G-Eazy

I've got some growing up to do.

Growing up, I heard as much E-40 and Mac Dre on the radio as I did 50 Cent. It's in our culture to support our own.

Growing up in the Bay, I was still looking for a lot of East Coast hip-hop. I had an older homie put me on to a lot of stuff like Nas' 'Illmatic.'

We're really critical with the process of who we hire. But when you put great people in position, that's how you avoid any missteps.

In the past, my process would start with a sample of another song, and I'd chop it up and use that as the basis of the song that I was making.

I feel like if you're stuck doing the same thing your whole career you've got to be doing something wrong. Unless you're getting great results from it or you're just comfortable in that spot.

My whole career has been from scratch, so I never took it for granted that people care and support what I do.

Music is only special when it's coming from a genuine place - it's just energy trapped in a bottle.

My music is very reminiscent of the sound I grew up on and the place where that happened. It's a combination of everything I'm inspired by.

I think the most important thing is to be yourself and be genuine and don't try to tell anybody else's story but your own. And if it comes from a genuine place, I think people can tell, and if it doesn't, I think people can tell, and I think that eventually it shows.

There's only so much you can do on a physical level trying to tour or pass out mixtapes. Although that matters, I realized that you can reach more people putting your music on Soundcloud and networking with blogs to write about you. It really comes back to the music and what you release.

It's just crazy to look back at what I was wearing in high school.