Gosha Guppy: Elevating The Sound
Gosha Guppy is as adaptive as he is distinct. In his relatively short career, his music has been able to represent the many sides of multi faceted personality. His work is simultaneously emotionally vulnerable, darkly comedic, goofy, and braggadocious, with each song being identifiable by Gosha’s characteristic charisma and rebelliousness.
Born in East Flatbush, Gosha makes music that represents the spirit of creative NYC youth in 2020. The 20 year old artist uses his art to capture the chaotic energy that animates them. His music sounds like the houseparty that you know could go left at any second but it’s the best you’ve ever gone to.
Though chaotic, the music is very refined. Gosha is a forward thinking artist who wants to elevate the quality of what becomes popular among his demographic. He’s not comfortable chasing trend or mindlessly reproducing what others have done. In pursuit of this goal, he’s looking for longevity over quick fame. That focus is evident in his consistency across the EPs, singles, and album he’s dropped since his debut song “Hit My Line” in 2016. We sat down with Gosha to talk about his musical journey, his influences in and outside hip hop, his New York upbringing, and how he pursues his artistic goals.
Introduce yourself for people who don’t know you?
I’m Gosha Gupp. Brooklyn, New York. East Flatbush. The “Private School Rapper Don Dada” (don’t take that too seriously). Yeah man, I just been rapping for four years, since August of 2016, coming up around that time. It’s kinda flown by: I was 16 broke rapping, and now I’m 20 and I’m still super broke rapping. It’s pretty chill.
How did you start rapping? What was your musical journey?
I started rapping cause I needed to do something for the summer. I was in this Prep For Prep business internship and I hated it. One day in one of my manic, sixteen year old angst phases, I was like “yeah aight, I’m gonna rap now”. I just looked up a beat, found a beat, and wrote a song in like 5 minutes called “Hit My Line”. Literally after I recorded it, the minute I got home, I released it. Five minutes of putting my ass on that chair took on a life of its own.
I’d say that my musical journey has always kinda been lo-fi hip hop in a way, nothing too trap-y. I’ve done more trap stuff, but that hasn’t been my lane cause I think the trap thing has a ceiling. Right now musically, I’ve taken a step away from lo-fi and wanna do different stuff. I’m really into rave music and trance and kinda taking back EDM. That’s my whole shtick right now as of June/May of 2020.
On the topic of different genres, who are some of the musicians that have inspired you both in the past and presently?
I really like Kanye: he’s out of this world. Lauryn Hill I’d say is really good just for listening purposes. I wouldn’t say she has the best song structure, but I like the amount of soul and energy she puts in. I like Tyler a lot. People who have inspired me: easily Playboi Carti. When I was in my younger years I really wanted to be like him. Now I’m like aight, I don’t really care for that too much. Currently right now, I’m inspired less so by people and more so by eras: late 1980s Chicago house, Detroit house, that’s kinda my shtick. How house kinda came out of the LGBTQIA community in the 80s, and how it’s transitioned to this phenom for white drugged out people. I’m tryna reclaim back our losses.
How has your relationship to music changed since transitioning from just a consumer to now an artist?
It really hasn’t. I’ve just been really snobbish, that’s all. Before when I was listening to music, I was kinda just like “aight this is cool”, but now I know how they kinda record it and ’m like “damn, you really chose the laziest way of recording this”. I also just have a deeper understanding of the artistic process and realize, damn, this person really said the same exact line in three different songs the same way. Crazy. It also kinda made me jaded towards hip hop in a way: not hip hop but trap rap I’d say. I’m really disillusioned by it cause there hasn’t been any forward progression for a while instrumentally. I would say that it has kinda gotten a little bit of juice based on vocal performances per se, but we aren’t really getting much further, and it’s been the biggest genre in the world for the last 5-6 years.
As someone who primarily raps, but is so forward thinking about the entire creative process, how do you go about getting what you want out of the sonics of your music? How do you collaborate with and push your producers?
