Guapdad 4000 Got His Start Rapping as a Pimp Character
When it's your time to shine, nothing can stop it. At 27 years old, Guapdad 4000, the Oakland rapper who got his start through Instagram comedy, has lived quite a life. From his time coming up in Oakland, where he scammed to make money, to moving to L.A. and racking up famous friends like J. Cole and Drake, it's clear that his belief in himself took him very far. Guapdad's music career is speeding up now, spurred by the success of his singles like "Flossin" (nearly 2 million YouTube views) and "Prada Process" (over 1 million streams on Spotify), along with his strong appearances on Dreamville's certified gold Revenge of the Dreamers 3 compilation album. He also has his debut album, Dior Deposits, arriving in late October. Things are changing fast, so Guapdad came to the XXL office to speak on his music and show off the personality that got him to this point.
Kicking the interview off with some info about his beloved hometown, Guapdad describes Oakland with a mix of the good and the bad. "Growing up in Oakland, it's like, did you wanna die or not?" the Ferragamo Falcon shares. He laughs it off and loosens up soon after. "It's crazy. It's every race you can think of, every element of art that you can think of." It's not all bad in The Bay.
Guapdad got his start through some unorthodox measures. "I got a auntie who pretty crazy," the rising rapper says. "She would let us rap and like she had camcorders and shit." Most people have home videos from their childhood, but things were a little different for Guap. "We'd make music videos and dress up in her furs and be pimps and like slap fake hoes. And that was my intro to music right there," he explains, matter-of-factly. Once he grew up, Guapdad decided he didn't want to make that type of rap, and branched off into his current style.
As expected, Guapdad 4000's music tastes veer through a bunch of different acts. He makes sure to mention the earlier work of Eminem, hometown hero Mac Dre and Ludacris. The West Coast rhymer also had a taste for the more obscure. "I found my old email, I had a weird phase of Andre Nickatina and Immortal Technique," he explains while smiling, offering a look into the kind of underground rap he liked. "I was listening to some wild shit!" Guapdad also used to go to Barnes & Noble and listen to CeeLo Green albums all day; he was different from the other teens.
Watch Guapdad's interview below, where he offers an interesting retelling of how he got his name, people getting his height wrong, the biggest misconception about him and more.
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