In this oversaturated music industry, you either got it or you don’t.
And Lil Jairmy is one to watch as he ascends to the forefront of the rap game. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, the buzzer rapper boasts his own unique sound, style, and swag, and he has all the greats backing him.
In describing himself, Lil Jairmy states he’s “the future man, futuristic. I feel like I’m a be around for a long time once I finally get in. See I’m in, but they ain’t letting me all the way in. But it’s really my fault, I just have to keep knocking on the door. It’s finna bust open for me.”
Fresh off the heels of viral singles “AntiSocial” and “No Luggage,” Lil Jairmy unleashed his critically-acclaimed mixtape Gas God last year. And this year, he returned to deliver yet another fire body of work to his devoted fans, in the form of Gas God 2. The 16-track project sees standout features from Moneybagg Yo, EST Gee, Future, and the late Lil Keed.
AllHipHop spoke with Lil Jairmy via Zoom to discuss his roots in Houston, his sound, what he learned from jail, the new project and more.
AllHipHop: What does Houston mean to you? We got a lot of legends that come out of there.
Lil Jairmy: Houston is one city like no other. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to a lot of other cities. I love LA, I love Atlanta, but ain’t nothing like Houston. We got the girls, the food, the culture, everything. It’s a vibe out here, for real.
AllHipHop: A lot of people are moving there because the houses are way more affordable.
Lil Jairmy: Yep. Houses, low prices, all that. Everybody come out here, they trying to take it and buy it all up.
AllHipHop: Talk about creating a sound that’s different from the signature Texas sound.
Lil Jairmy: Especially with my sound, I don’t sound like no other Texas artist, but I still include a lot of the same things that they may have talked about. One thing that’s not really good — even the syrup. Rapping about cars and jewelry, things like that, that’s always been one of our H-Town things. I picked that up too, but I flow it a different way.
AllHipHop: You were freestyling with your brother at the age of 3 or 4. What made you start taking music seriously at age 15?
Lil Jairmy: It was really when I was 16, 17. I had got into some legal trouble where I had caught a criminal case or whatever. God had put it on my mind because when I first got in the streets, my main thing was I was going to save up some money so I can buy studio time, pay for me to do a mixtape, stuff like that. But once I started getting the money, my mind went to a whole nother place. I had got distracted. So when I caught the case, that put me back on track.
AllHipHop: You were locked up for some time, right?
Lil Jairmy: I was locked up for a year. I only did a year. I was blessed to get a two year sentence, and I had to do a year only. I learned a lot during my short amount of time. I went through a lot while I was in there.
AllHipHop: What was the biggest thing you learned about yourself?
Lil Jairmy: That I can do whatever I put my mind to. I had made a promise to myself, to God, that I wasn’t going to be in no more traphouses. I was going to stop selling drugs. I was going to really come home and rap, and I done that. I went through a lot of stuff in jail. I almost lost my eyesight, all kinds of things. But soon as I came home, it came right back. God was just getting me right, that’s how I feel.
AllHipHop: How did you almost lose your eyesight?
Lil Jairmy: One day I woke up, I couldn’t see. I had went to sleep fine, woke up, I couldn’t see nothing. Over the days, my eyes started getting gray. I started shedding tears without really shedding tears. I don’t know if you watched the Ray Charles movie, but how he was when he first realized he was blind. He had water falling out his eye and all that, so I had went through same little phase.
AllHipHop: That’s scary.
Lil Jairmy: Man, super scary. I made it through it fasho. Soon as I came home, I went right back to normal though.
AllHipHop: What was the inspiration behind your name?
Lil Jairmy: That’s my real name. People in my neighborhood, it used to be older people named Jairmy, so they would call me Lil Jairmy. I just end up running with that.
AllHipHop: It wasn’t inspired by Lil Wayne or nothing?
Lil Jairmy: Nah, it wasn’t nothing like that. People were calling me Lil Jairmy in my hood, so I end up running with it. Really not even on purpose.
