Raptology: How did you come up with a stage name?
G@k: So my stage name is a nickname my Dad gave me when I was really little. It was actually my first “word”. My mom would call my dad at work when I was a little baby and would let me talk to him before I could actually talk, and I would just make sounds the whole time. But “Gak” was the closest thing to a word that I could get out. Ever since then he would always call me Gak, and then my homies would come over to the house and hear him calling me that and be like wtf, so I told them where it came from and they all started calling me Gak too.
Raptology: Where are you from?
G@k: I’m originally from Sacramento, California but moved to McKinney, TX in 2003. I definitely remember a lot of the Bay and that’s where my Moms’ side is from so it’s ingrained in me, but my most formative years were spent in Texas.
Raptology: Why did you first start making music?
G@k: I started making music because I’ve always had a deep passion for it, hip hop especially, and I truly fell in love with what it can do for people spiritually and emotionally. I’m just so in love with the storytelling and technical writing aspects of it. But for some reason rapping was the one thing I just felt like I couldn’t do when I was younger, so I felt like I had to try. I owed it to myself to go after what I truly love and not limit myself. When I started writing it really was the only thing that was healing me emotionally and helping me to feel better about myself and I strive to do the same for the listener through the music.
Raptology: Who would you say inspired you the most, as an artist?
G@k: I would say J. Cole inspired me the most as an artist. He really was the artist who made me feel like I could do this. Because most of the artists I grew up watching and listening to just weren’t talking about the shit he’s talking about, they weren’t as introspective, and they damn sure weren’t as vulnerable. And those were aspects that I think I just subconsciously always knew I wanted to have in my music, so he helped me not be afraid to be raw and vulnerable and really speak my mind in my music. Even if doing so could make people feel uncomfortable.
Raptology: Talk me through your creative process.
G@k: My creative process really varies from song to song, but most of the time I do still use “type beats” on YouTube. There’s a few producers on there that I like to go back to. And usually I’ll just start out voice recording myself scatting/mumbling/freestyling to the beat over and over until I say something that I like or that I feel like will fit the beat. I’ll just kind of lay down skeleton verses and hooks a lot of times will find different melodies and cadences doing that and then fill in the words.
Raptology: Do you remember the first rhyme you wrote?
G@k: I don’t remember how the rhyme went at all but I do remember that I was like 13 or 14 and that the rap was just so trash. The flow was like a really hardcore bite off one of their flows on that song “she got it” cause that track was really popping around that time. But I do remember being proud of myself that I at least sat down and tried and put something together though.
Raptology: Where and how do you work best?
G@k: That’s really tough man because sometimes I think I work best at home when I’m just locked in and not really doing much else. But then there’s other times when I feel like I write best when I’m on the road and away from home. Like the times I’m in LA I feel like I can knock out anywhere from 3-5 songs in a week, but then there may be times when I’m at home and it takes me months to write two songs. It really just comes down to if I’m feeling inspired where I’m at, and if I’m able to get alone time because I write best when I’m alone.
Raptology: Have you heard the theory that some musicians write their best music while they’re depressed or going through a bad time?
G@k: Yes, I’ve definitely heard that theory and it’s really hard for me not to feel like it’s valid sometimes. I definitely feel like I’ve wrote my best songs when I was in a bad place unfortunately, but I have heard a lot of great music from artists when they were supposedly happy. But I will say that whenever an artist is writing music when they’re sad or depressed I feel like there is a tendency to be a lot more raw and honest and truly speak from the soul. I feel like the music is less likely to be formulaic and forced when it’s coming from a truly “sad” or “depressed” artist.
Artist`s website: callmegak.com
Hulda Hicks was born in Brooklyn, NY in the late ’70s, at the time when Hip-Hop music was just emerging as an art form. Her entire life was influenced by the culture, having grown up in the epicenter of the creative movement.
As a trained musician and vocalist, Hulda got exposed to the industry in her twenties and has worked on projects with iconic figures such as the Chiffons, the Last Poets, and Montell Jordan, to name a few. Her passion for music extended past the stage on to the page when she began to write ad copy and articles as a freelancer for several underground publications.
A written review from “Jubilee Huldafire” is as authentic as it gets, hailing from one creative mind that has a unique voice, on paper and in person.
