The Break Presents: Lil Wop

Within a span of a year Lil Wop, a 22-year-old rapper from Chicago, went from being Gucci Mane's biggest fan to being the hip-hop vet's newest protégé. Since 2016, Wop has been busy, carving out a niche with his distinct Midwest drawl and hard-rock mentality. It all started with his 2016 project Wopster and it continued into 2017, after he dropped three installments of his Wopavelli series and the mixtape Wake N Bake.

Gucci Mane signed Lil Wop to his label 1017 Eskimos via Alamo Records over the summer and the pairing couldn't be better. Wop, who's Famous Dex's cousin, discovered Gucci's music while hanging out with his older cousins. "I was around older people. I was around my older cousins and I'm hearing it," Wop explains to XXL while in New York. "I grew up around it. I really grew up in this shit."

He gravitated to not only Gucci's music, but looked up to him as a role model. So much so that Lil Wop tattooed his face with the same famous ice cream tattoo Gucci has inked on his own face. It was kind of destiny for Lil Wop and Big Guwop to link up. Another fun fact, Lil Wop's birthday is on Oct. 17—the number is synonymous with Gucci Mane.

With his latest project, Wopavelli 3, out, Lil Wop is out to prove that Gucci's interest in him as a newcomer is warranted. "It's going to put me in that genre of big name rappers," he says. "This mixtape will show that Lil Wop is not like anyone in music. It's like hard rock, it's just something different to hear."

Get to know more about Lil Wop in The Break.

Name: Lil Wop

Age: 22

Hometown: Chicago

I grew up listening to: "Grew Up listening to Gucci, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, DMX. The first song that stood our to me from Gucci was 'Truth.' It showed he didn't really give no fucks. He really said he murdered a muthafucka on a song. I ain't never in my life heard nobody said shit. He didn't give a fuck. I like that. I like that about people who speak their mind. It wasn't all about music. The way he moved, he put young niggas in position to eat. He put damn near the whole Atlanta on and he picked me up. That goes to show you that shit real.

"I don't really know when I started making music but I started actually in a studio and recording all the time a year-and-a-half ago. But I started being dead serious this year because it was established that i wanted to be a rapper. I was always rapping at school, in the hood, everywhere. I used to get high as hell and the homies would play an instrumental and just start rapping.

"I took rapping seriously because I was tired of going to jail and doing... you feel me? I was tired of the life I was living. I felt like it was karma after me all the time because every time I do something good, then karma hit me for all the [bad] shit I did that year. So I just felt like it was time to step up and some shit that positive. Turn all that negative shit into some positive shit."

My style’s been compared to: "People only compare me to other people because of my looks. They can't compare my music to anyone. The usual comparisons are 21 Savage and Young Thug. My sound is like hard rock but hip-hop. Hip-hop rock, whatever you want to call it. I make music you can rage to, so if you're feeling down, play Lil Wop and handle it. None of that sad shit. I got that hard-banging, hard rock.

Most people don’t know: "I'm 6 feet, 5 inches. People don't realize how tall I am. I'm not a people's person, I don't really like people like that. I like to dress, I like to look nice."

My standout moment to date: "I mean getting signed with Gucci. My most favorite song is 'Broadway.' That's the song that got me signed. It's my mood 24/7. On 'Broadway,' everything I'm saying is my mood. Everything I'm saying is how I feel. I'm not saying I'm walking around with a chopper and 3,000 people but if I got to do that, I will do that. "

My goal in hip-hop is: "Just to be successful and be great. I don't really got no accomplishment list as far as Grammys. I just want to be as great as I can be as me. I would be happy by that. Michael Jackson, he's great."

I’m going to be the next: "Star, people tell me I'm going to be a star. I can't really be compared to anyone really. "

Follow Lil Wop on Twitter and SoundCloud.

Standouts: "Broadway"

Wopavelli 3

Wopavelli 2

Wake N Bake

Trippie Redd's "Gleem" Featuring Lil Wop

"Lost My Mind"

Kodie Shane's "Full Clip" Featuring Lil Wop