I was recently speaking with a respected music critic about the Nashville hip-hop scene and they remarked that if anyone was going to break out of Nashville and reach a wider audience, his money was on Gee Slab to be the one to do it. With the wealth of talented emcees and beatmakers in town it’s tough to say who will, inevitably, catch the eye of a larger audience but Gee Slab’s charisma and delivery certainly makes him a safe bet.
Take “Rapper’s Average” as an example. The official video is well produced and engaging but keeps it simple with really only a handful of shots. This limitation gives you the opportunity to really pay attention to Slab’s lyrical choices – sometimes braggadocios, sometimes surprisingly lewd but always clever. The song sits as the fourth track on the 2024 full-length EXPECT TO WIN and, for me, is actually one of the most straightforward tracks on the album. While we’re not talking about that full body of work, “Rapper’s Average” will hopefully work as a lure to get you into a record that is surprisingly musically diverse.
Gee Slab has been pounding the pavement for a long time with his own work but has expanded that into Six One Tribe, 615Day and loads of appearances in recent years. While it’s entirely conceivable that Expect to Win