***UPDATED LINK, FORMATTED FOR YOUR iTunes!!!*** (8:03PM)
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Daaamnn, great timing! Bout 2 head out but this literally popped in our e-mail (and others’) a few minutes ago (shouts again 2 KayCee) and I included her DL link.. I’ll update it with the GWHH format for ur iTunes (as usual) but it’ll take some time, time that I don’t have. It’s all about the music so DL it above! Again, updated format for ur iTunes AND my thoughts after I give it a listen will be added 2 this post, so keep checking! Enjoy!
***UPDATED LINK, FORMATTED FOR YOUR iTunes!!!*** (8:03PM)
Ok, so I’ve been listenin’ 2 this in the car and at the comp all nite… SICK! Gem brings it on every track and u can tell the transformation from Gemini 2 GemStones on the very first track with a couple verses over the ridiculous “Free Chilly” beat from Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool. Every track has something meaningful behind it, covering a various amount of topics - life’s experiences, social analysis, relationship issues, etc. You can’t ask for much more if you want to be enlightened through music and the mixtape, mind you this is only the MIXTAPE, really touches the listener and provokes their own analysis… and on the first listen also! GemStones is one of the few artists who grabs me with his lyrics on the very first listen and that’s what I was trying to look for 2nite. His passion and talent is undeniable and before you know it, you’ll be hearing GemStones’ name a lot more in the public, further progressing the FNF movement and impact of the city of Chicago on the world! There’s too many Tibs Favs to list on here, but some of the trax that were never previously posted, that u have GOT to have… “I Love Her”, “A Song To You”, “Free Chilly”, “Fly Away”, “When I Get On”, “Superstar” (his version w/ Matthew Santos) and well, I can keep going. Bottom line: awesome mixtape 2 the Fahrenheit series and if this is how hot the mixtape is, I can’t wait 2 see how Troubles Of The World - GemStones’ debut album coming this year? - will turn out! PLEASE do urself a favor and DL above! Enjoy!
In case u haven’t seen Gowhere Hip Hop’s lengthy, EXCLUSIVE interview with GemStones…
Coinciding with our new facelift, we bring all you GWHH fans another EXCLUSIVE interview - this time with FNF’s GemStones! For those who don’t know, GemStones is a talented rapper AND singer, currently emerging out of 1st & 15th and the shadow of labelmate boss and frequent collaborator Lupe Fiasco as the next big thing to come out of Chicago! Below, you can read the full transcript of part 1 of my conversation with GemStones (we will find some way to upload audio/video per request) where the rapper tackles many issues regarding the state of hip hop and what the ‘Go means to hip hop, meeting and working with Lupe Fiasco, and his inspirations musically and personally! GemStones has some real intriguing thoughts on the topics above and it is a great insight into the mind of the next big thing to come out of Chicago! Don’t forget to peep our little GemStones goodies throughout the interview as well! Enjoy!
***Part 1 of the interview is below. Part 2 of the interview is coming sometime Wednesday so stay tuned!***
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GWHH: One thing that we wanted to know, and one that I’m rather curious about myself, what is the story behind you and Lupe meeting and getting together to work in music now?
GS: I actually met Lupe on a music tip. I actually met Lupe in ‘01. In 2001, it was actually a studio session with a friend who I had just met and who knew Lupe. This was before Lupe was Lupe. We was doin’ a session and we gettin’ ready to record and we couldn’t record until Lupe came. He’s like, “My friend Lupe gon’ to come and jump on the track.” Lupe took like 3 hours to get there; he was with Stack Bundles. Rest in peace Stack Bundles, God bless his soul. Stack Bundles, at the time, was Lupe’s first artist off 1st & 15th at the time. After we started rapping, I liked his sound, he liked my sound and from then on it was history. I took his number, we exchange numbers and we became working then and later that year, they [1st & 15th] signed me.
GWHH: So building off that, how has your friendship and partnership with Lupe contributed to the growth of GemStones, and conversely, how has GemStones contributed to the growth of Lupe Fiasco?
GS:We compliment each other. To be great, you have to play with the greats, you know what I’m sayin? So we’re on the same team and in order for Lupe to get better, he has to play ball with guys that’s good players. I compliment his style, Lupe listens to me, to GemStones, it’s like, “Oh, I got to step it up.” So I got to come with it because GemStones is comin’ with it. So that’s going to make him have to come with it. So when I listen to Lupe, I’m like, “Oh, I got to step it up, I got to come with it.” So that’s what I contribute to Lupe and what Lupe contributes to me, and that’s just greatness, you know what I’m sayin? He’s been a good friend to me and me being a good friend to him, and workin’ and grindin’ out like that. It’s like complimenting each other’s styles.