I only really work with one producer and his name is Jason Kreloff. He went to Columbia and he’s a pretty chill guy. How I push him: I’m like “bro, this is what I wanna make and this is why I wanna make it”, and then we take that and run with it. So this is the process: I’m really insecure about studio sessions and what I do, but essentially, I would make the album before the album. I’d have 10 songs and be like, here are the drafts. This is what I want to emulate from Chicago House, or this is what they do, high vocal riffs, I’m gonna do that. Obviously I’m gonna fail the first time, but through practicing, the second or third time around, you got it. Those are the songs that make it on the project. Also, sometimes, if the song and the original concept is good enough, we go back and we work on it. Everything’s kinda very much free flowing. To be honest, I’m only really specifically talking about this iteration of the recording process. Before, I would just go over and Jason would be like “what are you feeling today” and I’d be like “I just wanna make a twerk song.” We kinda just base it off of: he might give me something and I might come with the idea. I got the “A Beautiful Day To Get Robbed” beat and I was just like “alright, this is fire, lemme sit on it”, and then I came back and I came up with “A Beautiful Day To Get Robbed”. Then he added the bird sounds and the stop-pause thing you hear throughout the song.
One thing about you is that you will make a whole bunch of different songs with different subject matter, but all your work has a specific, hard to describe aesthetic that comes through your lyrics. What are some of the experiences, cultural background, or interests that inspire that aesthetic and your lyrical content?
Honestly. I’d call that idea me being really good at making concept songs. It’s just what inspires me for the last six months and what kinda happened. So what I would do is: each song, I probably might talk about one topic in six different ways. Whatever topic kidna consumed me for the last six months and gave me hell, I would talk about. Most of the time thats just like relationships and stuff. I try to execute different vibes, the ups and downs of it. I actually have a finished project, Je T’aime, and that’s an in-depth look at me looking at one specific thing. For example, I could make a song or a whole musical project about a day if the day’s interesting enough. That’s what I try to do. So I’m inspired by the last six months of my life and the ups and downs and tribulations and the recurring themes of what happened. If I were to make a project about COVID and stuff, it’d just be drear and repetition.
New York is such a significant place that I feel that most artists from there have a special relationship to the city that’s reflected in their art. However, there is a specific style of music that’s often described as “New York hip hop”, (boom bap, jazz rap, etc) . You don’t seem to adhere to that “sound”, but nonetheless, how has growing up in Brooklyn directly affected the way you make your music? Do you have a musical heritage that relates to living in Brooklyn?
Yeah. Bro, I’d say this. To answer part of the first question, the reason why I don’t have a New York sound is cause I’ve always floated throughout different groups. To say that New York has a sound is very boxing. We just chose to make it. New York has so many different artists.
Musical Heritage? I really like MF DOOM bro. He taught me how to really rap. Nicki. Nicki’s manic energy. Who else man? A specific New York sound I wouldn’t say. I would say, the grit it gives you, y’know, the different cultural experiences. In New York, if you want it you can kinda get it. Just being able to recognize that. I don’t know. I think New York is really diverse now, cause while Desiigner was popping off, drill was still a thing. Do we consider Desiigner not a New York artist? I feel like New York really has to do more with the imagery more so than the actual sonic.
In general, do you have any goals with your music or your career? And if so, have they changed over time?
Yeah yo, when I was sixteen I just wanted to be a big superstar, crazy motherfucker, break all these records and stuff. I realized, bro, the way we torture our most successful artists. I ain’t tryna be tortured by my fans, cause when you’re that big everything you do is popularized. I don’t want that. So I just want a core fanbase. I wanna be known for something. I guess I wanna have an impact on music, right. Drake is like the biggest artist in the world, but I feel like he’s the one of the first biggest artists- I think he’s the only biggest artist that hasn’t left a musical impact. He hasn’t changed the sonic of music. It’s kinda like, “well this is here”. What Drake gives me I know. I’m never mind blown by anything Drake does. I’d say, I just wanna hold a specific, a particular group of hip hop heads. Like how later down the line MF DOOM holds all these kinda weird people- from Tyler to MF DOOM. I wanna occupy a pocket of space that no one is gonna be able to fuck with for 20 to 30 years.
That’s an incredible goal right there. So I’ve known you for a couple of years, and I remember specifically your first live performance at DAIS 2017. You performed “Hit My Line”, and blew the crowd up. The thing that everyone noticed about you was your incredible stage presence. Is that stage presence natural, or was that something you had to cultivate over time?
