It has the same structure as a conventional hip-hop crossover attempt - rapper on the verses, singer on the hook - but here, both rapper and singer are white. And his big single is like a simulacrum of a mainstream hip-hop hit. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.īut G-Eazy has achieved a large chunk of this success via a hip-hop side door - not reliant on traditional gatekeepers like hip-hop radio or the support of an established black mentor. Over the last couple of years, this Oakland, Calif., musician has evolved from regional curio to legitimate pop contender: He appears on the lead single from the forthcoming Britney Spears album, and in March, his song “ Me, Myself & I” with the guest singer Bebe Rexha - from his platinum album, “When It’s Dark Out” - went to No. It always will be.Last month, the white rapper G-Eazy - a handsome ectomorph sporting a motorcycle jacket and 1950s-slick hair - headlined a show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, part of a weekslong tour.

“It’s always just the sh*t I’ve been thinking. “Every word on each of my records deals with sh*t I’ve been going through,” he said to Apple Music. That relatability also lifted him from local legend to all-around rap star. Though Gotti is significantly older than the second wave of Grind City MCs, those qualities have made him as much a peer to Young Dolph, Key Glock and Duke Deuce as he is an influence. He proudly repped that cred on his noisy, mean-mugging 2000 debut, From Da Dope Game 2 Da Rap Game, but by the time Gotti released 2015's “Down in the DM”-a smirking take on bawdy social-media flirting-he’d fully owned a persona that’s also playful, irreverent and of-the-moment. Though he emerged shortly after Three 6 Mafia’s hyper-regional horrorcore stylings won national acclaim in 1995, Gotti executed a Southern sound more widely appealing-assured and charismatic, yet capturing the gloom that clouds a street hustler’s life.

Born Mario Mims in 1981, Gotti witnessed his hometown’s rap coming-of-age, and arrived career-wise in time to amplify that revolution. He puts in the work through rich storytelling, guttural beats and deft lyricism whether he’s recalling his rough childhood or his latest online fling. Yo Gotti is shaping the sound of Memphis in his own image, one track at a time.

New yo gotti album 2016