GWHH: Oh yeah, and it’s been really nice seeing all the collaborations you guys have done, on Lupe’s albums, “We On” … “We On” is one of my favorite tracks..
GS: Oh yeah yeah yeah. “We On” is actually crazy. Like we all.. umm..
GWHH: Yeah, yeah. So how did the record “We On” actually come about?
GS: Oh ok. We was finishing up my album, but I need that record. I still didn’t have that record, you know what I’m sayin? And we said, and I had came at him [Lupe] with several different records, you know, put yourself on this, put yourself on this.. but we just came to the conclusion that the record that you jump on is going to be special. It’s not going to be no ‘any old record’. Not like there’s ‘any old records’ on the album, but this record has got to be special. And we wanted to do something that was fun, something that sounded differently than everything that was out. So when we heard the track, Lupe like, “Yo I got the beat for ya. I got the beat. I heard the beat.” He came at me with the beat, we wasn’t in studio, like, we didn’t even write on the record. “We On” was going to be the first single off my debut album, Troubles Of The World, featuring Lupe Fiasco and Pooh Bear. Unfortunately, the video we shot leaked all over YouTube, you know what I’m sayin?
GWHH: Yeah, yeah. I watched it again recently and posted it up when it did first leak on YouTube.
GS: Yeah, thanks. Thanks for that. So its like all over again, or whatever. But we basically had fun. The song is going on the album. You can find the “We On” song on my upcoming mixtape, going to drop in 2 weeks - The Testimony Of GemStones. It’s a fun song, it’s a feel good song, you know? “We On” - ridin’ down Lake Shore Dr. or whatever, just throw that in your car, do your thang. Just a feel good, party song. Jaguar Skills did the beat.
GWHH: Yeah, Jaguar Skills. Yeah, loved the video. All the Chicago landmarks in the video were real cool, real cool.
GS: Yeah, only thing about the video now. It’s like from then and now. I don’t have the braids anymore and I lost that weight. So it’s like, wow. I also like the look of the video, how we did the split screen. Lupe on his side, and my side - South Side, West Side, whatever. We out there, we just had fun man. Like I said, I didn’t have that record, record. So we found that record, went in and put in our creative juices together. Like me and Lupe worked together. We work really good when we work together. Like when we go in the studio, you see “We On”, you know, it’s dope. And with “The Die”, track 16 [off Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool] it’s just me and Lupe. Our chemistry is crazy together.
Producer: Jaguar Skills - FULL, CLEAN, Track off upcoming mixtape, The Testimony Of GemStones AND upcoming album, Troubles Of The World*Tibs Fav.
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GWHH: Yeah, and you can really tell. It shows in the music, it really does. So I guess we can just go into my next question. We kind of ask this to everyone we interview and it’s: how do you feel about the state of hip hop today and how does it look going into the future? And another question off that is how do you think yourself, Lupe, and the FNF crew can contribute to the genre.
GS: Ok, my whole outlook on this.. Hip hop right now.. hip hop was, at one point in time in a crisis. Like hip hop was in trouble. I don’t ever think hip hop was dead like Nas said. But I don’t think hip hop was ever dead, but I do think it was really really really really really in trouble at one point in time, like what’s going on. But now, things are starting to look on the up and up in hip hop. I see it. Like the rappers that’s out now, they’re not talking nothing no different than the rappers back then was talkin’. For instance, they say the kings of rap back then was 2Pac and Biggie. What was 2Pac talking about? Usually he talked about, just the revolution, he talked about everything. But what I’m trying to say is, like they were talking about guns, shooting, rims. Like Biggie Smalls talked about duct taping your mother, rims, money - all this money you can make. You know what I’m sayin? It was always talking about flashing, that’s all they’re talking about now is cars and rims. The difference from now and then. It’s like, these cats from nowadays is that there’s no substance. There’s no substance in their craft. Like back then, it was more substance. They [old school rappers] talked about the same stuff, but they was just on a higher level with it. They talked about rims, they talked about rims and guns and on a scale from 1 to 10, it was a 20. And like it was more creative back then. And now they follow the leader. Just like they motto - if it’s not broke, then don’t fix it. I’ve seen them doin’ it, it worked for them, I’m doin it. It made him a million. I’ma do the same thing. At one point in time, it was workin’. Everyone was makin’ a million on whatever they was doing. But now it’s starting to play out. Everyone is starting to see through it. It’s like, ok, where’s the substance? What are you talking about? I’m tired of hearing the same thing. And at one point in time, hip hop just became wow. You start finding kids who have substance and their flow back then was really doin’ their own thing. It’s like they lost an art, they lost the love and they start doin’ what these new cats are doin. And they feel it too. And it was like, hip hop is in trouble. But thanks to cats like Kanye and Common, they stuck to their guns. They didn’t fold under pressure. They kept that influence of our people. Me personally, I believe Chicago helped, is a big part… When hip hop was on life support, I believe Chicago is the reason the plug didn’t get pulled. Cuz you got Lupe, Kanye, Common, and Common had these cats like Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and influence on those guys and those guys influenced on him. They stuck to their guns, you see what I’m sayin? Now it’s going back to the lyrics now. It’s not just about my big rims. You got cats still doin it, but it’s dying out. Hip hop you’re startin’ to see there’s life in it. It wasn’t dead, but it was like ‘Oh My G*d’ it was in trouble. But now, it’s like ok, it’s not on life support no more. You see what I’m sayin? Hip hop was in intensive care. Hip hop is out of intensive care now.
