‘I Want to Aspire to That’

G-Eazy is back. The Bay Area rapper has some new songs out, releasing “Tulips & Roses” and appearing on Vic Mensa’s “$wish.” In a conversation with Billboard, he revealed how JAY-Z inspired him.

G-Eazy says as a teen, he listened to local legends Too $hort, Mac Dre and E-40, initially starting his interest in becoming a rapper. A spark went off when he took a dive into JAY-Z’s The Black Album.

“I was like, if we’re gonna do this, I want to chase him. I want to aspire to that,” G-Eazy said. “If I could go back in time and tell that 14-year-old version of me that we’d be sitting here doing this or that I’ve done these arenas, that’s unfathomable.”

You can read more from G-Eazy here and hear his new single below.