23-year-old Oakland-bred rapper, songwriter, and producer G-Eazy will be returning to Cambridge this Sunday to perform at the Middle East for the third time. G’s dapper image and self-produced beats separate him from the rest of today’s hip-hop crowd; he has sampled hits like the 1960s “Runaround Sue” and Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.” He has released three albums, The Outsider, The Endless Summer, and his most recently released Must Be Nice, the namesake of his current tour that features popular tracks like “Loaded” and “Marilyn.” He was recently featured on MTV’s Buzzworthy Blog and continues to gain national popularity. G-Eazy embarks on his first major tour today and the Suffolk Journal sat down with the dapper rapper before his big show.
Q: Are you stoked to be coming back to Boston?
G: Boston is actually one of my favorite cities to play, it’s one of those cities. It’s kind of like New York, in a way that I always look forward to being there. It’s just a fun place to be and I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad show there.
Q: What is your favorite part about visiting the city of Boston?
G: That’s like half of the fun of coming to Boston, just exploring and like walking around. Last time I was around Bodega, the shop right by Berklee. Bodega is definitely one of the coolest stores that I’ve ever been to. I love the whole hidden aspect of it. It’s definitely like an experience once you finally walk in, the nicest street wear and sneaker shop that I’ve ever seen. It is definitely very creative.
Q: We know last time you played in Boston, it was a sold out show. If you could play any where in the city, where would it be?
G: To be honest, the Middle East is the only place I’ve ever really known to play in Boston. The first time I was there, it was actually a friend of mine’s show, he was DJ’ing, opening up at a Throwed party and I just came out there for his set and it was super sold out that night and I just kept thinking like ‘ damn, I really want to play here and play sometime.’ Then I came back on my first tour with Shwayze and we played the Middle East Downstairs and it was one of the best shows of the whole tour, it was a really awesome crowd. It was super exciting when I got to come back a few months ago and play the Middle East, but I played the room Upstairs. So when they booked me for the room downstairs this tour, I just couldn’t wait.
Q: What can fans expect from the ‘This Must Be Nice Tour’ that fans may expect to be different from your others?
G: Well this is my first like real full-fledged headlining tour and I’m really excited about that. [It] basically means I’m playing a longer set than I ever have before and I’m playing a bunch of new songs that I’ve never performed on any other tour before and it’s just like the production is scaled up, the music is scaled up, everything is just really on point this time around. I’m really excited about that. and the lighting is gonna be really cool too.
Q: What’s your favorite song to perform?
G: “Loaded,” for sure. We like to go crazy for “Loaded”, it’s definitely a highlight of the show.
