Chicago is home to many rap legends, from Kanye West to Chief Keef to G Herbo to Polo G. Insert Lil Eazzyy, who comes trailblazing right behind them. The 18-year-old hails from the Southside of Chicago, Eazzyy is here to tell his story and his truth — giving hope to the masses that they too can achieve their wildest dreams.
He states, “I’m here to show people it’s really about your ambition, you got to go out and get it yourself. I want people to see that I went out and got it myself, for motivational purposes. If I can do it, anybody can do it.”
Coming up as a teenager playing basketball, which he was innately good at it, Eazzyy released his first video for “MIKEAMIRI” end of last year and it’s been on the go ever since. With his friend filming a freestyle of his that ended up going viral on the Gram, “Onna Come Up” came as a result. If there’s one record that fans need to hear to get to know Eazzyy, it’s this one.
Now, he returns with his newest single titled “Activated,” paired with a cinematic visual to match. AllHipHop caught up with Lil Eazzyy at the Kandypens house in the hills to discuss his upbringing in Chicago, love for G Herbo, getting playlisted in Rap Caviar, love for the fans, and new music on the horizon!
AllHipHop: Being from the Southside of Chicago, what were you seeing growing up?
Lil Eazzyy: It was a nice household. My parents weren’t married, but we’re all together under the same roof. It was cool. S### happened then my mom moved out to the suburbs, it was me going back and forth. The household was cool though, it was good. I have a good relationship with both of my parents.
AllHipHop: At what point did music come into play?
Lil Eazzyy: Really my sophomore year. I’ve always been into rap since my 5th, 6th grade. I was always into Herb, that’s one of my biggest idols.
AllHipHop: What do you like about Herbo?
Lil Eazzyy: I like the way he can switch up the way that he rap. He can go from slow pace to a fast pace in the same song. You really have to double back on what Herb be saying because you not gon’ catch it the first time.
AllHipHop: What’s your favorite G Herbo song?
Lil Eazzyy: I love Welcome to Fazoland, that’s my favorite album. I got hella favorite Herb songs. My favorite right now on that album is “Ride Wit It.” My favorite of all-time, he had a Humble Beast album that never dropped. Being from Chicago you get a lot of unreleased music from rappers. I had his Humble Beast intro, he never dropped it. That s### still hit, it’s not even on YouTube anymore.
AllHipHop: You f### with Polo too?
Lil Eazzyy: Yeah fasho, he brought that melody sound to Chicago and put us on the map. There weren’t really a lot of rappers coming out like Polo, we’re getting put on the map right now.
AllHipHop: How does it feel to be the hottest new rapper from The Chi?
Lil Eazzyy: It feels good, feels good to put on for my city. Like the DCG bros, they coming outta Chicago too. I got a song with them that’s really good, I f### with them heavy. I’m really trying to work with everybody from Chicago, stamp Chicago altogether. Chicago’s where big artists are coming out of.
AllHipHop: At what point did you realize you could do music for a living?
Lil Eazzyy: Really my senior year. My first time getting in the studio, my friend said “bro, you better than some of the people that come in here for their first time. It sounds like you’ve been doing it a minute.” That gave me some gas. You hear somebody say you sound like you’ve been rapping for a minute, you gon’ really want to put your all into it. I was doing basketball at first but I felt if I put my all into rap, s###’s gon’ go. I like telling my story, I like telling the s### I used to do. I like making little party songs to have people tee up, I like having fun. I like music, period. I like to give people s### to listen to. It makes me feel good when people listen to your music, when you can go listen to your own music like “damn I really f### with this s###.”
AllHipHop: Bring us back to when you recorded “Onna Come Up.”
Lil Eazzyy: I’d just met my manager. I was ready to go all gas, no brakes. He said “I see you do freestyles, put out a little freestyle.” I thought if I’ma put out a freestyle, it gotta be something. I wanted to talk about me on the come up for real. I never knew it was going to do what it did. I didn’t even make it a full song at first, it was a freestyle. The traction was so good, I had to make it a full song. It blew up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAdbwo8HhWf/
AllHipHop: Did you expect it to go viral after posting it to Instagram?
