CityBoiGreg doesn’t follow the traditional style of hip-hop and rap like many of his hometown contemporaries from Baton Rouge, LA (Kevin Gates, Youngboy Never Broke Again). Although melodic bars and grimy street narratives may dominate the latter of musicians from the capital city of Louisiana, CityBoiGreg’s prominence is heavily marked by his universally subjective wordplay and an ingenious lyricism that unfolds over multi-entendres. Ideally, his musical style reflects many of the pioneers and door-knockers of hip-hop, citing influences as early as Nas and MF DOOM, and as modern as J. Cole and Andre 3000. With the debut of his “4/12” mixtape on DSPs in 2020, CityBoiGreg fed the small community of followers he garnered for as long as he could until the tape was pulled from major platforms and became a Soundcloud/Audiomack exclusive. “Take Offense”, a farewell to fake friendships that was originally released on “4/12”, was rereleased on DSPs as a single. A slew of singles and covers were dropped following that, including the critically-acclaimed “SPAZ” that rose to over four million views in 3 days on Twitter (a year after its initial Soundcloud launch). The success of SPAZ brought attention to projects like “Worthy”, “The Day Party”, and his self-titled debut album “CITYBOIGREG”, where he has exhibited what he considers to be “the most groundbreaking and pivotal music of my career.”
Born Gregory Lynn Hicks Jr., he found this passion for rap during his college years at Grambling State University (Erykah Badu, E-40). His artistic background could most certainly vouch for the growing canvas of art he operates on. From singing in the church and school choirs, he evolved into dancing that eventually fueled his writing (his writing won $200 in a middle school short story contest), which finally led him down the path of the independent musician. Heavily influenced in his rap by the styles of giants like J. Cole, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Jay-Z, he takes a large sum of his artistic inspiration from pop artists of the 2010s like Drake, Justin Bieber, and Bryson Tiller.
After the release of his single “Prophet Flow”, CityBoiGreg got in a car accident that further ignited the flame of his passion for music. Instead of purchasing another car, he took on the vocation of audio production and purchased the tools to create his workspace. With no formal training, and without the use of help/how-to videos, it took CityBoiGreg almost a full year to learn mixing and mastering. At first, he only engineered for himself, and meeting musicians along the way he became a part of their musical journeys as well, honing his skills to help create and engineer projects for a small group of independent artists at his school. Nonetheless, the fruits of his labor are heard in projects “The Day Party”, “Worthy”, “CITYBOIGREG”, and in almost all of the various Soundcloud singles he has released.
Music:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5DcYDx3vY9i2iOojnHtiHJ?si=ZO4dIX3_TUKTCnWM4-SVtA
Contact:
+12253263055