April 30, 2007 @ 12:13 pm

LG: The Voice of the People?

by: Lasette Canady

Brooklyn rapper LG: a movement from the grind up.

Standing over six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds, Brooklyn rapper LG strikes a grave exterior. But don't let his imposing presence fool you. Lord's Gift (LG), who bestowed the name upon himself, is a reflective lyricist who says he's meant to be a voice of the people, and holds a BA in communication from Delaware State University. The mean mug on his mixtape covers isn't his way of declaring he's a gangsta. But when you've received so much praise in the underground rap game and still find yourself without a record deal… it's just so hard to smile. Still LG has made waves. His third mixtape, "Industry Co-Sign 3: The Difference," features Paul Wall, Kay Slay, David Banner and many more: "From California to Atlanta to back home, they know I'm the next rap star," he boasts. You have to respect his grind. The underground rap star talks to Vibe.com about who he is, the movement in music he is trying to make and the struggles and dreams of an unsigned hype. Who are you? Why are you a big deal?
I'm the voice of the people. A lot of people can't rhyme; they always have their different views on different things that may be going on in their hoods, in the government or you know whatever. I always say what doesn't leave the block, doesn't leave the water cooler at work. So when I speak to people you know they bringing up issues. I just find a way to put it upon music. Not only do you give a voice to the people, you give a voice to Brooklyn. How has living in Brooklyn influenced you as a rapper?
It's influenced me heavy. Brooklyn is like a melting pot, and I live in a section called Flatbush and I'm like one of the only Americans in that neighborhood. I grew up around a lot of the sound clashes, a lot of different things that go on culturally. I also got home where mom dukes is from, South Carolina, so I'm able to get the best of both worlds. Then you know that mix with all the great MCs: Big Daddy Kane and everybody else from Brooklyn doing their thang. A lot of people who have never experienced being in New York or stay in New York for a long period of time, it's like the only way they know Brooklyn is from Jay-Z or Biggie. They expect greatness, so you gotta make sure your pen game is on point. Why is your music different from what's out there now?
I don't think a lot of artists, especially a lot of new artists, are willing to take chances with their music. If it doesn't fit the format of "I'm in the club popping bottles" or "I want you back" or you know talking to a female, or "I'm just tough and I got a lot of guns and I had to kill a nigga" or "I just came home and I'm dealing drugs." If it doesn't fit any of that shit; mothafuckas really have nothing to say. They scared to push the envelope. They only got rhymes about that shit because that's what's being put out and they think the only way they could get on is by rhyming that shit - whether it's real or not. With me, I don't care what it is. I'm an experienced black man, I've been in school for four years out of town in Delaware. I'm dealing with DC dudes, Maryland dudes, Philly, Jersey all these different people from all walks of life and just being able to know about differences, and being able to build on them as well, and being able to talk about different shit. Not being afraid to come out there and say I got my heart broken, yeah I caught my lady cheating, yeah I got caught cheating. I don't think there's a title that would fit me when it comes to rapping, cause I don't hold myself to nothing, I do what I do. I can talk about that gansta shit. I'll take it as far as I can take it because I've experienced it, but I speak from my own experiences. I hope that people can relate to my music because a lot of us, especially black men, we go through all these things. We may live in different hoods, or whatever, but we all go through the same shit. I got you. How do you feel about hip hop music and the state is in now? You said everybody is talking about the same thing.
I got mixed feelings about it. Right now the South is pretty much running the game and some of the records are actually good records and I'm happy for that, because it's given us a broader audience. If anybody who understands the music business and who's behind the records then they would understand that certain music that you make you gonna exceed platinum because your expanding your audience, everybody from different walks of life and cultures are buying your records, which is making hip hop in general bigger. I just wish there was more substance, because I buy an album now and listen to that shit two or three weeks and that's it. A lot of the older shit that I fuck with has substance - it's not just the hot mix tape of the week. Once whatever you talkin' about is past tense, it's not happening anymore, it doesn't hold much weight. I think it's time for to include some of that real hip hop soul music. You're always talking about a movement you're trying to make, so what type of movement are you trying to make in hip-hop?
I would just say hip hop soul, that's what I try to do, you know hip hop soul. Even if I'm talking about some thug shit it's jumping soul force in the music. We all need that. If we don't have something to really grasp to, it's going to be in for a week or two or three, its going to be in every mix tape for that month and then it disappears. Your album comes out; its gonna be hot for a week or two and that's it. You need to have substance and that's what I'm tryin to bring, that's my movement. Hip-hop soul, talking about something that is really really really real and that everybody can relate to and hopefully every artist would be able to do the same thing, so we can really call it a movement. Because its not a movement if one person is doing it. Alright now, I wanna know what the struggles or what's the hardest part about being an unsigned artist?
Wow, you got space in your tape recorder for that? Nah, I'll give you the short version. Give me the brief... the brief.
