJ Spinz (cut it uppp!!) got on there, as did Southside of 808 Mafia for a song called "What If" that explores a multitude of "what if?" scenarios. "What if bill Clinton had never got head?" he raps.
Said G-Eazy of track #8, "this shit is about to fuck up the radio in Cali especially." He dropped the beat he swiveled around in his chair to face the boards, dropped the beat, and he was not lying. "I'm the coldest white rapper in the game since the one with the bleached hair," he raps. This song is the only one on the album that could be characterized as a "blapper." It was produced by a couple British guys who working one room over in the studio one night and gave G-Eazy a thumb drive.
So to recap, the list of producers right now is Gerald, Boi-1da, DJ Spinz, Southside, and some British dudes.
It contains the most personal song he's ever made
The penultimate track on the album is called "Everything Will Be Okay." It features Kehlani, and according to G-Eazy, it is the most personal record he's ever made.
He wrote the song between the hours of 4 AM and 6 AM one night in the studio, which recalls that great quote, "The dead of midnight is the noon of thought." He's been teasing it concerts this summer.
Kehlani's hook comes before the first verse and sets the tone -- slow, big, reflective, sorrowful, yet uplifting. G-Eazy said even his closest friends never knew about some of the things he talks about in the song. The memories he touches on are wildly different, but connected by the confessional nature of the song. I won't spoil it here but I will say that "Everything Will Be Okay" is probably the album's single most breath-taking song.
"Everything Will Be Okay" is the climax of what is overall an incredibly introspective album. Even the party songs have a certain vulnerability about them. "Sleeping at your parents to sold out shows in Paris," he raps on the song that features Chris Brown. In the just-released "Me, Myself, & I" video, he talks to himself in the bathroom during his own birthday party on some Gollum vs. Smeagol shit. "I'm a Gemini times 10, there's that many people inside me," he told his studio crowd.
It ends strong
Albums fade in the second half more often then note, but When It's Dark Out is not such an album. After the excellent Southside-produced banger "What If" (track #10) is one of my personal favorites. "Gerald what the fuck is wrong man. Cheer up you asshole," he raps. The hook goes, "Gerald what you said for? Why you got the blues? Everyone wanted to be in your shoes... What you so sad for? This is everything that you asked for." Despite (and because of) G-Eazy's growing fame, he is no more happy than he was when he was living in his parents' basement. Which might explain why he is less of a partier and more of a studio rat than ever.
He continues to put his remarkable self-awareness on display the next two songs, after which comes "Everything Will Be Okay." He originally planned to end with that song, but despite its' personal importance, he ultimate wanted to finish on a different note. The final track, "Nothing To Me" feat. E-40 & Keyshia Cole, is his favorite song on the album, he says. This shit is straight church. Literally -- his friend brought in a kid who plays piano at his church to lay down a roiling piano loop. Keyshia Cole goes straight Alicia Keys on the hook -- "It's a lot to you, but it ain't nothing to me." She killt it, as did E-40, but no one sounds better on this piano than Gerald himself, who raps like he's talking to the priest in a confessional booth. It's cliche to say, but this whole album really feels like a diary.