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AUGUST 2009

G SWAGGER

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(Vol. 1 - No. 3)

3Nobody’s Fan™

I step into the studio to sit down with G Swagger to discuss his

latest projects and what’s going on with Hip-Hop. To the left of me

there’s an old school Ms. Pacman video game and I’m fresh out of

quarters. To the right of me there’s a state of the art studio hidden

in the suburban cut of Far Rockaway, New York. As we chill out and

listen to his latest projects, I’m completely surprised at how nervous

he is in the presence of Da Hata. A few spins later he loosens up and

I get the chance to learn about him just a little bit more…

A R T I S T S P o T l I G H T:

G SWAGGER


D: What made you decide to start rapping?

G: Well two years ago I started taking it seri-

ously, but I’ve been doing it since I was about

14, and you know just me watching what the

game is going through and wanting to be a

part of it. I came up on the golden era, which

was the 90’s. It was just something that I did

when I was in high school for recreation, and

that I got a really good response from when

I was doing it. Everyone gravitated towards

me because I could do this, so I was like

maybe I should get some money for it. I de-

cided to make the transition and become a

real artist, but if there weren’t any money in it

I would still do it for recreation.

D: Well I listened to a few of your songs

and they sound really polished. They don’t

sound like those mixtapes songs. Everything

sounds like a finished product that you actu-

ally took the time to put it together. It’s not

like your putting bullshit out there.

Home Town:

Far Rockaway (Queens), New York

Age:

Early 24

Shoe Size:

12 without sole 11½

Favorite Snack:

Oatmeal Cookies

Musical Influences:

Michael Jackson, Nas and Al Green

Sports:

Football and Basketball

Favorite Movie:

Belly, Sate Property and Bad Boys

Label:

Independent, Fam Click Entertainment

5Nobody’s Fan™

G: Definitely not. I mean you know, I’m

just at a trial and error point right now

where I’m trying all different types of

music. I want to be able to reach ev-

erybody.

D: Are you signed to a label?

G: No. I’m currently independent

and I have my own label, Fam Click

Entertainment. I’m establishing art-

ists’ right now.

D: What’s that on your arm?

G: I actually got a tattoo of Fam Click

on my arm when I was 17 years old and

that’s why it’s so big. I wanted to turn

it into something real positive. Now it’s

my entertainment company and I’m

establishing other artists and I want to

sign myself.

D: Anybody in particular that you want

to sign?

G: I got this singer up in Boston called

Chemistry, but I just want to establish

myself first before I put my focus into

someone else.

D: Do you like doing collaborations?

G: Yeah, I’m not going to say no. It just

depends on who it is and if they’re go-

ing to make me go harder than I usual-

ly do. I like the essence of competition

when we’re making a record, so I love

collaborations. I can’t say that I don’t.

D: Do you want to be in the room at

the same time with other artists when

you’re collaborating on a record?

G: It makes for a better record I think,

but if someone emails me a song and

says, “here get on that”, I’m gonna do

that too. It just depends on who “that”

is. A lot of people might want to hear

that person and me together, so I’m just

going to give them what they want.

D: I’ve heard you on a few songs that

had collabos. I even heard one that

included Cassie. How did that come

to be?

G: Well you know….

D: You getting all shy and smiling and

shit…What’s that all about?

G: That was just a record that I heard

and I hopped on it. As soon as I heard

it, I heard myself all over it and that’s

kind of the lane I’m trying to stay in for

a minute.


D: So she doesn’t even know you’re on it?

G: Um, I don’t think she does….(laughing).

I send it out to her all the time. Cassie holla

at me! let’s make the real remix happen.

Puffy’s coming out with all these other re-

mixes and they not sounding good. No

hate though.

D: What’s with the disclaimer?

G: Ah, no hate. I’m with the Designated

Hata but I just wanted them to understand

that I have a better remix than Puff Daddy’s

remix of the “This Must Be love”.

D: What is the Rock Star Society?

G: It is a clothing line, a film company, a

lifestyle. It means from the Rock to the top

basically. We’re from Far Rock and were

coming from the Rock and the star signi-

fies the top basically. I’m a model for that

clothing line and they’re dropping their

second line this summer. We have our

own film company that we’re establish-

ing right now and we also just shot my last

video “Private Affair”. Basically, we’re just

a band of brothers all from Far Rockaway,

New York, trying to make it.

D: Did you go to school with them?

G: I went to school with a few of them. I

went to school with my man Rockstar Re-

mix, he’s one of the owners. He actually

started it, and I went to school with a cou-

ple other guys. For the most part I just ran

into these dudes. I came up with them and

we’re all going in one direction. We saw

each other’s vision, and we decided to

band together…yah know. You can’t stop

10-15 of us if we all do, what we do, and

perfect it. Definitely, Rock Star Society…

yah know!

D: I always hear that you’re

doing a show. Name some

people that you’ve opened for.

G: I don’t know if I’ve opened

for any major artists but I’ve

done some shows with Mick-

ey Factz, Charles Hamilton,

dudes like that. You know, I

run into these guys all the

time.