It was natural bro. I think the DAIS thing was the first time I had ever performed, so I was like “bro, this is super lit”. You kinda just don’t care right. At the end of the day, I’m here to get lit. I’m not here to be cool or to do stunts and stuff. I’m here for the music and to perform the music. I hate when I go to hip hop shows and like- yeah you look nice, but why is Timothy from Queens out rapping you bro, his voice on the mic. I developed that skill- not develop the performance energy- but how to perform doing the call backs and stuff. It’s pretty innate. I got really lucky with “Hit My Line” because of how much space is actually in that song. There was no way people couldn’t chant that shit. I kinda gave them the energy and they just took the ball rolling. Like the first person stood up and then the second person stood up. The people behind me got lit and so people weren’t afraid to really enjoy it y’know.
What was it like to have your first song blow up and then subsequently have “A Beautiful Day To Get Robbed” blow up? What was it like having your public profile rise gradually, yet at a rapid pace?
It was like a curse bro. I call it a fluke because I was never able to, I guess, replicate that, and I’m happy that I didn’t. It just wasn’t meant to be at that time. All it showed me was that, yo- it’s that easy. If I had a thousand dollars to push that song, it could’ve gone on Billboard type shit the way it was flying. It’s a very humbling experience; it’s something to learn from. It also just means that at any time I could know that something I record is gonna be a hit. I realized that the biggest hits are the ones that you don’t make. If you go to the studio and say “I’m gonna make a hit song”, you failed. You kinda just gotta make music and be like “damn, this is very fire”.
What is your personal definition of success?
I don’t really know man to be honest with you. I would say to be able to support myself through the said endeavors, through music and be able to accomplish my music goals. Obviously I’m upholding old relics of white supremacy, but maybe something that may replace the Grammys and lose all the political bullshit. Well you know what, I would say my success is actually having people appreciate good music. A lot of music that comes out is really bad and even the biggest songs, number one songs on Billboard, I think is garbage y’know. We’ve been so attuned or accustomed to stuff like that, that we can’t realize this song is literally meaningless bro. We’ve heard this song before. It’s not an attack on DaBaby and Roddy Rich, it’s just like- they’re at fault as well. They think the song is actually good and it’s not. I call them the Fake Number Ones. I wanna end the Fake Number Ones. I get the corny songs that are lit, but too often esongs that are not even corny- just because it has a good beat doesn’t mean it should be considered a good song. I think a good song has a lot more elements than just a good beat. I don’t know.
What is New York LAB?
Bro, New York LAB is that thing man. I think New York LAB is kinda like the culture for really crazy NYC youth, y’know. If these are like the rejects of society, that’s what New York LAB is: The things that we try to do, that we wanna do. More or less, for LLC purposes, if we’re gonna be sold to white parents, New York LAB is a company for talents and artists to come collab together and create art. All types of artists: musicians, graphic designers, visuals, y’know. But for the kids, it’s like a very specific type of person. Yes, you can come from different backgrounds, but when we party it’s like grunge, druggy, angsty Soho kids. “I don’t have money for this, so I’m sliming you and taking yours”- these are the type of fuckers we attract, which is lit, giving them a space to kinda exist. It does bring a lot of problems cause they bring a lot of their problems to events and stuff, but I don’t know I think it’s pretty cool. We really got lit off the parties and obviously we got lit off NY LAB 01, which was a 12 hour convention which had an art show and a concert and was supposed to have a party but the concert actually took too long. NY LAB is the future of NYC youth, and it’s really funny cause I’m 20. Am I even considered a youth anymore? I’m bout to really start transitioning out. I would say it is a culture for the underground. It’s a safe haven. We’ve lost the underground. The underground has become mainstream or popularized because of social media. I think we need to take that back and have it create its own community.
What was the genesis of New York LAB?
Probably around August or September of 2018. Samori Coates had called and was like “ yo Gupp, I’m gonna create this shit cause I want you to blow up off of it, and when you blow up off of it, it’s gonna create a funnel, so many people are gonna be coming through”. That was the genesis. It was an idea started by a group of friends. In a way, part of New York LAB was to help me blow up and kinda create a platform and this is the main artist and stuff. Also, we are a record label and have an LLC, I forgot to say that. Kinda tryna use the music to blow up everything else cause music is the most accessible. Like, Uzi releases an album: “who did the cover art? who are the producers?” Even going as far as, “who dressed him? What is he wearing?” So, let’s say we have a LAB team in New York: I do something and be like “I need outfits for a cover art and I need photographers” and we shoot it. Whoever has the best one gets placed and stuff. It really is a cohabitational space I’d say, but the genesis of it was from Samori, myself, Kit Moynihan, I’m forgetting a couple people. It was mainly a group of friends that did shit.