Lil Eazzyy: Then I posted it on TikTok. I wasn’t ready for that. Me seeing it go up, it didn’t hit me really until labels were hitting me, then I’m like “oh s###, this is serious.” I thought it was gon’ go viral, people will’ see it, and it’ll blow over. Once I seen the labels hitting me, that s### touched me not even gon’ lie. That s###’s wild. I went to the studio, I made it. My manager got me the person for the cover art, we put it out on United Masters and it was going crazy.
AllHipHop: Do you overall have good energy? Good things happen to good people.
Lil Eazzyy: I do. I believe in good karma, so I try to make sure I’m doing right by the people and myself.
AllHipHop: You’ve only been recording a year, what were you doing before this?
Lil Eazzyy: I was playing basketball, that’s it. But I also loved rap. I always wanted to try it. Once I tried it, it came to me. F### it, I started going to the studio every single day after school. I put my very first music video out November of last year, I only got 5 of them out right now. I dropped the freestyle in May of this year, it hasn’t been long at all.
AllHipHop: How’d it feel seeing “Onna Come Up” being playlisted in Rap Caviar?
Lil Eazzyy: I looked up one day and I was on Rap Caviar, I’m like “whoaaa!” The day after, I checked my Instagram again and I was up 3.5K followers. The streams are what blew up. I went from 2 million to 6 million in a couple days, that s### tweaked me out. I didn’t peep it at first, I had to actually log in and check. That s###’s crazy. It really felt unbelievable, I didn’t believe it. It’s a blessing.
AllHipHop: Talk about shooting the video for “Onna Come Up.”
Lil Eazzyy: One of his friends [points to friend] he put me on with, he does photography out in Connecticut. They flew out here, that’s his first time meeting me. We got an Airbnb in downtown Chicago, we might as well shoot some videos. We shot the videos, I really didn’t think it was going to go up like that on YouTube. We tried to make sure we got that gritty type of scenery. We’re in an alley, we did some in the daytime and the nighttime to set the mood. Made the whole video, then we shot “Yerk Attack” the day after.
AllHipHop: What is it you want fans to get from your story?
Lil Eazzyy: I want fans to feel they don’t have to narrow themselves to one lane. Whatever you want to do, you got the power to do it as long as you put the work on and you got the ambition. Once you find what you want to do, put your all into it. Make sure you’re the best at what you do.
AllHipHop: Being only 18, what do you like to do for fun?
Lil Eazzyy: Me and him [points to friend] go play basketball all the time. S###, vibe in the studio and make music. That’s really all I’ve been doing, is working. Since the beginning of my senior year last year, I’ve been locked in doing studio. I might go play basketball here and there, but really trying to lock in and perfect my craft. I want to be looked at as versatile, he can do a variety of different things. I want people to be able to click on my name like “I’m feeling this type of way, so I’ma go to this song.” They don’t gotta listen to one particular genre of music, like just drill. I have some melodic stuff, have some party s### so people can tee up.
AllHipHop: Did you have hoop dreams before this?
Lil Eazzyy: Slightly. I kind of did, but I just liked doing sports. I wasn’t really thinking I wanted to go to the NBA, but I f### with basketball heavy enough to keep doing it. Definitely a good stress reliever, it helps me take my mind off s###.
AllHipHop: What can we expect next music-wise?
Lil Eazzyy: I’m about to drop an EP, then my mixtape’s coming out very early next year. After my mixtape, I’m dropping my album. I got it all lined up, I’ve been in the stu. It’s all ready, I just gotta put it out.
AllHipHop: Debut album already? It’s crazy how many years it takes some artists.
Lil Eazzyy: That s###’s a blessing. I try to take it in the most humblest way possible.
AllHipHop: Anything else you want people to know?
Lil Eazzyy: I’m really a people person, I’m for the fans for the most part. If they need something, they can DM me. I DM a lot of my fans back. If you peep under my comments, I like everybody’s comment. I try to be real interactive with the fans, I want them to know I’m all about them.