Chicago rapper GLC has quite the resume. He’s been on two of Kanye West’s albums, he’s done over 70 features just this year with the likes of Bun B, Kid Cudi and more. He managed to secure a first-of-its-kind distribution deal with EMI/Capitol Records. And miraculously even got Bruce Springsteen himself to clear a sample for his album, something “The Boss” has never done in the past. But with all of these accomplishments, GLC, who was one of the first rappers on Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint, has been noticeably absent from Ye’s recent GOOD Friday music leaks. GLC checks in with AllHipHop to give an update on the latest and give some insight on his love, life and loyalty. Church. AllHipHop.com: While major hip hop heads and definitely followers of Kanye know who you are and know your story, there are some that just kind of know your name, know you rap, but they don’t really know who you are. To those people that ask, who’s GLC? GLC: GLC is the ism, baby. I am the church. I am the proclamation of my prosperity. You know an O.G. hustler from Chicago and I handle my business. AllHipHop.com: You received notoriety because Kanye placed you on his first album, but before that, how’d you get into rapping? GLC: I started rapping because I was looking up to the rappers. You know they had money, they had cars, they had women, they had gold chains and I lived in the ghetto. At the time, they was everything. Like you can get those things? The nice cars, women, money, jewelry…damn you was the man! So at the end of the day, the rappers were so cool…growing up in Chicago, that’s who we aspired to be like. You know? They were making money, they were successful and aside from that, they were people that we could relate to.
AllHipHop.com: So how’d you link up with Kanye? How did that come about? GLC: Well Kanye and I we linked up in like 1993. We were kids! We had a mutual friend that went to the grammar school that I had went to that had transferred to Kanye’s grammar school. They became friends; they were in a rap group at the time. Then he told me like “yo, my man Kanye makes beats. You should come over here and listen to the beats man I’m telling you he real cold!” So I went over there and he was real cold!
“I know that people were saying that Kanye is a part of the Illuminati
and he sacrificed his mom and all this type of crazy s**t…he loved his mom. “-GLC
GLC Feat. Kanye West – “The Big Screen”
AllHipHop.com: Kanye placed you on College Dropout and that was the public’s first introduction to GLC, then Late Registration after that. What did those placements do for you as far as your career? Do you think they were equally helpful? Did Late Registration kind of drive home the buzz created off College Dropout? GLC: Those placements really enhanced my appeal. They made people see me more. My appearances they began to soar you know? They propelled my ism to new heights. It made the world be able to understand and hear my concepts and it gave me a different plateau, another avenue to display my ism and my talents you know? And with that being said, from the grace of God, my appearances were very well received by the public which sparked me having a pretty good underground career. And now it’s time to take it to the forefront with my new album. Church.
AllHipHop.com:
Lately Kanye’s been building a really big buzz with his group and the whole G.O.O.D. music thing on Twitter but you haven’t really been part of the songs, part of the hype. Are you still down with G.O.O.D. music?GLC: (laughs) Well I’ll tell you this. G.O.O.D. music is my family. Kanye is my man. But I have my own company now called Get It Man Entertainment. With my company I learned a lot from being under the G.O.O.D. Music umbrella….I was up under the umbrella until 2006. Ever since then I haven’t been on paperwork with G.O.O.D. Music but they were always my family and still are. But on paperwork, I have my own company. It’s called Get It Man Entertainment. With my company, I’m the first company that EMI/Capitol records has ever done a distribution deal for an artist with no sales history. So Kanye being my friend, I learned a lot. I sat back and I watched how he moved in his own company and I took the game and the advice that he told me and I went and started my own.