GWHH: Yeah, wow. I like that analogy a lot. That’s an interesting way to think about it, I like that. So I guess we can move on to my next question. A lot of people don’t actually know that not only do you rap, but you also sing. And I think that sets you apart from a lot of artists; it’s a nice breath of fresh air. But I was curious to know, if you came up first as a rapper and then moved on to singing? Or was it singing first that brought you some attention?
GS: Well, singing is a gift. Like, anyone can hold a note, but singing is like a God-given talent, you know what I’m saying? So like, singing was always in my blood, like I didn’t know I knew how to sing tho. Like my mother sung, her mother sung. My uncles, all my aunties sung. Like, I come from a musical background. I got a big family, my grandmother had like 12 kids, 6 boys and 6 girls and they all go out and sing. So I started rapping in 3rd grade, there was this guy named Jelani (sp?) and he was one of the older guys on the block. When I heard him rap, he just did something to me. I always wanted to rap. I didn’t know I wanted to be a rapper but I always wanted to rap and I started rapping because of Jelani. And as I grew up out of 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, high school, all the way up, I was always rapping. But when I got to my junior year of high school, I started singing. Playing around with it and the girls was like, “Oh my G*d, he could sing!” I started doin’ it more, I didn’t know I can sing, I was just singing songs that I heard. But the melody that was comin’ out, they was lovin’ it. There was a rumor comin’ out that “he can sing! he can sing! he can sing!” And it was like, “he knows how to sing”. But I stopped rapping before I kinda start singing. I crafted that hard, then I forgot, like “Oh, sh*t, I rap too!” So I went back on rap, cuz I started slackin’. I just had to weigh them both out. I didn’t know how I was going to do it cuz I couldn’t be on the left here singing R&B then on the right here I’m doin’ hardcore rap. I haven’t figured myself out at the time, rapping because coming up rapping, you know, as long as you talking about the block, sellin’ drugs, and that’s when I was puttin’ words together because they matched. I didn’t know. And I couldn’t figure how to make my rapping and singing make a marriage together. When all the time I had to be myself and really just rap about my life and what was really going on. And sing about my life and rap about it and it coincides and it makes a marriage, you know what I’m sayin’? Like that R. Kelly do Best Of Both Worlds, like I’m that, in one.
GWHH: Cool. Well, another question I have is about your musical inspirations. I know in one track you said Biggie is your favorite rapper.
GWHH: And yeah, I just wanted to know if there was any rappers, any singers that inspired you throughout your career?
GS: Yeah, yeah. I just came up listenin to Jodeci - the R&B group back in the 90s. Puff Daddy was their A&R I believe? Actually Puff Daddy Combs they was on MCA Records - those 4 guys. They were like the kings of R&B to me - they was like my Elvis. Jodeci was. On the rap side, I grew up.. ok, R&B side, Jodeci was always number 1, but my inspirations on the R&B side were Dave Hollister, Jodeci, Carl Thomas, Brian McKnight, umm, Anthony Hamilton. I love Anthony Hamilton. He’s ridiculous. That was my musical inspirations on the R&B side. And on rap, I came up listening to Spice One, Bone Thugz-N-Harmony in my early days, umm, as I got old, it was 2Pac at one point in time. I would sleep on Biggie then, when I heard about Nas, heard about Biggie, it was Jay-Z too. But when I heard about Biggie and learned about Biggie and started listenin’ to Biggie’s music and listenin’ to his flow, it was like ‘Oh My G*d’. The Notorious B.I.G. is the reason I rap at the level I do. And I give a lot of thanks to God first, but I mean shouts to Biggie man. Cuz I studied him, I studied Biggie’s flow, I studied his flow back and forth, from front to back and I just took him, mixed it in with me, mixed it with, you know what I’m sayin? I came out just craftin’ man. And you got Lupe over here, who rapped at a level he rapped, like I was sayin’ earlier and I had no choice but to come with it. To be great, you got to play with the greats. You know what I’m sayin? So, and that’s how it happened man.
