Fresh Artist Friday Catch-Up: GAGE
If you are an OG Fresh Artist Friday reader, you will definitely remember GAGE. The indie artist who we first fell in love with after his album Lord of the fly 2 is back and ready to deliver more incredible music. I Am Legend is the latest album from the Silver Spring MD/Washington DC native now living in Miami. The album is already performing impressively, holding the number one trending hip hop/rap album on its release date March 9th 2022 and on March 10th 2022 on Audiomack. It is expected to continue to do very well in the streaming world.
Our team had a few stand out tracks we want to make sure you listen to! Our founder Chi Chi thought GAGE’s talent especially shines on the song “Gem Star Razor'‘. GAGE cleverly plays with the song’s structure and switches up his normal flow and cadence to pull you in. She was also quick to point out the sampling of "Lord Knows” in the song '‘King of Culture'‘, which was also done by Drake in his song “Lord Knows'“ featuring Rick Ross. GAGE brings his tone, lyricism and bravado to a new level on ‘King of Culture'‘ as he rides the choir’s vocals throughout the track.
In “Hood CNN“ GAGE speaks his mind about racism, politics, the hip hop industry, and more, coming up with some powerful and bold lyrics that will leave you thinking. Later on in the album, we see a different side of GAGE in “Her Song”. Rooted in a sample of SZA’s “Hit Different”, GAGE speaks from the heart about his girl. He talks about the relationship they have together and is an interesting change of pace for the rarely-romantic rapper. The album is closed by “The Last Jedi”, a fitting title for the rising star who is sure to make it big with his undeniable talent.
Check out our first feature on GAGE here and connect with GAGE through his socials to make sure you never miss new music. Remember to follow Hip Hop Scriptures to stay updated on the latest Fresh Artist Friday.
ARTIST BIO:
GAGE is an American hip-hop artist From Washington DC/Silver Spring MD and is now based out of Miami. As one of the preeminent up and coming indie artists, Gage embodies a casual grace and truth that is reflected in the music he makes. Gage grew up listening to a lot of old school music like Motown because as he puts it "My parents were heavy into music" so any day you would hear James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, and Diana Ross playing at his house. But as he grew older he started listening to hip-hop acts like Snoop Dogg, Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas and 2pac and before that, Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane, and Slick Rick. As a kid Gage had a strong passion for art and would draw everyday. As his love for hip hop grew that passion for drawing turned into writing music in the hopes of one day being like the artists who inspired him and who he grew up listening to by telling his story that fans can relate to.
His remarkable talent has led to 5 indie albums and a few singles released on all streaming services Independently, he runs the indie label Heatrock Entertainment with his brother Missin' Lync.
STAY CONNECTED WITH GAGE:
Instagram - Twitter - Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal - Audiomack - Merch - GAGE’s website
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There have been times when I’ve wondered if Black Thought should be in the running for #goat emcee. This video is one of those times.
My friend and colleague, drummer Morgan Childs, actually transcribed these amazing rhymes:
Uh I’m sorry for your loss
it’s somebody dead in a car and it’s probably one of yours
The writin’ all across the window and the walls
Whether it was true or false
We shouldn’t have got involved
Remember
We walked past the teacher take the chalk and laugh
We wrote punishments
“I will not talk in class”
Now it’s pistols punishing people for talking fast
And all these innocent bystanders is haulin’ ass
I hate to say “I told y’all” but I told y’all
Things fall apart when the center to weak to hold y’all
I’m just collecting what you owe to my owe jar
You ‘bout to get swooped down on and stoled on
Fools swear they wise, wise men know they foolish
but we was headed for the web even before computers
I never thought you’d give me a reason to do this
Cain and Abel
Jesus and Judas
Caesar and Brutus I see intruders avert yer eyes
I told you keep out of the hood
Circumcise
How could you sleep, I thought you always was the first to rise
Eyo you heard the line
Errybody plays the fool
Well I be that exception to the rule
The principal that hand deliver lessons to the school
I was makin’ major moves
My dollar déjà vu
My mission when my ambition was brandishin’ the tool
to be an icon
wearin’ slippers made of python
Get mine quicker ‘cause I’m slick as a pipeline
Transportin’ the oil
tribulation and toil
hit the operation
but I’m back in the soil
Got my crown tilted, my gown quilted
silk with cashmere
burn the room down in a minute, built it last year
Newsflash, I dodged the bullet that killed the cashier
My homie told me to come with him to the masthead
Them brothers said don’t go from written bars filled with rage
to prime time television
and your gilded cage
Then forget there’s people in the world
still enslaved
I bar white at my wrist, and let it fill the page
Gunfire and flare
Sirens glare
I’m in an iron chair with people who care
don’t get the lion’s share
When I don’t give a fuck then I ain’t fair
I’m on a higher table people getting’ money like the finest hair
Catch the herald
I’m fresh chopped and beveled
rap on a doctorate level
so F Scott Fitzgerald
Maybe I’m the new Rakim
Maybe I’m Fab Pharoah
Undergarments are armor be my intimate apparel
Pre-Kardashian Kanye
My rhyme play immaculate
Same cadence as D.O.C.
