G-Eazy – Must Be Nice

Posted by dshaq on September 28, 2012

*Guest post from the FreshNewTracks’ Intern Zoë

What separates G-Eazy from the rest of the hip-hop game right now is his undeniable, one of a kind swagger. I’m talking about the raspy voice, slicked-back hair, side profile with the French inhale kind of attitude that could only come from someone with roots as deep as Oakland making a living in the dirty south town of New Orleans. G-Eazy’s unique and intriguing persona seems to play to his advantage as he makes room himself among some of today’s top artists.

This Wednesday, G-Eazy released his first full album, Must Be Nice, following up his hit mixtape The Endless Summer. While most of G-Eazy’s tracks are guaranteed hits, this new album really showcases his versatility. A combination of trill, feel-good and bass-heavy bangers topped off with a touch of his characteristic 1950s style. Out of all the handcrafted tracks, ones to know include the sweet, doo-wop duet, Mad featuring Devon Baldwin, Stay High featuring Mod Sun, and the latest single, Lady Killers with Hoodie Allen

Its first day on iTunes, Must Be Nice reached the #4 spot on the Hip-Hop albums chart. Pretty big for an album that’s available for free download on Soundcloud, right? Check out an exclusive interview with G about the album and his latest video, Plastic Dreams after the jump.

Already, 2012 has been a pretty big year for G-Eazy. After wrapping up with Van’s Warped Tour, G-Eazy jumped right back on the road with Hoodie Allen for the Excellent Adventure Tour. 18 cities later, he’s packing up for his first headlining tour, the Plastic Dreams Tour, with shows already selling out. Be sure to catch G-Eazy at one (or more) of the 12 upcoming dates, featuring Dj Carnage and guests such as Mod Sun and Asher Roth. Experiencing his music live must be pretty damn nice.

FNT was fortunate enough to talk with G about his album and ask him a couple questions about it.

What separates this album from your more recent mix tapes?
The biggest thing is the production. In the past I always relied really heavily on samples, I remixed a lot of stuff and used samples to make my track, you know kind of like a crutch. You have something that’s really dope to begin with, and then you’re just building on top of that. Where this time, I think everything I learned from sampling with songs and deconstructing and remixing them, to be able to go in this time and just craft something completely from scratch. Just a forward for me as a musician and as a producer, because it’s a sound I crafted myself.

Which song was your favorite collaboration?
Probably the title track, Must Be Nice. That was like a collaboration from the very beginning, from the beat to the chorus, building the whole track together. That was actually the last song [I wrote for the album]. The beat was maybe one of the first beats I made, but the lyrics didn’t get finished until the very end. Stay High was another fun collaboration, ‘cause we were on Warped Tour, me and Mod Sun, kickin’ it all the time and the song just came super natural.

Tell me a little bit about your music video Plastic Dreams: where did your inspiration come from? How involved were you in the process of making it?
Super involved… Tyler [Yee] and I spent a ton of time brainstorming, like the original 1984 Macintosh commercial was something I always thought was super cool… and Requiem for a Dream, etc. It was something Tyler and I went back and forth on, you know we can draw from this, we can draw from that, we can take this idea and interpret it in this way. We went back and forth on ideas and tried to make something interesting.

What’re your plans once your tour with Hoodie is over?
Well the tour for Hoodie Allen ends then I start a separate tour, which is my first headliner, so I’m really excited about that. There’s no in between. There’s one day off, so enjoy it.

BUY THE ALBUM HERE. Also, don’t forget to hit up G on his Facebook and Twitter

Tags: album