To start off, give an introduction of yourself for those who arent familiar with you.
Im Gerald G., a.k.a Mr. 512, from Monsta Entertainment / Dew Music with Rapid Ric and Whut It Dew Family.
How did you first get into rapping?
Well actually I guess it was from me listening to rap as a little kid. Ive been rapping since I was beating on a desk with my thumb and my pencil, you know what Im saying?
What age did you first really start getting into it?
As far as I could say its probably like 13 or something like that.
What was it that really made you want to rap?Just hearing the music?
Yeah, just hearing the music, the beats. I guess it was just in me.
Just a natural thing?
Yeah.
When did you really decide rap was what you really wanted to do?
When I got around high school. Thats when I first got my karaoke. You know, I was carrying it all around the neighborhood trying to rap for everybody I knew. Rapping in class, I used to get kicked out of class for rapping in class.
When you started rapping what were your original goals?
I didnt really have no goals, I just wanted to rap.
Just for fun?
Yeah, I didnt care if I got paid or not. I just wanted to rap, I just liked it.
So at this point now, what are your goals with it?
Well now my goals are to show them that Austin got talent, you know?Ive been rapping for a minute so, you know, I think Ive got a little something-something down.My goals are to bring real back to rap, you know?Cause everybody talking about, oh, you know, cars and chains, and half of them, they aint got that stuff, you know? Thats not telling people what rap really is, you know?
What have been some of your influences, some artists that you have looked up to?
The artists I always looked up to were Pac, Twista, Z-Ro, you know, some of the realest.Really thats about it for me.
Now I was reading on your Myspace page, it said that you were born in Compton, California.When did you move to Austin?
I moved probably around five.
Oh, ok.I was going to ask you if the West coast had been an influence on you since you had been born out there
Nah, maybe if I would have stayed a little bit more, probably.
How many CDs have you put out?
Ive put out two by myself.I put out one a long time ago, like I think in 2000, with TJ Music.And then I put out A Monsta Mix by myself [in] probably like 2003 or something like that.
These were albums or mixtape?
Nah, they was just mixtapes.
One of the things I wanted to ask you about was your style, with the real fast delivery, its very different from a lot of the other Texas rappers you hear.Was that just something youve always done, did you intentionally try to have a different style?
Nah, I guess it just grew from the people I just used to listen to. Like I said it was the Ros, the Twistas, the E.S.G.s. I guess, you know, I was just listening to them so much that I had that rapping too, with a little bit of speed on it.
Speaking of that, one of the things that youre really known for and that people always mention when your name comes up is the incredible freestyle skills you have.Is that just how you started rapping, just freestyling?
Yeah. You know, when you cant get in the studio or cant get on the mic at the shows youve just got to give it to them raw right there. I had to give it to them right there sometimes, even though they act like they dont want to hear it, you just give it to them right there.
So freestyling was something you were always really good at?
Oh yeah. I kind of mastered freestyling a little bit. I did it so much that it was like practice, you know what Im saying?
How did you get involved with Rapid Ric and Whut It Dew Family?
Well that was from when I finally got my record label, Monsta Entertainment. I had to try to do shows but I could never get in no shows with nobody I guess, I dont know. I cant say they didnt put me on at shows but I was trying to get on the shows but I couldnt ever get on no shows so I had to just go to all the shows that was going on and just as soon as somebody got off their performance just grab the mic and start rapping. I guess one of those nights it was Rapid Ric and thems night and they heard me up there.And they told me to stop by and holler at them cause I was up there getting it.
Now you and Black Mike, it seems like on the tracks you do together you seem to have a really really great chemistry, like the track on Whut It Dew 4 where you both just went back and forth.How did you two meet?Was it through Rapid Ric?
Well, me and Black Mike are pretty much from the same neighborhood so we knew each other already, we just never got into any music with each other I guess.But that was Black Mikes idea, that whole song right there.Ive got to say he came up with that.
Ive heard there is a CD in the works with you two with Rapid Ric?
Uh-huh. Yeah, we back in there. We stone for stone, we trying to get it.
Do you have any tentative date on that?
Nah, not right now. Not cause I say right now cause I just dropped my Mr. 512..
Speaking of that, what has been the early reaction to that mixtape from people?
Well I aint heard nothing but good things, you know? Theyre talking about me.Everybody I know, they say they love it, the whole thing. They say they can go through the whole 25 tracks.
Are you in the studio pretty frequently laying down new material?
Oh yeah. They [the studio] stay right around the corner from me so Ill be over there all day. Seven oclock in the morning, three in the morning, afternoon, Ill be over there all day.
If you werent rapping what would you be doing?
Something else Im good at [laughs].
Anything in particular, like sports or anything?
UmmI pretty much didnt like sports. I was rapping andI dont know, I really dont know right now.
So rapping was really the only thing you were always focused on?
Yep. Once I caught wind of it Ive stuck to it, I aint left it since. I guess you could say it was my calling.
Within Austin are there any local artists you would really like to work with?
Most of the artists that I really cut for in Austin Ive already worked with.
Who are some of those artists?
Ryno from On The Line [Records], my boy Gutta from On The Line, Fatal, Bavu [Blakes], J-Kapone, East 35, The Gutter Gang. All the top people that are doing something that, you know, that are good music. You know, I done already made something with them, you know what Im saying? I already put my stuff down to go get them, you know, cause they from my home.
Are there any national artists you would like to work with?
Yeah, I want to work with the biggies. You know, the Ludas and the 50s and the Bucks and them, I want to get up there and show them what I got.
Why do you think that Austin has not been recognized for all the talent that yall have? Theres a lot of great rappers in Austin but they just really havent had the recognition that someone like Houston has, or maybe even Dallas to a certain extent.
Well really to me, I think its because the people werent real. Like their music, it wasnt real, they didnt do what they said, all that. Or they just didnt mash as hard enough or go all out for it. I really dont know, you know what Im saying? I really dont know.
Do you think that the time is coming now?
Oh yeah, cause Austins been waiting on somebody to push from Austin. Or even they just didnt have their business all the way right, you know what Im saying? But oh yeah, Austins going to push Austin as soon as theyve got somebody theyre comfortable to push.
So you would say the current state of Austin is just kind of waiting right now for a big break?
Yeah, theyre waiting on somebody they can feel comfortable pushing. Like you dont want to push somebody thats going to half-step or somebody that just aint going to represent Austin right.
Do you feel like that person could be you?
Possibly.
Because Ive seen people saying that they think that just with your talent you really are going to succeed and you could be the one to really make Austin recognized in a big way.
Oh yeah. Well my drive, man, my drive is so unbreakable that I cant stop myself. I wake up thinking music, I dont even turn my TV on. I dont even know who won the Super Bowl, what time it came on, you know what Im saying? Im music all day.
Are there any other things youd like to say?
That mixtape that I dropped [Mr. 512] aint nothing [laughs].That album is going to be superb, you know what Im saying?