GLC has appeared on two Grammy winning albums. Not only that, ask fans what their two favorite Kanye tracks are, and you're bound hear more than a few responses of "Spaceship" off The College Dropout, and "Drive Slow" off Late Registration. While the success might go to the heads of some, GLC takes in stride, and will be the first to tell you, "I Ain't Even On Yet."
I was able to catch up with GLC right before he took the stage at Zune's Live @ The BBQ in Chicago, IL. We chopped it up about his upcoming debut album, the power of music, and the laws of attraction. Read on and see how GLC is rotating through the Windy City Streets.
SoundSlam: For most people, the first introduction to you was "Spaceship" on The College Dropout, my favorite song on the album. Everyday when I was doing teacher training out in LA, it was like boot camp. We would wake up everyday and put on "Spaceship" and start our day with that.
GLC: Wow, man.
SoundSlam: When you finished that track and walked out of the studio, what were your feelings? Did you know it was going to have that type of impact on people?
GLC: Man, I'm going to tell you. The way that song came about, I was hollering at Kanye. I told him, 'man I need a song they can play on the radio.' So, he made that beat for me. When he made the beat I wrote the verse in probably about a half an hour, and laid it. Kanye went in there, he listened to it, and he said, 'man, that's got to go on my album.' When he played his album in the studio sessions for Jay-Z, and Gee Robeson (the president of Atlantic) and all the major people...that would be the first record he played every time. Everybody would be like, 'who is that guy?!?' There was just my verse on [the song]. So, I saw the impact that record could have on people.
When I was overseas in Germany, over in Berlin performing, and I did Abbey Road in London and I'm seeing people not even from [the United Stated] look at me when I'm saying 'lost my momma, lost my mind,' they're crying. They're English was really bad, but they understood what I was saying. They felt the emotion in my voice. It showed me just how powerful music is. It's a universal language.
SoundSlam: I know the line, 'putting more pants on shelves...' I worked in a clothing store when that came out, I was just like, 'wow, same exact thing.' 'Schedule had said 9...'
GLC: Yes sir! See the thing is, a lot of us, a lot of entrepreneurs or people that have really good jobs now, a lot of us started out just working in the mall because it was just cool to do. Especially in a clothing store where you sold women's clothes too, or clothes where all the ballers come to shop at, there's going to be beautiful women that always come around because they want to be seen. Being able to do that, it was cool. It was fun. But after a while it was like, I was getting older. I was hustling on the side so I was in the streets and I was working in the mall. When I was a shorty I never saw myself doing that. So I was like, 'where I wanna go? where I wanna be?' I decided life was much more than putting pants on shelves and running in the streets. I just focused on this music thing. Through the grace of God I had a friend that was on. He was doing his thing and he reached for me. When he reached for me he gave me the opportunity to shine, and I was able to shine. But I could have had that opportunity and done terrible, and we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. So, I just thank God that God blessed me with the talent and I am able to put it out into the universe.
SoundSlam: A lot of people really like "Drive Slow" the track on Late Registration. Have you encountered people that say, 'OK. I like GLC on "Spaceship" with his one verse. I like GLC on "Drive Slow" with his one verse, but I'm skeptical that he could carry a whole album.'?
GLC: Well, I'm quite sure that there would be people skeptical. My whole thing is, if 100% of the people are for you, then something ain't right. People talk about haters, and people hating on them and this and that, but I thank God for the haters. I look at it like this, if everybody didn't like you, then you're doing something wrong. If everybody says they love you, you got to question that because someone might be being phony. Everybody's not going to love what you do. My music, I speak from the heart. I could be going around talking about, 'hey, I'm on private jets.' I could talk about my crib in LA, 'hey I'm ballin' and this and that.' But, there's so much more to life. There's so much that ain't really being addressed that needs to be addressed. So, I speak from the heart.
When I go into the booth, I don't have a rap voice, or a rap character that I become. I'm the same dude at all times. Just fortunate enough, I lived an interesting life that now people are interested in my life. I could just tell you about my life without singing or rapping and you'll be interested in it. For me to make it melodic, I got good beats and good music to go behind it, man, there's no way I'm going to lose. And if a person doesn't like my music, then that just means it's not for them. I won't be mad at him. I'm not going to say, 'oh, he's a hoe...he's a hater.' It's just not for you, cause you don't understand where I'm coming from. I feel like I speak from the heart, and love is a universal language as well.
SoundSlam: Let's go deeper into the album. How much of it is done? Do you have a release date?