From my perspective, it seems like y’all are building an empire in a way- but a non exploitative empire. Moreso just an amazing thing that’s gonna keep on growing.
Thank you. That’s one thing bro: I don’t want to be exploitative. We charge money for the parties because the venue’s expensive and we broke. It’s not really to make money. If we wanted to make money we could’ve created an app and sold out info. I hate when people kinda cap about that stuff. You don’t have to come, so don’t complain about the price.
So we talked about your relationship with your producer, but you’re also very invested in the visual presentation of your art. What is it like working with the people, videographers, designers, etc, who create the aesthetic aspects of your work?
It’s all about being non compromising on the vision. You don’t have to compromise on the vision. If you’re compromising on the vision you lose. That’s not a collaboration, it’s a project. You have to be able to say “yo, this is what I want, can you do this? We can’t do this? Aight someone else”. In terms of presentation, everything is just timing bro. Imagine I released “Run Em Down” 2 weeks later with all the police shootings. It would’ve been in poor taste. I might’ve prepared this release in March and submitted it to the distributors to have it on this day. People would be like “ Oh, you’re releasing on blah blah blah”. So yeah, presentation is probably more important than the art itself, which is wild. It makes sense though, cause everybody wants things to be aesthetic. Like the iPhone sells because of presentation, not because it’s actually better. That’s how I really realized it. Collaboration with the presentation is really important too. If you have different people presenting it to their fan bases or to their people, they’re more than likely gonna like it as well. Interpersonal marketing.
So as a college student majoring in English, what’s it like balancing your college life with your creative practice?
Honestly, when I go to school, music kinda disappears. College in itself is like a whole different lifestyle, so it’s hard to balance the two. I say this as if I’m actively doing work in college but I just feel like when you do music- I try to do a 9-5 or really a 10-6- when you get home the day is already burnt. So I kinda try to take my opportunity in college to live life and experience things that I think people should experience, that I think people should be experiencing. I’ve lost so much already recording music. I get 5-10 text messages a day like “yo you’re supposed to see me, yo we’re supposed to link” and I’m like “I’m recording man”. So I do appreciate college in that way because when I go to school bro, I’m not really doing homework bro. I’m just like observing people live life and I’m like “this is super interesting”. More than anything, I’m just learning more and more that you don’t have to choose fame as an artist. Fame is a choice y’know. You can’t stop people from trying to enter your house, but you can request to have media or do interviews or photoshoots and have all these things that make you famous. So I’m kinda like anti-fame honestly. That’s scary.
That’s been a prominent theme in this interview. You make music with such potential for popular appeal, yet you seem grounded in a personal politics of authenticity over fame. For my last question I just want to ask, what do you gain personally from making music?
It’s pretty selfish bro, but I just feel like I get to be heard. I also do a lot of small personal jabs, light jabs and stuff. I might jab myself a little bit, I might jab my friend. Calmly flexing, like for example, “Trap-a-Lot”. It’s unreleased but it was like yeah, I got away with scamming and that’s super lit and I’m bragging to the world. Or like “A Beautiful Day To Get Robbed”: I just watched this man get violated and you can’t experience that, but I can and I can make a song about it. So it’s my way of being able to brag a little bit. Also, it just makes me feel like I’m heard. I don’t really like to speak too much, especially now. I’m really tryna stay in my lane and only contact people when I’m contacting them. Not that I don’t wanna speak to you but you just can’t give your energy to everybody, which is super heartbreaking. Yeah, that’s really it. I don’t really get too much out of it. I do like the art though. If there’s one thing I can say I get out of it is just- alright, yes this motherfucker might have more listeners than me and might be more popular and make more money, but like song by song basis I’m better than you. That’s super lit and eventually one day, if I were to blow up and get a certain type of success, people are gonna realize that I’ve kinda been doing well from when I was 16 years old. My last thing is: breaking barriers. We’ve trained ourselves to think that if it’s not hip hop and R&B it’s not black music, when all music is technically black music but it might not necessarily be music for the hood. You can make it music for the hood. You can make anything. It’s just trying to have black people realize we should be listening to everything and be consuming everything because it is our shit. I’m not tryna let more people run off with our sauce. We let people run off with rock, we let people run off with jazz, we let people run off with EDM. Hip hop is one of the last things we’re fighting to keep but the most popular hip hop artist is a white guy. So did we really do what we were supposed to do?