Born Gerald Earl Gillum and raised in Oakland, California, G-Eazy was absolutely captivated by hip-hop’s culture and music from a very young age. By the time he was in his late teens he’d already performed and recorded with a number of local hip-hop groups like Lil’ B and The Cataracts but it wasn’t until he went to college that he formed his own group. As leader of the Bay Boyz, G-Eazy generated some serious hype for his music with the songs that they uploaded to their MySpace page. However, solo stardom was always going to be the number one priority for the up and coming rapper, who was already working on his solo debut while still in the Bay Boyz.
Showing his dedication to his craft, G-Eazy was also building up a prolific producing portfolio at the same time. When he turned those skills onto his own tracks he came up with “Candy Girl”, a song has since been played on MySpace well over 400’000 times, and it became clear that a talent like his wasn’t going to be under ground for long. He released his debut album “The Epidemic LP” in 2010 and no lesser talent than Canadian rap megastar Drake hand-picked G-Eazy to tour with him at the end of the year. The exposure that the album and the tour gave him led to the massive success of his 2011 breakout hit “Runaround Sue” and its accompanying E.P “The Endless Summer”.
Ever since then he’s been one of the hottest names in modern rap. He’s toured with the likes of Lil’ Wayne and Snoop Dogg, scored a top three album on the Billboard 200 with his third effort “These Things Happen” and worked with A$AP Ferg on his single “Lotta That”. At the time of writing the man’s only 25 years old as well, meaning that he’s had this level of success, and this much experience doing what he does, and he’s still not even close to his prime. Clearly when he gets there he’s going to be something very special indeed, and he’s still going to be making great music until he gets to that point. For that reason, G-Eazy comes highly recommended.
Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, better known by his pseudonym, Logic, was born in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He comes from humble beginnings, and didn’t graduate from high school. He began skipping classes in the tenth grade, when he started to do badly in every class. He was later expelled, but he used his new found free time to pursue his music career in full force.
At the young age of 13, Logic met his mentor, Solomon Taylor. When he was sixteen, Taylor brought him a bundle of CDs with beats on to write over. At the time, he was going by the name “Psychological” which is a word that he really identified with, and released an unofficial mixtape entitled “Psychological: The Mixtape” A couple of years on, and Logic opened for Pitbull, Ludacris and Method Man at a show in Maryland. Shortly after, he decided to go by the name Logic instead.
On Decemeber 17th 2010, Logic released his first official mixtape entitled “Young, Broke and Infamous”, and two music videos alongside it for “Stain in the Game” and “Backpack”. It caught the attention of Chris Zarou, who wanted Logic to be a part of his upstart independent record label Visionary Music Group. It was his second mixtape “Young Sinatra” that really caught the attention of the masses, with songs such as “All I Do” and “Prime”. The “All I Do” video was the first video for Logic to reach over a million views on YouTube. By this point he had started a fire so big that it caught the attention of Def Jam, he took the next step in his career by signing with them, and on May 7th 2013, Logic released his fourth official mixtape, “Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever”, which reached 100,000 downloads in 24 hours. He embarked on a tour with Kid Cudi, Big Sean and Tyler, the Creator on “The Cud Life Tour 2013”.
Most recently, on September 15th 2014, Logic released a singled called “Under Pressure” which he declared was the title track of an album that he released on October 21st 2014.
Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, US, Juicy J was deeply influenced by the style of Southern hip hop music, and formed the group Three 6 Mafia with DJ Paul and Lord Infamous. While in Three 6 Mafia, Juicy J was able to convey his abilities as a solo artist with the 1999 track “Slob On My Knob”, which consisted solely of Juicy J rapping.
During time off between projects in Three 6 Mafia, Juicy J recorded and released his debut solo album “Chronicles of the Juice Man” in 2002. The album was released to generally positive reception and reached the No. 4 spot on the Billboard’s US Independent Albums chart. The album also consisted of guest appearances by Three 6 Mafia members as well as Juicy J’s brother, Project Pat.
After releasing his debut album Juicy J would return to work with Three 6 Mafia and would not release another solo album until 2009. During his time back with Three 6 Mafia the group went on to achieve great success with their 2003 album “Da Unbreakables” reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and their 2005 album “Most Known Unknown” reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. The year 2006 saw Three 6 Mafia becoming the first hip hop group to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song with “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp”, which was featured in the movie “Hustle & Flow”. The group also became the first hip-hop group to perform at the Oscars’ ceremony.
