From getting his start spitting bars over an Xbox Live chat as a kid, Gus the Savage has come a long way, putting together an LP with a veritable who’s-who of NEPA hip-hop.
Gus, a 20-year-old rapper born under the name Gustavo Mejia, was last year’s winner of the Hip-Hop Act of the Year award at the Steamtown Music Awards. But his path to this started back in 2015 with a few friends, who started rapping over an Xbox Live party chat, which inspired him to hone his skills.
“I guess it was something in my blood,” the rapper said, mentioning that his late father was also a musician.
Since then, Gus experimented with hip-hop, with his first song being a remix of Drake’s “Started from the Bottom.”
Now, Gus just released his debut record, “Savage ’20,” available on all major streaming services. The 22-minute-long project features verses from locally popular rappers like TySoul, Maine the Medicine and Lucas Hex.
Gus said it’s a project he’s incredibly proud of.
“It really means a lot to me how much work we put in,” he said. “It took, like, five months, maybe six months to get it all together.”
That sense of pride in his work comes from his late mother, who passed away in 2016, before Gus moved from The Bronx to Taylor.
“When she passed away, it was like the fuel to keep going,” Gus said, saying it was the desire to prove himself to her that is at the heart of his music.
“She would tell me I’m getting better,” he said. “‘Keep going, keep going,’ she’d say.”
On the record, Gus employs a raw, aggressive style of rapping, sitting somewhere between the power of the late Pop Smoke and the wooziness of a Travis Scott song. But if you ask him, he doesn’t want to be compared to anyone else.
“I want people to tell me, ‘Wow, you sound like Gus the Savage,’” he said.
If you’re interested in hearing Gus perform his songs live, you’re in luck; he’ll be performing alongside TySoul, G Lyrekal and Lucas Hex who are opening for Riff Raff when he takes the stage at Scranton’s Stage West on March 19.
This year, the emcee plans on dropping at least one more project, a mixtape tentatively called “YKTV Vol. 1,” which stands for “You Know the Vibes.”
While a hard release date is not scheduled yet, Gus plans on having about 20 tracks on the record.
“I just want people to know I’m here,” he said.
