00:01
Jeremy
Okay, this is Jeremy with EOT and today I got a special guest with me, King Gino. How you doing, bro?
00:07
King Gino
I'm doing well. I'm doing well. What's up, everybody? How you doing? It's your boy, King Gino.
00:12
Jeremy
Yeah. So let's get started. So what you do? What do you do, bro?
00:18
King Gino
Well, you know, I like to rap, man. I like to spit bars, you know what I mean? I like real hip hop. So I try to, you know, I rap. I try to bring lyricism, you know what I mean, Express myself through music,
00:28
Jeremy
You know, I feel that. What got you into rap? Like, how did you get started? Like, who inspired you or what inspired you?
00:36
King Gino
How'd I get interested in rap? Well, I mean, to be honest, since, like, birth, I always. I grew up around hip hop. My dad used to be a rapper, you know, back in the day up in Boston.
00:46
Jeremy
Oh, really?
00:47
King Gino
Yeah.
00:47
Jeremy
That's cool.
00:48
King Gino
Yeah. Shout out to the og. But, yeah, so, you know, I mean, I always grew up with hip hop.
00:53
Jeremy
So, like, did your dad collaborate with, like, anybody? Like, big.
00:58
King Gino
Not nobody too big. One time he went on stage with Wu Tang, called him on stage to spit some bars when they had to show up in Boston. But he was, like, a local rapper up in Boston, you know, People up there know him a little.
01:10
Jeremy
That's cool. So you're from Boston, right?
01:12
King Gino
Yeah, originally. But when I was young, like three years old, I moved down to Charlotte. So I try to rep both. You know what I mean? I love the Queen City and I love the Beantown, too. So.
01:23
Jeremy
Oh, yeah. 704, seven shout out.
01:25
King Gino
704 shout out 617.
01:27
Jeremy
That's dope. That's dope. That's dope. Do you think that, like, how about you just give me some of your musical influence? Like, is your dad one of your influences or, like, who influenced you?
01:37
King Gino
Oh, yeah, definitely. Say, my dad, you know, he was like, you know, like your 90s rapper, you know, real heavy on lyricism. He listened to a lot of Tupac, you know what I mean? So, you know, that influence rubbed off on me. And, you know, newer rappers in my generation that I grew up listening to, you know, like, you know, like Kendrick.
01:57
Jeremy
Yep.
01:57
King Gino
Obviously, you know, one of the. One of the greats in the game right now. I used to listen to a lot of Drake, but, you know, there's a lot of different influences. You know, I feel that.
02:07
Jeremy
I feel that.
02:08
King Gino
I love. I love, you know, I could love, you know, old from hip hop from late 80s, you know, all the way up till now, you know, I got a lot of guys.
02:14
Jeremy
Yeah, I'm kind of like that too. Like, I definitely grew up on old school, but like, I have an open mind, so, like, I can kind of accept the new stuff. But I can definitely tell by listening to your new song that you're about your bars. And I mean, how much, how hard is it to balance, like everything you do? Like being a student, being an artist? How do you make time for everything?
02:41
King Gino
Well, I don't even know. I try to. You know, I'm being. I'm a full time student. I'm over here at NC State studying microbiology.
02:50
Jeremy
Wow.
02:51
King Gino
Yeah. But at the same time trying to push, you know, what I'm passionate about, which is the music. So, you know, when you like something, you'll make time for it.
02:59
Jeremy
Exactly.
03:00
King Gino
You know, and so just staying focused, keeping the ball rolling and just not trying to lose that momentum that I have that I gained, you know, by, you know, putting in the work every day and just keep grinding, you know, whenever you don't feel like it. You just gotta remind yourself why you're doing it, you know?
03:16
Jeremy
Yeah. I follow this man on Snapchat and he's always doing something, whether it be like in the studio, school, pooping, working.
03:25
King Gino
Yeah, but staying active, staying focused.
03:28
Jeremy
Nah. Yeah, that's dope. Oh, what would you do with microbiology if you were to go that route? Like, why'd you get into that? That's interesting right there.
03:36
King Gino
Yeah, microbiology. See, I find it. There's a couple reasons. There's a couple reasons. First, I think it's cool how there's, you know, there's like a whole world we can't even see without a microscope that's going on. And then, you know, it affects our life and we can't even see it. And, you know, that's just what fascinated me. And another thing is, like, always wanted to help people or inspire people in some way, so I wanted to do something in the medical field, you know, I feel like if, you know, if I'm not inspiring with people with my music, I can, you know, help people, you know, get better, get healthier.
04:06
Jeremy
That's dope.
04:07
King Gino
You know, with, you know, something in the medical field. So.
04:09
Jeremy
That's dope. That's dope. That sound. That sounds like a lot of hard classes right there. So that's like even more respect to you right there.
04:17
King Gino
Appreciate that.
04:19
Jeremy
So let's get back to the music. So, like, how many songs have you put out? How Many albums you put out?
04:24
King Gino
Well, my first project I put out of March 2017. It's called Laundry Room Weed. It was a mixtape. 12 songs, three skits. You know, that was fun. And when I did that, I was like, oh, snap, I got something here. I got something here. So I just kept, you know, just kept working. So right now I got, you know, four songs out on all major platforms. Apple Music, Spotify, tidal, you know, YouTube, everything. And I got two music videos out now on YouTube. Go check them out. King Gino YouTube, you know what I mean? And, yeah, so. And then I'm working on just a lot of other stuff right now at the moment where working on a little project. So.
