Gunplay appears to be steadily gaining a buzz, from appearing on Kendrick Lamar's single "Cartoon & Cereal," to now inking a solo album deal with Def Jam.
He spoke to XXL about the recent signing and, although in the past he's been an outspoken rapper on enjoying drugs, he speaks on quitting coke as well.
Read some of what he had to say below.
On Singing to Def Jam:
You know we was negotiating about a month or two, you know what I’m saying, just to get everything right. And just to get everything fair to where everybody could leave the table happy. Everything worked out just fine; we’re ready to move forward so it’s dry now so we’re just ready to make the best music possible.
It was a few labels that was interested, but you know I just like to—I don’t like moving around, I’m not a clique hopper, you know what I’m saying? I like to keep it in house. So that was the move I made and I just wanted to keep it in house.
On Living the Street Life:
You know I’ve had a bunch of cases, charges, and warrants and—you know my legal shit is just crazy, you know what I’m saying? And the lawyer fees and shit man…it just gets to the point where I got the opportunity to make a difference in somebody else life and in my own and I’m fuckin’ it up out here getting caught with pistols and violating my shit, you know. I just started focusing on the music and taking my anger out there and just focus. Once you step out of your environment, your everyday routine and just try something new—once you choose a new path it guides you that way and you just keep going. So I was heading in a path of self-destruction, so I just found another lane and I found a lane and just staying focus. The streets still tried to bring me back, man, but sometimes you just got to get the hell out of there, you know what I’m saying? You got to get the hell out of there and focus. And I did it. I feel good and I’m ready to rock.
On His Drug Addiction:
It got pretty bad. It got bad. I can’t let it get to the point where I steal and shit. That’s just fuckdafied. I might borrow it from you, but I never really did some shit like that. I would just be like, ‘Front me with an 8-ball and I’ll just pay you later.’ Some shit like that. I would never steal or do dumb-ass shit like that. But how bad did it get? Just my health, man. Looking myself in the mirror and my nose never being right. I could never breathe straight and I’m always blowing my nose. I’m already a skinny nigga and that shit draws me up even skinnier by the time I wake up in the morning, I lost 10 pounds, like ‘What the fuck just happened?’ Then, that day you gotta be at a video shoot. You got raccoon eyes and you 10 pounds lighter and you can’t even breathe and you’re blowing your nose like crazy and sweating because that shit makes you sweat. Come on, man, you look crazy. That was really one of my first steps in really taking this rap shit seriously…and that was quitting coke. That was 2008.
Right now? Aw man, trust me…it’s a whole other ballgame. I’m back to reality. I’m back to life. That shit gives you a fucked-up attitude. It makes you snap on people you love. It’s not you, it’s the chemical imbalance that happens in your brain from snorting up that shit. You don’t even realize it. You think it’s the world against you. ‘Nah nigga, your brain’s about to melt.’ My mama’s a nurse. She tells me about that shit. She knew I got high and she would just pray that I stopped. My mind is clear. I’m thinking way clearer and I’m not thinking on impulse much. I talk about it and acknowledge it. To this day, that’s my favorite drug; my drug of choice. Now, I just pop a Molly, fuck it. That shit gets you high three, four hours and it stops. I’m back to reality.