pre-accident
Maybe my acumen is on par with Gucci rappin’ and
gimme the proper respect
motherfucker we back again
For a couple things we lost in a fire
the drive and desire to perform on a higher
plateau
I make that show lost in a mire
Wondering how we got so far from inspired
Look, when photos were sepia toned
and record players were something you would keep in your home
Yo the traveller the meanin’ Tariq he was known
For the exemplary performance, uniquely his own
I made the 21 pound for some a newfound religion
When money’s put down there’s only one sound to make
OGs and young lions equally proud to listen
To seek what amalgam-ism an algorithm
comin’ from
where only kings and crowns permitted to darkness
Where archaeologists found
my image in parchment
rolled into a scroll
holdin’ a message for you
It said the only thing fo sho is taxes death and trouble
The anomaly, sworn solemnly
high snobbery
Freakinomics and war policy dichotomy
That’s Heaven and Hades
Tigris and Euphrates
His highness, the apple of the iris to you ladies
As babies
we went from simolac to infomill
to the internet and fentanyl
when our consent was still against the will
I got that detox for y’all
The microphone doctor black
Deepak Chopra
I’m a griot
that make you want to peacock your arm
every heavy dignitary payin’ me top regards
boy I’m three octaves far
from the bi noc ulars
so the smart money feelin’ get the heat out the car
yo I’m K dot Lamar meets Tupac Shakur
Got profiled by a few cops
too hot to charge, listen
somebody said a price tag was on a rapper’s head
so we gonna see a nice bag
when a rapper dead
the mast black
the flag green black and red
they probably wave a white flag out the prasma shed (?)
no doubt
Yo the Game went they own route
I can’t explain what these lame kids is talmbout
Or how they fit they whole foot into their own mouth
I put a couple bodies in a brown bag
then I’m en route
I’m sneaker shoppin’ with my stuntas size 8
prior to they release, cuz why wait?
Look, in my state I got electrified gates
for these blasé gods hatin’ at a high rate
‘cause I dodged fate then got great
to fly straight
if we ain’t family or friends then we don’t vibrate
and I’m that
Gun in yah face
none of y’all safe
If I catch you at the right time in the wrong place
Slippin’
Sipping on somethin’ with a strong taste
Like whiskey or bootleg bourbon with a corn base
(Malavine?) take resemble a vehicular threat
The mic I spray resemblin’ a sickle of death
It ain’t strenuous to come from a continuous breath
I set fire to the venue
Imma spin you in step
Rinse repeat
You checkin’ for the sound of the beats
I’m the hound
I’m a creep
I get down
Imma eat
Imma keep
sumpin’ and lay a naysayer to sleep
playin’ wit heat
nobody and nothin’ fucking with ‘Riq
yo these weaklings is claiming they cutting up in the streets
Nigga peace
You ain’t workin’ with nuttin’ but the police, listen
you ain’t feelin’ to be nothin’ but the deceased, listen
you in the tournament with a permanent crease
I strike fear in the hearts of rap figures
who mind bears the stigmas of time
no black privilege
From Boom Bap niggas
To trap niggas
you in the trap wit us
When the lines is as
vivid as the walls on that grab all the graph by the law to rap
I reside between the seconds on the chronograph
How much more CB4 can we afford?
It’s like a sharia law
On My Cherie Amour
How much hypocrisy can people possibly adore?
But ain’t nobody workin’ on a cure?
My young boy
Y’all just regular
I’m an apex predator
Brim stay fresh feathered up
etcetera nevertheless
I got a message of love
One day a messenger yo
my pen is Henry Kissinger
Buzz Bissinger, look
My caporegime Mr Noradeen
and my oldest son Amin Saleem
outta New Orleans
Took a golf cart to the baccarat
From the Waldorf
What was on the walls?
That depend on what you call art
Imma say 300 k ain’t even in the ballpark
I charge more just for awkward small talk
So yes
Who’s fuckin’ with it if it’s not the best?
