NY UNDERGROUND PII

Thursday's feature is Shawn "Da gif" folk's column..NY underground, a feature of artists and affiliates through NYC and the tri-state. Peep the humble bio of Da gif and the roster of NYC'S heavy hitter's.




I was born the sixth out of seventh son, twenty second day of the tenth month of the seventh sign in seventy-nine. Daddy wasn’t around, ain’t shed a tear, called him pops cause he popped in bout once every year.





Born in Bushwick Brooklyn and relatively raised in East Harlem, I never really felt connected to any particular part of town because I mostly lived in my head. Considered a rare breed cause I hardly if ever drink and find no need for weed. I remember a girl once told me, “You don’t drink, and you don’t smoke, what type of rapper are you?” Now before you think I’m a Gospel rapper, let it be known that I am flawed and can’t claim to have never indulged in the things prior mentioned in my past. I know it’s cliché to say you don’t write these days but I often don’t. I keep everything in my head. I work off of emotion and tend to rhyme more from my heart than my head and I like to move as creativity hits me and not take the time to sit down write it out.

My music is a reflection of me, maybe more so what’s going on inside of me. I’ve been told I’m much more passionate in song and debate than I am in general. Music, in a way, is like my psychiatrist. I pour out my soul lying on a couch in the shape of a cello to a note with arms and legs holding a legal pad and a pen. I’m passionate, I’m emotional, I’m philosophical, I’m sort of like an intellectual street dude so I guess you could call my musical intellectual street music.

People often ask, “What does Gif stand for?” They think I was aiming at Gift and just can’t spell, or maybe I was just doing that Hip Hop thing and spelling it how I say it. Really, though I don’t write in the form of an acronym, it stands for great influential figure. The concept behind it is that every minute of every day we all have the potential to profoundly impact the lives of those around us. As a member of society, I have the potential to profoundly impact the lives of those around me. My name represents that ability and stands in representation of the power of humanity rather than myself alone.

CAVALIER-BROOKLYN

DA GIF

DARU FT RENA- I LUV U


THEE URBANPRIESTHOOD GROUP