– blkcory
*Disclaimer: If you’re looking for R&B music or songs about love, this is not the post. Reader discretion is advised.*
I’ll be honest, this week I was struggling to think about what to write about… until I remembered how necessary it was to talk about this specific street rapper. A rapper that we should have been talking about already. A rapper that’s puttin’ on* for Louisville, Kentucky in something other than college basketball. A rapper that has bars that my boy Nik could only describe as “sinister”, and he’s right. That is the only way to describe it. I think it’s time that we talk about hip-hop’s latest villain. I think it’s time we talk about EST Gee.
I don’t know if you ended up watching the “My Money Up” music video, but I just watched this man throw up “EST” (acronym for Everyone Shine Together) in sign language. You don’t even have to hear his music to understand the energy. So now I want to ask you this… if you’re not listening to EST Gee, do you even like juggin’* music? Do you even know someone who traps*? Do you even pretend to live this life when you hear music like this in the comfort of your own home? Gee is not only out here providing content for the hearing impaired but he’s also giving us a refreshing sound that rap’s been missing.
The best way for me to describe his rapping style is with imagery. Imagine being outside your house and seeing someone make a sharp turn on your street corner. After taking the corner, they slam their brakes and you hear the tires skid. Then, they hop out of the car, rush over to you and aggressively tell you the story of something that just happened. EST Gee pretty much raps like that. It’s raw, unfiltered and full of aggression. Every single time I hear a song with this guy he goes off. Every. Single. Time. The talent is undeniable and project after project he continues to improve. Never losing the edge that grabbed your attention in the first place.
“Special Gee, a know-it-all, silence helped me notice flaws
– eST Gee, “The king”
Solid, never spoke to laws, flawless, I follow protocol
Plug before I ever rapped, it sound so good, they swear it’s cap
They never had their cellular tapped, grown and never had a trap”
I’ve been trying to think of the best overall EST Gee songs to lock-in* on but almost all of his tracks slap* fam. What I’ll do instead, is list some of my favourite songs from his most notable projects. On El Toro the songs to look out for are “The King“, “El Toro“, “3 Phones“, “Henry“, “Mall Map“, and “Summer on Riata“. All of these songs are off a project that came out in 2019. He was spittin* out the gate and I was late to the party.
“Tell ’em how before you was an opp you was a fan right
– ESt gee, “gram life”
Had to move to units, I wasn’t cut out for the gram life
Paperwork and bread right, shootouts and my hands nice
I knew it was raw when it was stickin’ to the pan tight”
On the Ion Feel Nun artwork, you’ll see that Gee has a patch over his eye because he got shot and almost lost it. If I remember things correctly, he mentioned in one of his interviews that the shooting happened after he filmed the Taught Different music video. I’m not stating this to glamorize the street life, but to confirm that the energy in Gee’s bars comes from a real place. Songs like “Gram Life“, “Gangatroni“, “Rotimi“, “Break Check“, “Taught Different” and “Morals” not only show improvement in his beat selection but his delivery as well. All of this happened on a project that came out in March 2020. It’s ok, I was late to this one too.
I Still Dont Feel Nun is the one fam. It was the very first project I heard from Gee and it made me a fan immediately. When I listened through the first time, I sat there and said to myself “oh, this guy’s already outta here*! “. Yo Gotti‘s got himself a really strong label signee! If you’re into this style of hip-hop then there are no skips on this project at all. I could list every single song but my personal favourites are “Opinion Based“, “Young Shiners“, “Get Money“, “Red Zone“, “30 Boppa“, “Members Only“, “Shine Together“, “The Department” and “FWM“. To me, this is the project that pushed his music career to a whole other level.
Now, we’re finally at Gee’s most recent project, Bigger Than Life or Death. This was the project that truly confirmed that all this guy’s music makes you want to just move reckless. Get ready to hear this guy when you step out on the streets. “Riata Dada“, “5500 Degrees“, “Sky Dweller“, “Lick Back (Remix)“, “Capitol 1“, “Price Tag“, “Run N 2 Me“, “All I Know“, “No Friends“. The man had Thugger and Future on the same track. You might not like the idea of that collab, but Thugger and Future on the same track lets you know what time it is for Gee’s career.
Whether you think his music is overly aggressive or not, one thing is for certain: EST Gee doesn’t give a damn what you think. The man said, “can’t teach you how to beat the streets, the stress might kill your mama”…and you thought he would be concerned about the opinions of the general public? If you’ve listened to enough of his music, you’ll realize if he wasn’t rapping, he genuinely would be still trappin’*. This man is making waves in hip-hop and people are going to pay attention if they aren’t already.
Glossary:
Puttin’ on – to represent something or somewhere
Juggin’ – the act of stealing or finessing
Lock-in – to focus in on something
Slaps – to be really enjoyable
Spittin’ – to rap well
Outta Here – to have attained or going to attain a major form of success
Trappin‘ – to deal in pharmaceuticals to the general public
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