GLC: The album is really coming along. I need maybe like two or three more joints before I consider it finished. I got a feature as well as production from Kanye West. I got John Legend singing on it. I got one of my good buddies from Chicago back in day named BJ, he's a singer, he's on my album. I got my man Really Doe on my album. He was featured on the joint with Kanye and Nas. I got 36 Mafia on my album. I've done songs with Crucial Conflict. Man, I've worked with almost every artist in Chicago that has a movement. I've been on their mixtapes, I got a song with them, I got a video with them. I did a show with them, something. My thing is, God has really blessed me to make it this far, and to almost be done with my album. As long as God has blessed me, it's only right for me to spread those blessing. So that's why I get in the studio with somebody and they can put 'featuring GLC' on the cover of their thing. This might help push what they're doing, and I don't see nothing in return. My blessing's going to come. And the album is beautiful. I really expose people to the 'GO, which is the Chicago that they have somehow failed to see. We got different representations of what this city is. We have different people's stories that come from this city and this and that. But mine is nothing fabricated. Mine is not trying to have a 'rapper image' just me really being me. I'm that man with an interesting life off 87th street. I speak for the common folk, as well as the hustlers and the street entrepreneurs, people trying to better themselves. I just want to show and make people also aware of the consequences of their acts. I'm not glorifying being in the streets, I'm just telling a story. I'm also making you aware that I hope to see Freddie G...Rollie G, Yusef G, those are my best friends. They all died to the streets. I'm a man of God. I'm a man with values. But I'm also a sinner. I'm not perfect. I love women. I think women are beautiful. I think God did really good when he made them. I want to be around them. I do things to elevate my spirit and get closer to God in an herbal essence. I'm just trying to better myself. As long as I'm bettering myself, I try to uplift everybody that's around me.
SoundSlam: It's that humble attitude that you spoke about...When you came to the Bandit Studios to do the track with Dirty Digital...When I first heard that you were coming, I was like, 'wow, GLC is coming to record here.' A lot of artist may have thought, 'I've been on the Kanye West album. I'm not coming to this studio...' But you had that feel like, 'OK. I've made it to a certain level.' You listened to Qwazaar and Silence, 'alright cool, now they can put featuring GLC on their project.' They have a different sound.
GLC: Yes Sir!
SoundSlam: Where do you see the future of music going? Do you like their sound?
GLC: I definitely liked the sound. That's the only reason I got on the record. If I didn't like it, I would have let it be known. I would have said, 'this is not for me. I can't do this.' When I heard it, it was bounce, but it was futuristic as well. It kind of reminded me indirectly of my "I Ain't Even On Yet" single because I have space-age sounds in the background that sound like "Simon Says." Dirty Digital is just something new, something different, and I'm all about that. Especially change in the form of reform, which is a change for the better. I see music transitioning and transcending. As long as it's moving forward, I want to be a part of it. If it's something that's going to bring us down, or have us moving backwards, then I ain't for that. I'm all about growth and making people conscious. Like I say, when I tell my stories, and I tell street stories, it's history. It's not glorification. Right now we are the role models. We are what these kids have to look up to. I'm not going to do a song talking about I'm cooking coke everyday for the kids. They're listening to this and they're growing up wanting to be like me. I'm not going to be saying that. If I say 'I sold this, I did this' I'm going to give you the reason why I did it. And I felt good about the positive things I was able to do from it, but I did not feel good about doing that. Like people always say, 'you were hustling, that's negative.' But, some people do negative things for a righteous cause. I wasn't hustling so I could say, 'hey, I'm the man. Look at me. I'll shoot you...' I was making Thanksgiving better for my family. That made me feel good. To not have to say no when my family was in need.
SoundSlam: I've heard that Kanye may have told you that you don't have to rap anymore. That you're part of his team and you're good, but that you said you wanted to do it for yourself.
GLC: Yeah, yeah.
SoundSlam: Why? A lot of people may have been like, 'ahh cool. I don't need to rap.'
GLC: Well, with Kanye, Kanye is 100% behind my project. Obviously he doesn't feel like I don't need to rap. He put me on two grammy-award winning albums. But he's made it in life, he's in a position now where he did tell me, 'man if you don't want to rap no more, you ain't got to do nothing. You'll be straight.' Me as a man, and my morals, my values and my principals, and the fact that I ain't even on yet and I'm not where I want to be, won't allow me to do that. I can't see myself as a 30-year old, 40-year old man in the crib all day playing video games, not doing s**t. I have a cartoon I'm working on right now. I got an album I'm working on right now. I got a mixtape with Sean Mac called Honor Me. A new mixtape with DJ Gino called I Ain't Even On Yet. A new mixtape I'm working on with Really Doe and the Trailblazers. I'm going hard bro. I can't afford to chill. I can't afford to be in the club poppin' bottles. That's a luxury for me. I'd much rather be at home editing videos or drawing cartoon characters or designing shirts. I enjoy making money. I enjoy being an entrepreneur.
