NEWS
EVENTS
Gfrsh interview. Touching down with Guestlist
RnB/Hip Hop | Tuesday 8th July 2014 | Annalisa
The man who earned a scholarship to private school, studied for an economic degree at UCL, has his own video production company and has millions of views on Youtube; keeping busy is an understatement! We touched down with the man who is 'Falling High' right now, G Frsh.
So you’ve been busy right?
Yeah I’ve been trying, just trying, of course I’m working.
How is life for you right now?
It’s interesting, I think it’s an interesting place to be. I’m just getting old I suppose, and learning and changing, so it’s interesting.
You sound different from a lot of other rappers that are out there, can you explain that?
I think we all have an ideal secrecy and things that make everybody unique. I think the image that we project to ourselves is not necessarily a true one. So I wouldn’t say I’m practically different, I’m just me; that’s all I can be. I’m just made up from a bunch of weird stuff, I can see how they came together, in a sense obviously, as you mentioned, going to private school, and growing up in my estate and all that kind of stuff. Being around some people one minute and around other people another, I think made me just a bit different. Well I think everybody has got things unique to them, that you wouldn’t expect them to do, like me meditating it’s unexpected because I talked about money and women, or fast cars, but I meditate.
But what about your actual rapping style?
I think with me, I would say I take pride in the technical aspect and the poetic aspect, I’d say. In the sense of like things with double meanings in it and it being more complicated than it first put on the surface of just listening to something. Maybe I’m different in that sense, some people call it just punchlines rapper, I’d like to think of it as more than that. As long as you do your thing, you always stand out.
How old were you when they discovered your lyrical ability?
I was twenty, twenty-one. Yeah it was quite late to be honest, I wasn’t really interesting in music before.
And you say you paid your dues though, to be a success, what do you mean?
I actually meant I paid my dues to just at least have some credit. Like give me something. And that was like talking to the scene, the fans everybody, because I think just as human being we need that response, that feedback, just to know that it’s worth your time. And that was me saying like surely I’ve done enough now for you to put me somewhere, just respect me please. Sometime they were loads of people that do, a lot of time you just feel like there’s all these people that don’t and that’s what slowing you down. In terms of paying my dues, I released a mix tape of consistent quality and quantity in my opinion. And I just thought, this is my time, like pleases just let me have my time, if you know what I’m saying.
But you want more right?
Yeah I describe myself as greedy because people think that wanted to be a successful is a bad thing, sometimes.
What is it that you really want?
I have high expectations for myself. To the point that I would never achieve what I really want to, because they are too hard. I don’t know why it’s always have been like that, I always wanted to be the best, the biggest, just the top. So that’s what I want, I want the top and I know that 20 000 is not the top.
What is a “Flygerian” ?
It’s a Nigerian who dresses well and he’s fly.
Do you feel a connection to your heritage?
Most definitely, I love Nigeria and I love being a Nigerian I was there last year, I’m hoping to go this year for a good couple of months. One of my ideals is to live between here and Nigeria to be honest. In Lagos probably or on an island somewhere chilling.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being way better, how much better are you than the best rapper in London right now?
I can’t even answer that. I was saying in another interview that there’s so many aspects to what makes a good rapper. You would be a fool to say, you’re the best because it’s also based so much on other people opinion. So your opinion is only one voice at the end of the day, so I wouldn’t say that I’m way better or whatever else. In my own humble opinion, I would like to say I’m way better than everybody but it’s just my voice, I mean who cares what I’ve got to say.
You said that you could have been a stockbroker, if it was like the Wolf of Wall Street, what would be your motivation message to people?
Maybe it’s more an advice than a message but it would be: to make whatever you’re doing your life. You kind of have to be obsessed with whatever you’re doing. And it sounds crazy because it’s unhealthy but I think it’s the only way to get where you really want to get to.
Do you have like a mantra or what sort that you live by right now?
When you’re working so hard that’s all you’re doing. There’s no that much time in a day, to even get that reflection time. So as long as I know that I’m active and chasing my dreams then that’s pretty much it to be honest.
Have you had that work ethic since the beginning?
Yeah, because when I was in primary school, and that’s how I got my scholarship in the first place, I knew I just wanted to be smart. There was another girl in my class, she would put out her hand, she’d know the answer, and I was like I can’t have her being the top of the class. So I used to stole math books take them home and been working through them on my own time. It’s just the way I am, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s not even competitively all the time. It’s more just, knowing. You just have to work, you just have to do it. Now I can see how much better I am than when I first started just through those hours of practice.
Now you mastered the art?
I don’t think I mastered it, cause I think there’s so much more learning to do and you can always learn. That’s what I still do now. Just to rap a rare of sixteen, I read books about speeches, I read about oratory, about poetry, about English, about writing, form, structure, everything. That’s just what I’m like.
Who’s that girl to you right now, what rapper’s out there you’re competing with?
You know what’s even harder now, it’s to compete with people that don’t do what you do. If it was more like “Oh these like technically sick rappers are up there” it would be like “okay we just need to think of better lines and ways to put stuff.” But it’s actually me competing with “how to get my message across, in the most simple and universal way.” And that has come for me, understanding that there’s people up there that reached more of the masses than I have. So technically they are better public speakers or communicators than myself. I think I have to learn from them, so that’s where I’m right now.
How do your closest friends describe you?
I think weird. And I’ve come to accept that, cause too many people has said it so I must be like that. “You’re just weird, you’re just different there’s no one like you, no one thinks like you”. I just came out with my own value system and all the rest of it, I just do what I want.
Who are you learning from right now?
Everybody, everything, everywhere. I think if you don’t take any new information during the day, then I don’t understand what you’re doing.
But who’s actually inspired you?
A specific person? Maybe actually Michael Jordan, cause I was watching something, he was set in the house, and he basically did a whole tour of the house and he would talk about him and how he would have breakfast with the team before training and his mentality was different. More than just his skills and ability to play, it was his mental strength. So maybe that was an inspiration and that made me just watch his best dunks and interviews of him and just understand him, his mind set in competing and achieving. And also not getting too lost in, like, what comes along with success I suppose, just keeping your head down and focus and knowing that you’re never at the top even when you feel like it.
If you could change something in the world, what would you change?
If there was a way, cause I think in life we strive for balance. I think if there was a better distribution income and balance in everything in life, so nothing in excess, the world would be a better place.
So would you be ready to sacrifice your super success for more balance in the world?
Yeah I would definitely sacrifice for balance, and I don’t believe in communism, cause that doesn’t work either. But I’d sacrifice my success if I could, for balance, 100%.
But if there was balance everywhere, where would you get your swag?
But you know in balance all these things that we think as important, they just wouldn’t be anymore. Because nothing would supersedes smothering else because it’s always equal.
If you could fill a swimming pool with anything in the world what would it be?
Right now, today? Money today.
If money wasn’t an object?
Women.
So what new music is there to look out for right now?
There’s the “Alfie” EP which “Falling High” is taken from, so that’s gonna be out on iTunes, soon. It’s an interesting project, it’s insightful in depth and it’s definitely something you should listen to.
So when are you gonna be selling out O2?
You know what? Fuck knows what the future holds.
You’re on the road now, but you performed in front of 20 000 people last week, how was it?
That was a sick feeling and that’s something I want to experience again, especially on my own terms. That’s one of those dreams that I’m here fighting for, and let’s just hope that I can make it happen.
Thank you.
