MA-bred Rapper Has Revolution On His Mind
9:00AM ET October 14th, 2010
Contributor : Mathis Bauchner
A Rocky Williform Company

Massachusetts isn’t exactly a hotbed for streetwise emcees. And college campuses aren’t what they used to be when it comes to political passion. But G Biz is a throwback to the Golden Era, when a mean flow and lyrical content took precedence over singsong hooks and simplistic punch lines. In an industry where authenticity has fallen by the wayside and been replaced with record label-approved 'swag,' G Biz keeps his music one hundred percent un-compromised. He sat down recently with HipHopBlog to discuss his new EP, The World Is Mine, and the state of hip-hop today.

So you dropped your debut EP, The World Is Mine, this past week. Talk about the inspiration behind the title and the content of the project.
The idea behind The World Is Mine was just to make something a little more serious, that at the same time reflected where I'm at in my life. There's a futuristic-revolutionary-gangster theme to most of the tracks. The tracks are darker than before, but none of this sh*t was done on purpose. I started recording tracks for the EP this summer, without a theme or any concept for the album or anything, and finished recording early this semester in my dorm at school. After listening to the album and talking with members of my camp who had listened as well, the title The World Is Mine seemed appropriate, especially with a track already under that title.

What are the challenges and benefits of producing some of your own material?
Right now all my music's low-fi and mixed kind of lazily, but I actually prefer that sound. That being said, at some point I'll probably need to get more serious about audio engineering and all that. I'm trying to minor in audio production because I don't want to be paying someone else to mix my music down, I'd rather do everything myself, or at least have the ability. When I was 16, 17 I was a lot more into making my own beats, but for now I mostly focus on spitting.

Who else did you work with on the EP?
The only other MC on the project is my boy P Stat, a fellow Massachusetts rapper who's living in NYC now. P Stat and myself are starting our own label--DPS - Dead Poets Society. P Stat’s a real gangster, a business student at NYU, and one of my closest homes, so we had to put down a track. Be sure to check out Stat's verse on "Tarzan." For production I worked with another close homie of mine, Dixon, who does mostly electronic sh*t, but we on the same level and his beats are always hard. Rajiv Leroy's a dude I met this summer at the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. All these kids are like 18, 19 years old, you know?

You’re in school now, but you tend to avoid rapping about the “college scene.” Is that a conscious decision?
It's not a conscious decision at all. I pretty much rap about the same sh*t I rapped about when I started at the age of 15, just on a more mature level. My college scene isn't any different than my home scene. I still ride my bike, chill with my crew and my girl, smoke my weed, play ball [and] work. The only difference is I go to class and live in a dorm. I don't go to frat parties and drink cheap beer or associate with sorority girls and I don't listen to any other college rappers, so I don't really know that “college scene.”

On ‘Harder To Breathe’ you rap “We got politicians that steal, presidents that lie / And people keep livin’ they lives.” Do you consider yourself a political rapper?
I don't consider myself a political rapper. In high school people used to joke I was a Communist and I know a lot of my educational mentors wished I was still politically active. In the last two years I developed an apathetic approach to politics, and that's heard in The World Is Mine. Everything is so controlled now. The things that are in the media questioning our government are there for a reason. Nothing is as it seems. I found myself at a point where I would overanalyze the corruption throughout the world and drive myself crazy. For my own mental health--and the sake of people around me--I had to make a decision to pay less attention to politics.

How do you feel about the direction mainstream hip-hop’s headed, with some of the artists that have emerged in the past year; Drake, Kid Cudi, etc?

Mainstream hip-hop is a joke to me. Like politics, I try to just ignore its existence for my own mental health. All this sample-free maximum profit bullshit crammed down brainless kid's throats. Not all of it is bad, of course, but the fact is that 90-something percent of mainstream rap is stupid. Kid Cudi's alright, I guess. Drake's a clown. Jay-Z no longer makes good music. I don't like Kanye as much as I used to but my little brother, Kronik, still loves the dude. I was happy to see Styles P make a successful mainstream song with Rick Ross. I've always been a fan of the Lox.

What artists do you admire?
I admire some Queensbridge rappers, specifically Cormega and Nas. And AZ, of course. Who I most admire in the underground circuit would probably be El-P. I think he put out a lot of good music through Def Jux with Can O and Aesop and even some young dudes like Cool Calm Pete. I really fuck with MF Grimm. I like The Grouch, Slug. I got a lot of respect for RZA, and most of the Wu.

Visit G Biz's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/hiphopizgolden