D: Yeaaaaaah Charles.

G: oh you know him?

D: No, I don’t know him personally but I

watched him get his jawed tapped on the

Internet…(laughing)

G: Aw man….shout out to Charles

Hamilton.

“Ah, no hate. I’m with the Designated

Hata but I just wanted them to understand that I have a better remix

than Puff Daddy’s”

7Nobody’s Fan™

D: He got a couple of songs that I like.

G: He shouldn’t do extra shit yah know.

D: I don’t know if he was thinking about

those 16 or 12 bars that he got out of his

mouth before you know…BoW!

G: I mean you know… that’s what hap-

pens when you talk reckless.

D: So you’ve opened for Mick-

ey Factz, Charles Hamilton,

part of XXl’s Top 10 new up

and coming list.

G: Yeah you know, that’s re-

ally it.

D: When you’re on stage it’s

really you performing by your-

self?

G: I work with some other

artists by the name of Yung

Juggz, Rocstar Remix, and

Fly Guy Nyckz. We got a lot

of music together so we do a lot of our

shows together. We’re kind of like one

team and we go hard.

D: For the most part you’re an independent

artist but you collaborate with them?

G: Yeah, I collaborate with them but we

are all individual artists. We’re working on

a group project as well so be on the look

out for that.

D: What was it like to film your very own

music video?

G: I felt like I made it for a second. like I

reached a new point in my career. People

took their time to put it together. The mo-

ment itself was surreal but it was a good

experience. The video was shot in a pri-

vate loft out in Brooklyn over looking New

York City. Everything just came together

and it ran real smooth.

D: You had a team of people really helping

you out?

G: Yeah, even one of my home girls from

the Bronx that I met via MySpace for

the very first time came out to help. She

heard about what it is we were doing and

reached out to Ric Cash, who’s the Gen-

eral Manager for the Rock Star Society.

D: Is Ric also your manager?

G: No, not for me personally. Just for the

whole Rock Star Society movement.

D: How long did it take to shoot the

video?

G: It took two whole days to shoot.

“Ah, no hate. I’m with the Designated

Hata but I just wanted them to understand that I have a better remix

than Puff Daddy’s”


D: I noticed that “Private Affair” was

recently featured as the behind the

scenes music for the Wendy Williams

Show that was posted up on Mediat-

akeout.com. How did that happen?

G: It was actually a homeboy of mine,

Scenario, that filmed that behind the

scenes piece. He really liked the song

and wanted to film the video, but by the

time we finally got the chance to hook

up I had already completed it. Scenar-

io works with Charlamagne the God

and approached him about placing

the song. Scenario called me up and

was like, “Yo, how would you feel if we

used Private Affair for the background

music?”, and I was like, “cool”.

D: That was a major move right there.

How did you feel seeing this jump from

radio and club play to television?

G: It felt good. I’m never satisfied so it

takes a lot to get me ecstatic. It’s get-

ting noticed and it’s a good marketing

tool, but it’s a small step to something

big that’s about to happen.

D: So what G Swagger single are you

pushing right now?

G: I’m fresh off of “Private Affair” right

now but I’m going to go with this new

single called “lifestyle”. That’s the one

I’m trying to flood out there.

D: Who are some of the people that you

would like to work with in the industry.

G: Well as far as females go I would

have to say Jazmine Sullivan or leela

James, and a lot of people are thinking

I’m gonna say a rapper but I’m gonna

say Justin Timberlake.

D: J.T.?

G: Yeah, definitely.

D: He does have soul.

G: Someone of that cloth though, you

know. Everybody else is just full com-

petition. I don’t need another rapper. I

can tackle another industry with some-

one from another genre.

D: Any producers in particular that you

would like to work with?

G: Timberland, Pharell, Swiss Beats

and the No ID guy that just did the

9Nobody’s Fan™

DoA beat for Jay Z, and the guys from

the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. league, I really want

to get on one of their joints…they’re

the ones that do a lot of the Rick Ross’

beats. Yeah he sounds fresh, he got

that new sound.

D: So do you have a real strong

work ethic?

G: Real strong. I mean when I’m in

there I’m in there, you know.

D: ladies and gentlemen, I just got to

tell you know that G Swagger is sober.

He is not high, he is not drunk, he is

not tipsy whatsoever. He is complete-

ly 100% sober and that is so rare in

today’s industry.

G: Definitely not. Everybody’s gettin’

high man. Ain’t nothing wrong with that

if that’s what you want to do, but that’s

just not my thing.

D: You don’t need it to be even

more creative?

G: Nah. It just doesn’t do anything for

me to feel like I need it.

D: I can respect that.

G: In a social environment that’s cool,

I’m not knocking anybody.

D: So does that mean you don’t like to

be around the smell of weed?

G: I actually like the smell. There’s

nothing wrong with it, at all. It doesn’t

bother me one bit.

D: ladies, in case you didn’t know,

G Swagger is a very handsome man.

You actually look better in person than

you do in pictures. Does everybody tell

you that?

