OhGeesy started to record the project shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world last year. As quarantine life began to affect the process of making and releasing music, the Los Angeles-bred rhymer, born Alejandro Carranza, persevered. Being a new father to his 2-year-old-son, Sincere, trying to navigate life as a solo artist and working on his own sound was certainly a challenge. But, with a love for rap and Atlantic Records behind him, OhGeesy, who’s of Mexican descent, found traction, most notably with his DaBaby-assisted single “Get Fly,” which has 20 million Spotify streams and counting. With the release of his solo debut effort behind him, OhGeesy speaks with XXL about the ups and downs of the last year, why he feels Shoreline Mafia broke up, having Kanye West-level goals and starting anew. XXL: How did you start in graffiti and then become a rapper? OhGeesy: I been doing graffiti since I was in elementary school, so I’ve always been like a bad-ass lil’ kid. When I was in elementary school, I remember, it crossed my mind, wanting to rap, but I never really did it. There wasn’t really Hispanic rappers that was doin’ it how I wanted to do it. It was something that always crossed my mind, but I never got to do it, I kept doing graffiti. I did graffiti my whole life up until this point, really. The whole point of graffiti, it’s like an attention thing. It was like an ego thing, so rapping just went along with it. When did you think you could go far with a music career? All my best friends, the whole Shoreline Mafia, OTX was a graffiti crew that I’m turn- ing into a label. I got my first mic and I was like, I’ma do it. One of the people that was fresh out when I was 18, 19 was Rocky. Rocky was doing that shit, and I just seen like, a young, fresh movement. How did you develop as an artist early on? I was like, Man, I wanna rap, too! I been doing it ever since. I think it was really just the traveling and opening my mind up, and then seeing how the culture is all around the world just made me wanna be a better artist. Throughout my whole Shoreline career, I think I did a little bit more partying than sitting down and really thinking about shit. Going from not ever traveling anywhere in my whole life to just going every day, different places, for like, a year straight. Being on my path right now, in my solo career, I feel like I’m better than ever before. I feel like I’m more polished, I’m cleaner ’cause I sit down and I think about shit. How has being a father changed your perspective on your life and career? On top of that, I have my son, so, it made me really wanna take my craft seriously. It made me kinda stop caring about so many other people. I think before I was so consumed with making sure everyone I knew was OK, but once he was born, it was kinda like, this the only person I need to make sure that’s OK for the rest of my life. What’s different now that you’re an actual solo artist rather than in a group? It made me care less about everything, which I think made me better. You know, the crazy part about it is now that I’m doing my solo thing, I feel like I have more of a team now than ever before. my videos, my boy Austin has been coming up with all the treatments, doing everything with me. ![]() I almost feel like I’m doing less now, but it feels like I’m doing more at the same time. ![]() How did you go right back to making music after Shoreline Mafia broke up? It feels like everyone on my team is really calculated and we’re doing everything perfect and on point. I almost feel like that’s what it looks like from the outside, but it’s kinda like, this shit wasn’t overnight. It was kinda something that was leading up to, since almost the start, basically. The whole three, four years, whatever it was with Shoreline, it was almost waiting to end as soon as it started. ![]() This whole getting back into doing my shit, that’s like four years in the making. That’s what stopped my growth with the Shoreline shit. There was so much background shit going on that it was like, that’s why I didn’t get to focus on the music. My mind was in totally different places, but now I feel like my mind is in the healthiest mind state I’ve been in in a long time. It wasn’t that I wanted to be a solo act. It kinda was just like once we took off, the vibe wasn’t there no more. ![]() It’s like tryna make a relationship work that’s just not working.
2 Comments
|