By Isabella Mikula
G-Eazy’s newest album The Beautiful and Damned is worth listening to. He raps about where he first started and the struggles he went through to. Then he goes on to how he’s moved on to become better than he was when he first started.
Gerald Earl Gillum, formally known as “G-Eazy” or “Young Gerald,” started his rap career when he was 14. His friend group, “The Pack,” created songs that were becoming really popular in his time. Inspired, he started to make and sell his own mixtapes for $5 out of his backpack. Later on in 2015, he started becoming more well-known in his single “Me, Myself, and I” which hit top of the music charts.
According to Biography.com, they describe “G-Eazy’s style of rap is quite different from the other rappers; his rhymes are underpinned by slow, southern, trap rhythms and minimal synths, through sung choruses boost his crossover – making no apologies for his pursuit of fame.” From other rappers I’ve listened to, G-Eazy’s style is so unique and so different that this makes him one of my favorite rappers by far.
After years and years of creating and producing albums like These Things Happen and When It’s Dark Out, G-Eazy finally released his new album, The Beautiful and Damned, on Dec. 15. The Beautiful and Damned album holds 20 songs filled with different hardships that he has gone through. It reflects G-Eazy’s dark past to work on becoming the man he wanted to be. In his songs, “Pray For Me,” “The Plan,” and “Pick Me Up,” he tells his audience all of the darkened dreams, drugs, and women he went through to boost his ego. Not a lot of rappers reflect on their albums about the mistakes they’ve come across, this shows that Eazy is brave enough to talk about his dark secrets.
One song in particular named “Eazy,” he shares how he started his rapping journey, “Dear Gerald, you’re fourteen years and a truant/ You’re trying to find your place, and figure out where you fit.” In the earlier stages of his career, Eazy was always involved in drugs, alcohol, and sleeping with women. Some people would say he was doing this to get attention but from his perspective, he didn’t know how to express his himself and become popular. To move on from his past he was “Scrambling trying to figure out, went back to the drawing board/ Know they say rejection is only supposed to make you want it more/ But, no lie, you contemplating quitting, walking out the door.” He really wanted to end his career because he was at the point where he wasn’t making enough money and no record labels would sign with him. He really needed a miracle until, “Dear Gerald, life changed since you dropped your second album/ And Me, Myself & I went 7x Platinum/ Toured around the world, damn, you really had ‘em/ But now you’re 27 and it’s time to be a legend.” He grew out of this phase of just making it and acceled to the top. He has proved that he tried really hard to move past his demons and show the world he isn’t a bad person.
On one of his songs, “Him and I,” he collaborated with Halsey. The song peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100 on Billboard. They started dating back in August of 2017 and the couple were inseparable. Halsey went on Eazy’s tour and performed the song wherever they went and they weren’t afraid to show their love to their beloved listeners. They broke up officially later in October 2018. To be honest, thank goodness they broke up.
Eazy finally got the fame he’s always wanted since the beginning. Through the ups and downs Eazy has produced an album that no other rap artist would produce. Eazy’s story was unexpected but it reached out to the hearts of younger rap artists to never give up and push through the hard times of your life. After listening to this album, this album is the one that people should listen to when they are going through struggles. Overall this album is truly outstanding. Eazy had make it very clear in this album that it’s okay to go through struggles and that there will always be a light at the end of a dark tunnel.