AllHipHop: I know you just released Gas God 2, how you feeling?
Lil Jairmy: Man I’m feeling great. They had me stuck in the house. I was on this house arrest stuff, so I couldn’t move around when I first dropped. When we first released released, but now I can so I’m feeling way better. I’m ready to keep working.
AllHipHop: Congratulations being off house arrest. I’m sure that’s a great feeling.
Lil Jairmy: Man, what? A blessing.
AllHipHop: What is one thing you want fans to take from the project?
Lil Jairmy: I tried something different on there, as far as going to get bigger features. I put in some work too, I just hope that they rock with it. They like the music, love the music really. That’s about it.
AllHipHop: I was bumping “On Me” with Future, we gotta talk about that record.
Lil Jairmy: Oh yeah? You rock with that?
AllHipHop: That s###’s hard.
Lil Jairmy: Man I sure appreciate that. Pluto, he’s a real one. We got a few more records on the way too. He’s a good dude.
AllHipHop: How did that happen?
Lil Jairmy: We had a lot of mutual friends. I really got locked in with Future through Young Scooter. That’s how that ended up happening. I rock with the whole Freebandz Gang, good people.
AllHipHop: Best memory from that video shoot and where did y’all shoot it?
Lil Jairmy: We shot it in Miami. The best part was probably after the video shoot, when we went by Futur’se house. We were cooling and vibing. Bunch of the bros there, a bunch of good vibes.
AllHipHop: How’d you link with Moneybagg Yo on “Super Charged”?
Lil Jairmy: See, me and Moneybagg Yo. I been knowing Bagg, seeing him around throughout the years. But I had gained a super good relationship with his artist Big30 and my boy Big Homiie G. I was so locked in with them, I ended up being around him so much that we ended up locking in. Bagg a good dude, fasho.
AllHipHop: What was the best part of touring with EST Gee?
Lil Jairmy: The Houston show and the Atlanta show. The Houston show,, the city came out there and showed me so much love. That was a good moment for me, it made me feel real good. And the Atlanta show, a lot of the bros was there. We had Lil Baby there, Ralo, Nardo Wick, Big30. We was deep out there in the A.
AllHipHop: Talk about how you ended up at 300.
Lil Jairmy: With 300, I ended up locking in with Selim and Kevin Liles, and my mans D-Will. That’s one of my business partners. He been having a close relationship with them. He used to let me know how real they are, how different they are from other labels. They really treat people they work with like family, they have a great staff. They believed in me, so that was one of the first things that made me want to go into business with them. Because I turned down so many record deals, I was always scared of signing the wrong thing. But the partnership with them though, it seemed so fair and right.
AllHipHop: 3 things you need in the studio at all times?
Lil Jairmy: I need some good weed. I need the lights down and off. Not saying all the way dark, but I really like how the blue light lit up. You know how they be having the lights so it’s like you almost in the strip club while you in the studio? I need the lights like that, and I need some good beats. Them 3 things, they gonna keep me going.
AllHipHop: What is the best encounter you had with a fan?
Lil Jairmy: I was out in LA shopping one time and a young dude, he really rocked with my music. He was getting money, so he had gave me $30 grand to lock in, do some work with him. But he gave me $30 grand right off the spot, so that’s one of the best encounters with a fan.
AllHipHop: He gave you $30 grand? That’s wild.
Lil Jairmy: Yeah, that’s super wild. I’m glad I went to the Dior store that day. We was on Rodeo. I’m glad I went that day.
AllHipHop: Do you have any goals for yourself?
Lil Jairmy: Of course. I want to become a big artist, leave a legacy. I have plans on going Platinum and Gold, hopefully I’ll get some awards that come with it. I want to reach the $100 million mark, all that. Only a few other goals fasho, and get all my people out. I want all my family to have financial freedom. Where I come from, a lot of my people ain’t doing too good. Never being doing too good, I want to change it around for me and my folks. That’s one of my goals for sure.