AllHipHop.com: Your album dropped on last Tuesday…for those that haven’t copped yet, what should they expect from the album? Kanye West Feat. GLC & Consequence – “Spaceship”
GLC: Well on the album you gon’ hear a lot of the ism baby, you gon hear pimping, hustling, love, life and loyalty you know? It’s sort of like the return of back when the pimping, the hustling, the gangsterism…you could learn something from it like the middle and early 90’s you know? Take you back like retro-style. But at the same time giving you things that you knew that enlighten you. You know I teach you how to grow and develop. And on the album, the features that are included are the likes of Bun B and Sir Mix-a-Lot who are on my first single called “Clockin Lotsa Dollars.” I also have Kanye West and T-Pain, I have Twista, I have BJ the Chicago Kid, I have John Legend. This group from London they were really big in the 70’s I have them on the record. They performed over a sample that was cleared by Bruce Springsteen and he has never cleared a sample before so the album is already history in the making. From doing the deal with EMI, the type of deal we did and the fact I’m the first sample Bruce Springsteen cleared…and I’m just giving you the ism baby when you hear it you’re going to embrace the concept. You’re going to embrace the love, life and loyalty. Church. AllHipHop.com: How did you get this deal with EMI? Why do you think they chose you to be the first one with this type of deal, of all other potential artists?GLC: Well the reason being it was the hard work, the perseverance, the appearances that I made. I’m on Kanye’s project, I’m on Kid Cudi’s new project, I’m on Bun B’s project, I’m on the Outlawz new album, I’m on Donnis’s new project, Chip Tha Ripper, Shawn Christopher, P. Wonder. I have over 70 features this year on other people’s projects. Not only that but I just been dropping I guess just solid records that made people want to sign me. Prior to me signing the deal with EMI, I had about 4 or 5 different situations pending in which I could have gone and developed with them but I chose EMI. First off you want to be able to stunt and say hey I made history but more so importantly than that they had the structure and they had the right set up so we could grow and develop together. AllHipHop.com: It’s been 6 years since you first came out on Kanye’s record and now you’re finally coming out with your first album. Up to this point, what has the journey been like for you? Do you feel like it took too long?
GLC: The journey has been great. From 04 to 07, I lived on the road. I was always on tours with Kanye opening up, and coming out and performing on his sets and gaining notoriety and raising my appeal. I was giving my persona to the people just so that they could embrace the concept you know? That was a great stage for me to start off on. The last tour that we did in 07 it was like man I been on the road all these years, I been dropping these mixtapes, I been doing these features and everywhere I went slowly but surely people would begin to ask, “when’s the album coming out? What’s up what’s going on?” Since then I’ve had a few different offers on the table in order to put out this project but I felt that before me taking those offers I had to get my weight up. Those offers could be what I really wanted them to be if I got my weight up. I had to pretty much let people know who GLC was outside of just being the guy who performed on Kanye’s records and gave you memorable verses. I had to let people enter my world and grow with me so I chose to do the viral approach. I went very hard on the viral effort…the internet embraced it. It was just a couple years ago, the Cool Kids and I…one group and one guy from Chicago with nothing on the radio, nothing on TV…just a solid internet presence and we were named the 2 biggest local artists in Chicago by XXL. So with that I was like, “aw man this internet s**t, it really works!” So I just kept going and when you keep going….like I’ve seen artists come out under other artists in the past and often the results are like grand opening, grand closing. So I chose to step outside of that and let people know who I am and what I stand for so we can all grow and develop together. Church.
AllHipHop.com: After this album, what else are you hoping to obtain in this industry? Do you want to keep rapping…are there other things you have your hand in that you hope this could maybe open the door for you to do? GLC: Oh yes ma’am. I want to get into acting. Right now I’m shooting a short film here in Chicago for my album called Love, Life and Loyalty. Aside from that, I have a cartoon that I’m working on called “Welcome to Haterville.” With that I have a couple networks that are interested in moving forward with the project and aside from that I have a tee-shirt line, Just GLC Tees that we’re working on to get out there for the people to embrace the concept. I really want to just focus on trying to help end the genocide inside our community. Seeing these kids out here on this foolishness just killing each other, I want to help to try to restore order to the streets of America because it’s tough out here and somebody got to try to stand up. I’m on the pursuit of happiness.
Click here as GLC talks candidly about Kanye West and the Illuminati Rumors