GWHH: That’s cool. That’s cool. And to go along with that, are there any inspirations outside of music that may influence your work? You know, like a lot of artists could look at art or architecture or somethin’ like that, is there anythin’ that does for you?
GS: Umm, outside of that, not really, but like, my mother. My family, man. In high school, I was in a small school of performing arts. I took theatrics when I was in high school. I used to act. It was for kids with some talents. And my teacher, her name was Erlean Gill. (Gemstones later says about Ms. Gill, “She died right after then [graduation]. I never got a chance to tell her thank you tho. After I graduated, I never seen her again… If she can see me now, I’m on MTV and BET and the BET Awards walkin’ on the red carpet, and it was because of her - she never gave.. wow. I can go all day man.”) And she would never let me give up, like when I was in high school, when I was going through my confused stage in life, didn’t know if I wanted to cut class, hang with the bad boys, or go to class and dance in school, like do the African dances. Like, Ms. Gill didn’t let me give up, no matter what. I mean like, I was failing in class and she would go to my teachers and make them give me a grade, like you’re not going to fail this kid, he’s too talented to see him get lost. And like, I didn’t understand it then but like now that I’m out of high school and I’m grown now… she passed away after I graduated though, but now I look back, like Ms. Gill - she saved my life in a way. So, she was like a big influence, like Ms. Gill - my English teacher which was over at the visual and performing arts program. She got us all scholarships to go to college after we graduated from high school. I never used it cuz I wanted to pursue music. I knew school was somethin’ that I didn’t even want to do no more. I was ready to sign to Bad Boy, cuz Bad Boy was what was happenin’ back then. Biggie, Ma$e, 112… I was hoping to run into Puff Daddy somewhere, but that never happened, but you know, I ran into Chilly, Free Chill!, and it happened and I signed my first deal back in 2001. And I’ve been rockin’ hard ever ever since and my album, about to drop this year, you know..
GWHH: Hmm mmm, it’ll be the reflection of that. I bet it’ll be the reflection of that - of all that hard work.
GS:Aww yeah yeah yeah. That’s why I named it.. [Troubles Of The World] I coulda named my album Sittin’ On 24s, I coulda named my album Pimpin’ In The Hood, you know what I’m sayin? Like, I coulda went the route that all these other guys is goin’ and I coulda did it and talkin’ about nothin’ and sold a million records and had the number one song on the Billboard charts, like I coulda did that, you know what I’m sayin? But I didn’t want to cheat myself. I worked too hard to get where I’m at. So I named it Troubles Of The World. Because it’s real, like, once I understood how I grown as a person and an artist, like I don’t consider myself a rapper no more, I consider myself an entertainer. Cuz that’s what I do, I entertain. A rapper just puts words together cuz they match and I was once a rapper; I did that. But I crafted it, I got it all in one. If you ever see me live at the show, you’ll see that that guy’s an entertainer.
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That’s it for Part 1 of our EXCLUSIVE Interview with 1st & 15th’s upcoming artist - GemStones! Be sure 2 peep “We On” above as well because GemStones is going 2 be the next big thing, for real. Stay tuned on Wednesday for Part 2 of our EXCLUSIVE Interview with GemStones where he talks about the experiences of growing up in Chicago and how it has affected his music today, more details about his upcoming projects - the mixtape The Testimony Of GemStones (coming within the next 2 weeks) and his debut album Troubles Of The World hitting stores this year - AND Gem shares a funny story about a tour experience where something spooked him and Lupe so much, they just couldn’t do it! Haha. Be sure to also check out GemStones on his MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/fnfgemini b/c if you have recently, you would’ve noticed the NEW “Good Morning Freestyle” that GemStones had up there. Well, the downloadable mp3 is now available below! I hope you enjoyed Part 1!
If ya’ll know Sgt. Tibs, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that my first post is none other than some new LUPE FIASCO! Here he is featured on Gemini’s “We On” also featuring another FNF artist - Pooh Bear. My guess is it’ll be on Gemini’s solo debut Troubles of the World. Some sick flow on this track as Gemini and Lupe go back and forth. FNF Up!
GemStones - The Testimony Of GemStones MIXTAPE
