HotNewHipHop's On The Come Up series profiles rising stars in the rap game that show strong promise and the will to succeed. Most of the time, they're new to the site but deserve some shine. We will profile artists and producers ranging from those in the deep underground to artists just about to bubble up into the mainstream that you may have missed. You'll be able to check out some of their best work, and we'll break down what makes them great by category. At the end of the article, you'll find links to hear more from the artist or producer, and you can leave suggestions in the comments letting us know who we should profile in the future.
This week's edition features G4SHI, a super versatile artist making waves in the industry, and tons of new fans, with his ultra unique musical style. Take a look.
Nice To Meet You
Nice To Meet You
Born in war torn Kosovo, the Albanian native G4SHI came to Brooklyn in the height of hip hop's glory days. He relied on Biggie and Jay Z to help him learn the intricacies of the English language, as well as survival tactics in their shared hometown of Brooklyn. Because he grew up in New York, but still reps his home country constantly, fans oversees feel a strong bond with him as one of the few successful hip hop musicians from that part of the world, and have shown a tremendous amount of support. That support, along with his quickly growing fanbase stateside, is resulting in a strong buzz for the 23-year old, and he's carefully executing his own game plan trying to capitalize on that buzz.
Today's hip hop game is run by artists who are versatile, being able to wear many hats, and wear them well. G4SHI shouldn't have an issue here, as he transitions from rapping to singing more flawlessly than most. When it comes to rapping, he allows the beat to dictate his flow, adjusting his speed constantly and becomes almost chameleon-like, breaking out new flows every time a new song drops, always leaving the listener with something they haven't heard from him before. In the below track, "Laughing", he shows off a few different flows as mentioned above, as well as his ability to break the song down and get melodic, proving he can craft a complete song with the best of them.
Networking & Collaborations
Networking & Collaborations
An interesting thing about G4SHI is that he stays away from collaborations with artists for the most part. In a recent interview with Duke London, he said he wouldn't want to collab with an artist until they had a personal relationship, but if he had that ideal bond with any artists, he'd love to work with Tyler, the Creator and Yung Lean.
When it came to producers, he said, "I have the the best producers in the game in Smokie Morrison and Matthew P., but if I had the chance, I'd like to work with Tommy Kruise, his stuff is dope."
Smokie Morrison has produced some of G4SHI's best work, including his most recent release "FFFF", which has a rare feature (Ken Rebel) and was featured here on HotNewHipHop. You can hear the track below:
Matther P. produced a recent single for G4SHI called "Room 4" that uses haunting strings to set the tone for the futuristic, alt-trap ode to culture vultures, complete with verbal assaults to all the non-believers.
As far as networking, G4SHI has some fairly high profile relationships in the industry that seem to be a little bit of a mystery, and it remains to be seen if that mystery has anything to do with any upcoming label situation for him. His friendship with many of the A$AP Mob members is well documented, including Rocky and Ferg. When G4SHI was asked about his rumored friendship with Kanye West, he said, "I can't speak on that too much, but he's the older brother I never had." Hmmmmm.
Beginning of the Buzz
Beginning of the Buzz
"You said that I would never sign to Jay Z, didn't phase me. Took my last check, made Who Made Me and that shit just made me."
G4SHI recently shared a story with his fans about how close he was to giving up his dream, and when things started to turn around for him. He said on July 17th, "This time last year I dropped a video and song that changed my life. I was working retail and got fired. I was deadass stressed about music, because it wasn't going right. I ended up getting fired from work and recorded the song "Who Made Me" with my last paycheck. The shit ended up making noise, making it onto the radio and MTV. Cosigns and all of that came. It was truly a blessing because only God knows how much I needed it." After "Who Made Me", G4SHI's been on a tear, dropping heat every few months and building an impressive catalog, making it seem like only a matter of time before he truly pops off on the next level.
Up Next
Up Next
When asked about the timetable for his debut project's release, G4SHI told us, "People are just not ready for what I'm about to drop at all. It's about to be so next level. October 4th. It's called 4Play. It'll have "Who Made Me", "Laughing", "No Favors" and "Room 4" on there. As far as what's new and different, it's more dope production, more dope hooks. It'll basically be me talking about the come up, and my life. I can't talk about what other people are doing, you feel me? I can only talk about what I've been through. If you can relate, you can relate. I'm just writing from what I see, and who I am. People don't know who I am, they're so quick to shut me down because they don't know what the fuck I am. They try to categorize me and put me in a box, and try to ignore me instead of listening and making their own decision on what they like or don't like."
It really is hard to put G4SHI in a box or category because his music is just so different from anything we've heard before. From the production, to his ever-changing flow, to his melodic bridges and hooks, he's making his own lane and not compromising one bit of creative control while he does it. Over the past year, he's released songs and videos sporadically, seeming to wait until each track and visual is absolutely perfect before unleashing it to the public. Now with a full project coming, it will be interesting to see how that mentality transfers with a lot of material dropping at once. Judging from his track record, we shouldn't have anything to worry about, as none of our standards for him are as high as his own, making it seem highly unlikely 4Play will be anything short of phenomenal. 4's up.