05:08
Jeremy
Wait, wait, didn't you just have like a concert or a show or something like that?
05:13
King Gino
Yeah, so last week I had a show in Charlotte, Man. 704 stand up. You know what I mean? I had a show in Charlotte. It was cool. At the Crown Station Pub over there in, like, North Davidson. It was lit, it was fun. People came out to support, you know what I mean? I had, like, my whole squad with matching shirts. So, you know. You know what I mean? The fam came through. Y’all know who y’all are.
05:37
Jeremy
Yeah, that's dope, bro.
05:38
King Gino
Yeah, it ended up going pretty well. So first. First show of. First show of many, hopefully. I try to get a lot more things going in the summertime. Yeah.
05:46
Jeremy
How was it? How was your first show?
05:49
King Gino
It was cool.
05:49
Jeremy
It was like, how, like, were you nervous? Like, how. Like, I bet you was nervous.
05:53
King Gino
See, I was okay at first. When I first got the show, I was, like, nervous. I was like, oh, snap. You know, this is my first time, you know, I mean, I did shows in school and whatnot in high school, but this was, you know, this is the next level. This is me, you know, with my professional music and whatnot. But, nah, I wasn't nervous for it. It was like. It was like. I felt that it was like a gift, you know what I mean? So somebody gives you a gift, you're not nervous. You got the gift. You're excited, you know, you're ready for it.
06:19
Jeremy
So that's real. That's real.
06:21
King Gino
So that's. Yeah, that's how I felt about it. And it ended up going really well, even better than I expected. So that's dope. Yeah.
06:29
Jeremy
So we wanted to talk about his new song, Final Boss. You wanna explain what was the message behind this song? When you were making it, what were you thinking?
06:40
King Gino
So Final Boss, that beat had some old 64 vibe to it, you know what I mean?
06:45
Jeremy
I like that beat. Yeah.
06:46
King Gino
Yeah. So it was like some. I was like, ooh, this sound like you about to play the final boss in the game. You know what I mean? And so that was in my mind. And then I had that first line, you know what I mean? House so big, that thing looked like a castle. I'm the final boss, you know what I mean? And I went with that flow and I was like, oo, that's pretty dope. But pretty much, you know, just having confidence in yourself, you know what I mean? Like, you know, just feeling like you the final boss. Like, you know, people gotta go through a bunch of other things to reach you know what I mean?
07:15
Jeremy
Exactly. Yeah. That's real. That's real.
07:17
King Gino
Yeah. But I mean, in all my songs, I try to, like, push confidence and, you know, like believing in yourself, you know, and, you know, just to inspire other people. Cause, you know, you gotta have confidence to do a lot of things in this world.
07:31
Jeremy
True.
07:32
King Gino
Yeah.
07:32
Jeremy
I mean, like, you definitely inspirational, dude. Balancing everything, you bouncing, like. I mean, people think they can't just do music like you doing music. And, like, you bounce to school.
07:44
King Gino
Yeah.
07:45
Jeremy
And like, some people can't just do school. So, like that. Hey, shout out to you, bro.
07:49
King Gino
Appreciate that.
07:50
Jeremy
That's dope. That's dope.
07:51
King Gino
It's definitely a balance. That's, you know, I mean. And I tell everybody it's time management. You know, how you use your time matters.
07:58
Jeremy
Yeah.
07:58
King Gino
So I just try to. I just try to grind with mine.
08:01
Jeremy
So, like, I mean, that's basically I was gonna say, what advice would you give to people who are trying to, like, do what you're doing, like school music? What's the main advice you would give?
08:12
King Gino
The main advice I would say is just keep it up, you know what I mean? Take the small steps every day to get where you're trying to go, you know? Cause you're not gonna get there immediately. You're not gonna wake up and, you know, you're gonna be a star or, you know, you're not gonna wake up. And that test is not gonna be studied for, you know what I mean? You gotta put in the time proceeding, you know what I mean? So you gotta, you know, stay ready so you never have to get ready, you know what I mean? Every day you're doing little things, though, so when the time comes, you know, you've been prepared, you know.
08:41
Jeremy
That's real.
08:41
King Gino
Yeah, that's real. I try to keep it as real as I can, you know, it's nice. It's not enough time to be fake.
08:49
Jeremy
It's not bad. All right, we gonna play. We gonna play his new song, Final Boss. You want to give it your Instagram Snapchat?
08:57
King Gino
Oh, yeah. You guys can if you like what you're hearing. Go follow me on IG @King Gino. K I n g G I n o. I'm on Twitter, underscore K I n g I n o. I'm on Snapchat. You know, I mean, King K I n G underscore G I n O3. Follow me on Snapchat is. It's pretty fun. That's where I post stuff the most. And yeah, you could go on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, K I n g space, G I n o. King Gino. You know, go to King Gino.
09:29
Jeremy
Do yourself a favor. Hopefully y’all know how to spell king. Yeah, hopefully. I mean. I mean, I'm not gonna judge.
09:37
King Gino
You know what I mean?
09:38
Jeremy
But that's about it. That wraps it up. This is Jeremy for EOT. And we got King Gino.
09:45
King Gino
King Gino, thank you for listening. Thank you for this interview.
09:48
Jeremy
This song we about to play is called Final Boss.
09:51
King Gino
Go cop it.
10:00
Jeremy
I hear it.
10:04
Music
[King Gino – Final Boss]