Juicy J’s second album “Hustle Till I Die” marked the rappers return to his solo career in 2009. During this time Juicy J began to step away from working with Three 6 Mafia and focused on his solo career full time as well as working with the rapper Wiz Khalifa. In 2011 he joined Wiz Khalifa’s label, Taylor Gang, as a part owner and A&R representative. On 23 August 2013 Juicy J released his third studio album “Stay Trippy”, which showed Juicy J really stepping up his game. The album was met with positive reviews and went to No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and No. 2 on the US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The album contained the singles “Bandz a Make Her Dance”, “Show Out”, and “Bounce It” as well as featured many guest performers such as Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Wale, and The Weekend.
Juicy J has also found himself collaborating with pop diva Katy Perry for her 2013 single “Dark Horse”, which reached the No. 1 spot on the US Mainstream Top 40 chart. Juicy J is also a highly engaging performer live that has been known to play large festivals such as the hip hop festival, Paid Dues, as well as headline his own tours that he has shared the bill with rappers like Travis Scott.
I have been a huge fan of G-Eazy since he came out with his first album, "Big." I have loved following the Bay Area artist's progress throughout his albums, such as "The Outsider", "Endless Summer" and "Lady Killers." When the opportunity arose to see G-Eazy in concert for the small price of $30, I couldn't resist.
Being a rising artist, G-Eazy's "These Things Happen" tour typically played shows in smaller sized venues. The show initially consisted of a few opening acts which grabbed the crowd's attention while also continued to increase anticipation of G-Eazy's appearance.
Even as a frequent concert goer, no show has yet to compare to the feeling that arose in my stomach as G-Eazy appeared on the stage mere feet from myself. From the attention grabbing "Far Alone" to the slower song "Mad" and even the old hit "California Culture", G-Eazy managed to engage the entire crowd no matter what song he played or beat he dropped. The show was so intimate and personal that you truly felt like you couldn't get enough.
The second opportunity that was presented for me to see G-Eazy live was by means of a festival. I was extremely excited to see one of my favorite artists again but was somewhat skeptical of how he would do on a larger stage with a more diverse crowd. Needless to say, he killed it. If anything, G-Eazy was even more into the festival atmosphere and seemed to have the time of his life on the stage, even breaking out "the shit he usually doesn't play at normal shows", "Lotta That." In the short hour that was allotted for G-Eazy to play, he used every single second of it very, very wisely.
G-Eazy is still on the verge of a major breakthrough as an artist and continues to grow in popularity everyday. I would love to see him keep his personal way of connecting with a crowd as he continues to play at larger venues during future tours. I HIGHLY recommend going to see one of his shows - it won't disappoint.
I can’t think of many rappers who have the title of ‘Sir’ before their name, and this is one of the many things that makes Sir Robert Bryson Hall II stand out from the crowd. Logic initially gained a large internet following, before releasing his critically acclaimed mix tape Young Sinatra: Welcome Forever. Making a break through YouTube is an incredible challenge, and a real reflection of Logic’s rapping talent.
Logic is an incredible performer. He flawlessly flows through his beats and tunes, never slipping up or missing a lyric. Speaking of which, the powerful lyrics of this tracks really come to life in a live performance, and resonate even more deeply with the audience when you can hear it first hand. When he sang Walk On By, he had the crowd joining in and going crazy. He really knows how to motivate a crowd and get them on his side. I completely lost track of time, and the concert flew by. I would say, if you get the chance to see him, make sure it’s a long set!
I’m absolutely gutted that I saw him before the release of his epic debut album just this month, but that’s as good a reason as any for me to go back and see the genius perform again.
After Juicy J took a rest from the rap game for a while, he came back strong with his album, “Stay Trippy.” He certainly adhered to his single from that album, “Bandz A Make Her Dance” as he made it rain during his performance of the song. This was not expected, and it felt as if the concert turned into a fun club night. The crowd went crazy; that certainly made all of the ladies dance while they grabbed as much money as they could. It was also great Juicy J took us back with hits from his group, Three 6 Mafia, such as, “Poppin’ My Collar” and “Stay Fly.” He was happy that he still had fans of his group in the audience, since this shows he has longtime fans over the years. Juicy J also showed lots of excitement and enthusiasm even though the concert at Detroit’s Masonic Temple did not start until 11 p.m. He did an earlier show in the city at 7 p.m. the same day at the Fox Theatre, but if he was tired he certainly played it off well. It may be something he is used to since he says in his song “Show Out:” “One night, two shows/That's two mansions and a team expansion.” This really added to the excitement of the show.