G: In p ic tures , yeah. I th ink that

persona l ly.

D: I saw your picture and I was like

he’s alright, and I then saw the video

for “Private Affair” and I was like he’s

good looking… but I now that I see you

in person I have to say that you’re a lot

better looking in person.

G: I appreciate you saying that…for

real (laughing)

D: Yeah, cause you know if you were

ugly…(laughing)

G: You would have let me know?

D: I wouldn’t have even said anything

(laughing)

G: oK, oK.


D: Are you a boxers or briefs kind of guy?

G: Briefs...(signing)…we don’t

do that…(laughing)…we don’t do

those…(laughing)…I’m a boxers

man…definitely!

D: So what do you do for fun?

G: Hang out with Ms. Sui Generis.

Shout out to Sui Generis. I like to

hang out with her. That’s my home

girl right there.

D: For real? I think she’s kind of mean…

(laughing)…that’s why I like her! She’s

a hater in training…well actually she’s

not even in training, she’s running her

own little boot camp.

G: I also like to play basketball, work

out, hang out with my peoples, you

know things like that.

D: What’s your fantasy vacation?

G: Wow. I don’t really like to take

vacations.

D: Why?

G: Just for the fact that I feel like you

have to earn one of those.

D: You’re a big celebrity, you got

money in the bank , no b i l l s to

worry about, everybody’s taken care

of Mom’s, Pop’s, cousins, aunts, un-

cles, the dog, everybody’s taken care

of. Where would you go?

G: Cuba.

D: Why Cuba?

G: I Googled Cuba actually and they

got a couple things going on out there

that I like, or maybe even France and

the French Rivera. Something like that

where I can eat

some artichokes,

eggplant, drink

some Pinot Noir,

red wine, things

like that…(laugh-

ing).

D: What about the

red light district?

G: Is that Amster-

dam?

D: That is Amsterdam.

G: No, I mean because all they do out

there is smoke weed right?

D: What inspires you to write lyrics?

G: life. The day-to-day things that go

on, things that bother me, things I’ve

11Nobody’s Fan™

been through, the conditions that I

came from and where I’m going with

my vision.

D: Does the music have to be playing

for you to decide to write or something

just happened and you decided to pick

up a pad.

G: I mean it’s both. If something hap-

pens or if something comes to me in my

head, I’m gonna write that down and

then I can come up

with a whole song

from just that one

line. or if I’m hear-

ing a beat that I

like, right away its

just gonna write it

for me in my head

basically. Beats talk

to me. It’s either/or.

I mean as far as me

just sitting there and trying to, it’s not

gonna work, it’s never gonna work for

me like that ‘cause it’s not gonna come

out the way I want it to come out.

D: Do you ghost write for anybody?

G: I can but, no, not right now. But I

can, holla at me though. I will write any

song that you need me to write. What-

ever genre it is.

D: As long as you get a check!

G: As long as that ASCAP check comes

in the mail. Holla at me.

D: Tell me about a moment when some-

one was hating on you.

G: Not too long ago, I met this DJ at

a party who was like, “send me this,

send me this, send me this”. I talked

to him for a whole week and I sent him

the songs. I walked into one of the par-

ties that he was doing, and he had no

idea that I was coming. I sat there from

beginning to end and he never played

my record, but he’s been telling peo-

ple that he’s been playing records for

me. So when I ran up on him he was

just like, “oH SHIT”. like he had just

seen a ghost ‘cause he ain’t know I

was in there. And I was like, “Yo what

happened? Why you ain’t play my re-

cord?” Since he couldn’t come up with

the proper response, I told that nigga

that he was hating on me and I was like

FUCK IT.

D: What are you not feeling about the

industry?

G: I’m not feeling these old niggas that

don’t want to pass the torch. I can’t

stand them man. like Jay Z and Busta

Rhymes…all these niggas man.


D: You mean the fact that they keep de-

ciding to come out with the albums?

G: Yeah, Yeah…they keep coming

man. like what the fuck? like give me

a break and pass the torch already!!!

These niggas don’t want to put no-

body out. They just want to keep mak-

ing records and in New York they keep

fucking with all these old niggas. For

example they all dick riding Jay Z with

that Death of Auto-Tunes track, but I

take that Auto-Tune’s shit as an evolu-

tion. That’s what the industry’s come to

now. I just think Jigga is hating on the

evolution of it. Don’t hate on the next

nigga if that’s how he gets his money,

if that’s how he’s doing it. I could care

less because that’s not what I do.

D: It’s just a program that they’re using

right now. You have to know it or prob-

ably use it.

G: I hate that they don’t want shit to

change. That’s what I hate.

D: Well if the industry changes they got

to change.

G: Yeah, absolutely.

I’m not feeling

these old niggas that

don’t want to pass

the torch. I can’t

stand them…they

keep coming man.

like what the fuck?

like give me a break

and pass the torch

already!!!

G SWAGGER

13Nobody’s Fan™

To learn more about G Swagger check out his website: www.gswaggermusic.com

To purchase the clothes check out: www.therockstarsociety.comG SWAGGER


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