My thing is, if I'm out here talking about as a people, we should have economic and political control of our own communities, I can talk about it all day. It's different when you begin to live it. People are always saying, 'man Chicago don't get along...' I got records with close to 50 artists from Chicago. Guys that I don't hang with everyday. Guys that may not have been GLC fans but thought, 'if I do a record with dude this will help what I'm doing.' At the end of the day, once it was done it was like, 'you're one of the humblest, you're one of the realest. I appreciate you for what you did. I love the song.' I could be sitting around on that, 'I'm not messing with dude, woo woo.' Even to this day there are certain people that I'm not interested in. If you're doing it, I say that it got to be hot or you got to have some sort of movement. Then I'll be a part of it. But I'm not trying to be a part of something I don't believe in. I'm a man of honor. I'm a man that's honest. If it's something that's weak, that's not to my liking, I'm going to let it be known. 'Maybe you should come with this...Or maybe I don't have a solution for it.' But if you got your thing moving forward, and I go to your shows and the whole neighborhood is there, that means you are doing something right. That means that you're doing more than just music. It means that people must really like you. I just try to help you elevate your status as well.
SoundSlam: I think what you're really speaking to is that people have a path and when traveling on your path, if you're doing it the right way, you run into people that are doing what you're doing.
GLC: Defintiely.
SoundSlam: People have a purpose. I heard your song "Spaceship" years ago. Didn't know at that time that through me being over here doing this, and you being over there doing your thing we'd one day end up at the same studio. It seems like a destiny or purpose. When you put out art, it goes out into the universe.
GLC: Yes Sir.
SoundSlam: Maybe artists don't think that 'what I say now, some kid is going to listen to and really think about.' Music might not make someone rob a store. It might not make someone [join a political organization], but it's in their head. It's out there in the universe. You seem conscious of that.
GLC: I'm definitely conscious of it. I'm know about the law of attraction. I'm well aware. The other day my sister called me. She said, 'I have this problem. I need to borrow some money to get it done.' So I said OK and I took care of it. So once we focused on a solution, and we got the problem solved, I don't want to hear about the problem anymore. As long as you're talking about the negativity, you're only attracting more negativity into your life. Stay positive. I was dead broke. I was living in my sister's basement. All I had was a VS-80 and an 8-track recorder, but I did 2-3 songs a day. The way the music was back then, the skill level I've acquired over the years, it wasn't that back then. But, it took that to get to where I am now. It took that hard work. It took that perseverance, it took the dedication, discipline, and determination. Now I have people coming to me like, 'man, I'm hurting. I'm messed up.' They look at me like I could just be like, 'I can put you on.' I don't even have an album out yet. I don't have a record label, I don't have none of that yet. I'm in the same position you're in, except I have a little bit more notoriety. But for me to get that notoriety, I did things to get to that point. I wasn't sitting around complaining about what I didn't have. I focused on getting what I didn't have. So, as long as you focus on bettering yourself, that's what's going to happen. If you sit around letting your problems get the best of you, you're not going to make it in nothing. That's negative. Negativity is not the way. You got to eliminate negative people out of your life.
Here in Chicago, you tell people, 'I want to be a rapper.' 9 times out of 10, when I was trying to do it early on, and even when I'm trying to do it now, people will say, 'everybody's a rapper...Why do you want to do that?...You should go to college and get a degree....You ain't going...' Instead of 'follow your dreams...Get down...I'm your friend, so anything I can do to help you with your movement. If it's just to wear a shirt, or pass out a CD for you, or just to tell my guys in the barbershop that my man's coming.' Do that! Help the cause. That's positive energy. Me being the type of person that I am, and being cut from the cloth that I'm cut from, I don't forget anything. Especially if it's something where we cross paths and that person has a righteous demeanor as well, I'm on that. I try to harvest positive energy. If you're on something positive, I'm all for it.
I've been seeing you DJ on Dave Jeff's show. You've been doing your thing. Man Ro, I just love to see people grow. I come home, I go to the 500 building over on Cermak. There are so many studios in there. I see guys that I knew back in the day from the streets getting down, are just focusing on music now. That's a beautiful thing because the more people that see the guys in streets that were doing negative things, flip their lives around and do something positive the shorties will look up to that. They'll say, 'man, dude did a song with this dude from this set and he's in this mob and this and that...If dude did it maybe it ain't that bad.' There are a lot of eyes on us in this entertainment industry. Even at my level where I ain't even got an album out yet, but some people know who I am, I just got to keep going hard. I could have been like, 'yeah. I made it on a grammy award-winning album,' and quit. Or now I'm on two grammy award-winning albums and quit. I performed all over the world, Staples Center, United Center, Madison Square Garden, I did all that. Abbey Road where the Beatles recorded, I did that. I did so much that I can tell these stories to my grand kids and be like, 'this was my life and I'm cool.' But there's so much more. I want to leave a legacy. I don't just want to leave memories when I'm gone. I want to live forever. You live through your legacy. I want people to say, 'you see that building right there? That's the GLC Foundation.' When people see my grandkids they say, 'that's GLC's grandkids.' That means something. That means that I'm still alive because I'm still in your head when I'm dead and gone. This logo on these shirts, it's going to live forever. My cartoon is going to live forever. This is something that when I go into the earth, this doesn't have to go with me. This can be on billboards all over the world. That's what I'm trying to do. I don't live for the moment. I see ahead. That's all it is.