There is a lot of different things, but I think one of the main thing is being able to pay the bills. There are so many rappers that I know, that are rappers that have no income and they just have a dream that they are going on for. Unfortunately, I can't just sit around and just have a dream and be the nicest dude on the block till I get a deal. I'm a grown ass man. I got bills and responsibilities. Either hit that block or try to leave a way to getting that money. But I think that one of the hardest things is that you definitely want to be at home creating all day, perfecting the craft, but if you're a grown man, you know you gotta take care of your responsibility by any means necessary. I think that's one of the hardest, hardest, hardest things because you also have to go out into this industry and meet with different people, networking, and stuff like that, but if you are trying to get that money, it's kind of like you have to do both at the same time. Well how have you gone about trying to get a deal?
Various ways. I've done, well obviously you know my manager and I sit down with different labels and have our meeting and go back and forth with ideas and different situtations and also putting out these cd's which is not the average mix tapes that is hosted by a DJ and rhyming on everybody elses beats. I put together my cd as if their albums. Its like a training so when my album comes. I pretty much prepared each mixtape as an album with as far as features I want, picking beats and being really selective about that, really sitting down and seeing what the mixtape is missing, not just trying to fucking rhyme to death. How did you go about getting Paul Wall, David Banner and all these other people to feature on your mixtape?
Just going out networking. That was the main thing. Just going out networking at these little functions in the city. Just giving out mixtapes and having my manager introduce me to a few people and having my manager also or my management play music for these artist that they may come in contact with so it's an easier sell, its an easier pitch. Not only is our artist nice, but here's the music - listen for yourself. Then when it becomes "oh yeah I heard of him." It's even easier for me to get these different artists on my project so it actually wasn't a hard task this go round. The more mixtapes I put out, the more projects I do, the more people know about me so it aint no favor, I don't gotta come out my pockets or nothing. You respect my music, I respect your music, let's work. I know that Industry Co-Sign III is your third mixtape. What motivates you to keep putting out these mixtapes?
Just people that believe. I walk around the streets and its people I don't know and its crazy for my level like I be walking around downtown Brooklyn or somewhere in the city and people run up on me, "Yo you LG right?I got the mixtape or I seen you on this dvd or I heard you on Hot 97." That motivates me. There are them days that I'm like, man fuck the bullshit, niggas aren't respecting it. But I cant even say that, cause the majority of people are respecting it. They just don't got the power to put me in the position so the world can respect it, you know what I mean? So that's motivation in itself. It's real easy to get wrapped up into the "Yo son you nice, yo yo son you're nice. " That's why you got so many wack rappers now cuz their block or their friends keep biggin' them up like that, and then they really start believing that they're untouchable or that they're the nicest rapper ever. But when you genuinely get people that you do not know praising you and wanting you to continue doing what your doing then you know it's some real shit, it's something real that you're doing. Why do you think you haven't been put in the position to be signed yet?
Theres actually a couple of reasons for that. One, obviously because the south is running it right now and there's a lot of A&Rs in New York that feel that New York doesn't have a market right now. Like, we're not popping. What sense does it make to sign a New York artist if we can't sell no fucking records? And included in that is like these A&Rs are scared to lose their jobs. They maybe feeling something but they got people on their back talking about "Yo we need a successful album, we need platinum and double platinum albums, we don't need the nice dude from your block or your cousin that rhymes. That's fucking retarded, we don't need that. We wanna make money, that's what we're in this business for." So they under a lot of pressure, a lot of people getting fired, so they gotta be real real picky. They so interested in chasing that buck that they're not even concerned about the music anymore. And I've actually gotten a lot of advice from different A&R's of different labels saying "Yo, you don't want to sign here, kid, they will fuck you over." Do you think that being signed and going mainstream will have an effect on your music?
No, not at all. I actually won underground music awards, but I don't consider myself an underground artist unless you wanna use underground and unsigned as the same shit. I'm not an underground artist. If you listen to my music, I always make my shit broad enough. It's even hard for me to understand why anyone would want to be underground. The only difference between underground and mainstream, is that underground there really is no rules in the shit. You don't have to do a sixteen bar, eight bar, sixteen bar, eight bar and an eight and an eight, you don't have to do that with a bridge. But I make my music broad enough so that it can reach everyone. See, when you're underground, you can be saying the most illest shit, you can be the next Malcolm X. But if its underground that's all it's going to be. It's going to stay right there, so only the motherfuckers in the underground are going to hear what you have to say. And it maybe somebody that if you were to make it a little mainstream, could benefit from what you're saying, and that's what its all about at the end of the day is trying to make people benefit from what you have to say. Watch LG's video, "Here Witcha":

Article tags: LG, Voice, People 

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