I get the lobby painted fresh upon my request
It’s Kafkaesque
His holiness stop the press
that cobalt blue
Reminiscing on my caress
Lord, we got Padma Lakshmi for you
Let her massage the back with black seed oil
The foundation is firm, the flags need soil
Me, I need royalty because I bleed royal
Go through the veins to the brain
fabulous and strange
My journalistic range is a catalyst for change
They got anybody to listen pissin’ flames
and ‘cause the Hall of Fame got so many missin’ names
I’ll acknowledge the original peoples not Oliver
Y’all will the get the next challenger for Excalibur
Um… more police for my core beliefs
They tried to capture me and brand me on the cheek
with a fleur de lis
that side of my heart’ll be more discrete
I’m international, my passport pages like War and Peace
I’ve always played my part
From the start
Back in Philly where the triggers is mandatory to spark
With the slightest inflammatory remark
I have you in a livin’ a category apart, listen
A grain of salt’ll tip the scales
It never fails
Walk on eggshells
sleep on a bed of nails
Criminal records like record sales
Makin’ heads or tails we like Henrietta (L)acks
Up in the cells
My mother was a working class very loving woman
who struggled, every dinner could have been her last supper (summer?)
I come home
chasin’ good for nothin’ half cousins
and then walk in the crib to the smell of crack cookin’
she was introduced
to that substance abuse
or some of the strongest drugs that the gov’ment produced
look, I even got excused by the principal
My story is out of the dub dub interview
I seen some ice cold summers, hot winters too
I never thought I’d win Grammy awards with the Roots
I never thought I would be getting’ long in the tooth
My OGs told me “boy, you better go and live your truth”
I am a walking affirmation
That imagination and focus and patience
gets you closer
to your aspiration
and just cuz they give you shit don’t mean you have to take it
My words capture greatness
sworn affidavits
Yours truly the celestial being
You stay seein’ pulling up in a fresh European
High steppin out of it dressed to a T
And not another got more soul, unless you Korean (!!!!) I’ve been
Havin’ visions of Nat Turner holdin’ his master’s head
like Yoric and Horatio in Hamlet
Smackin’ it like a tennis racquet underhanded
Send a message to the gram the eagle has landed
Dressed in a military jacket made of canvass
I am no guerilla/gorilla I just make ‘em go bananas
I stand and wear black and green bandanas
cocked hammers
hairs on my chin is outstandings
Can’t manage the weight of the world is just how I ball it
Look, I’ve fallen from the sky to see my calling
I’m not crawling
I’m a free man like Morgan
Seein’ manhood in the hood’s a damn good bargain
If every black man don’t tap dance
and every girl that got a fat booty don’t lap dance
well I guess it’s something wrong, huh
Niggas completely uninformed
I don’t burn bridges, yo, I keep the haters round to fall
I ain’t one of y’all peers
I’m the sum of all fears
Somebody stronger than me, who that?
I mar ears
like Obama
I wish he had another four years
Y’all some jolly good Hollywood squares
I’m like “ahem” approach the author witcha offering
I smoke rappers writin’ like my only offspring
Being his excellency is to be exhausting
You in the residency, you’re the one they call
King Dolla Ali Baba the talented Mr Trotter
Inside of my right palm the marker to stick
My the big papa wig chopper
Enter the Jaffe Jocker mawfucker
I’m stronger than the coffee out in Kaffa
All y’all make his vagina hot
remind me of my kinda pop
I step into the booth
I’m a bull inside a china shop
Mollywhopper washin’ of a cotton pickin body drop
Every time we rock, yo they actin’ like it’s Mardi Gras
Til the party stop
‘sgirl was like she there for rory gel (the fuck?)
So we saw you pumpin’ that Earth Wind and Fire body ya
Cool the Prada Dakar la Merino hard body up
You seen another rapper cleaner, mami prolly not
How it feel to be the best that did it
I’ll admit it
I’m visiting from planet bring these niggas down for minutes
And y’all know I’m exquisite
Wicked as Wilson Pickett
The sickness I exhibit
I’m too legit to quit it
I don’t fake it til I make it, I take it to the limit and break it
Never tentative when I’m bad I represent it
A feeling just like chases
Been a million places
Conversation is how beautiful my face is
People hated on how sophisticated my taste is
Then I pulled up on these motherfuckers in a spaceship
Panther mind
I’m made of elements you can’t combine
I’m at a level of intelligence you can’t define
Einstein, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Tesla
Recording artist slash psychology professor
I preach for the east
Never fold under pressure
The beast from the east and I glide like Clyde Drexler
Eyo my new name is Eighty Five Exes
cause I’m the rap game certified specialist
When I was reckless I was worried ‘bout the guest list
I’m helpin’ rappers everywhere fulfill a death wish
Yo Flex, I’m glad we made contact
My nigga also know, this shit for combat
Brain matta contain too much data
I tell a story like fingerprints and blood splatter
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