GZO Talks "Gustavo's Pain"

February 14, 2023

On February 5th, the up & coming rapper GZO released ‘Gustavo’s Pain,’ a raw and vulnerable mix of “love, pain, and triumph.” This is only the second project by GZO to hit DSPs, but he says he’s got a lot more music on the way!

This week I had the opportunity to talk with the rapper about ‘Gustavo’s Pain,’ and who GZO is as an artist. Check out our interview below.

General Public: Where are you from?

GZO: As an artist I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I was born in Hawaii, and raised between North Carolina, and Clovis, NM. Clovis will always be my home, but I moved to DFW in 2019, and I’ve made a lot of connections and met some really cool people in the scene out here, even in just the past few weeks since the release. So, It’s a hard question to answer, but I’m based out of Fort Worth right now.

General Public: How long have you been rapping?

GZO: I’ve been rapping since I was 16, so it’s been almost 10 years now… I’ve made a lot of music in that time. Uploading mostly to SoundCloud, and it’s all still up there as documentation, but now that my music is getting to a higher quality I had to start putting it out on DSPs and give it the attention it deserves.

General Public: What did the process of this project coming together look like?

GZO: Well, originally this was going to be a whole different project, and I had gotten most of it done in a pretty short period of time, like 2-3 months. I had like 60% of it done. I ended up going through a time where I was just living a lot of life, going through a lot of the feelings I talk about in “Gustavo’s Pain,” and after that I had to lock back in for another 2-3 months to finish up the tape... Most of the project came together recording alone in my room. Zuu was always sending me beats, my homie T made the beat for “Last Thing I Do” right in front of me, and I produced “Where Loyalty Live,” “Fuck First, Talk Later,” and “Control.”

General Public: How would you describe your style?

GZO: Raw. Thriving off feelings & emotion; Night Rap.

General Public: what's the ideal environment for someone to listen to your music?

GZO: Anywhere… I feel like mostly I envision late night car rides. I try to be as vulnerable and relatable in my music as possible… taking inspiration from my life experiences, and conversations. So any time or place that you can tap into that, that is the right space.

General Public: What are your plans for the future?

GZO: Definitely a bunch of singles to come in 2023… another project is in the works as well, but there’s no date in mind at the moment. But for now Gustavo’s Pain is out on Spotify and Apple Music.