When I was interviewing Lil Pump, the young artist fell asleep sometime between proclaiming himself the “King of Soundcloud Rap” and promising a fit with Taylor Swift on an upcoming mixtape. In total, we talked for ten minutes - more precisely, so much I talked with him. At that time, he fed me half-truths and outright lies. Pump that day seemed as artificial as his social media feed, where he is the living embodiment of rapper bad taste: drugs, chains, designer everything and as much money as the newly minted 18-year-old star hardly knew what to spend on. . With the exception of drugs, chains and other show-offs.
Last April, the South Florida native got a big boost when he moved from his childhood home to his own mansion near Miami Beach. He will then brag about this purchase. “I woke up somehow, I got bored, and I bought a house for 4.5 million,” he said in a video to his 17-plus million subscribers. He has a capitalistic passion for acquiring goods, which he sums up with the memetic word “eschkere”. Speak it quickly, like Pump does when he's not rapping in a song, and a rough-sounding syllable “shker” will slip off your tongue - as if the entire alphabet had been shrunk into a single word. It actually means “let’s get it,” but for Pampa and his impressionable internet followers, it is practically a substitute for oxygen.
He now spends most of his time in the Los Angeles mansion, so this one is not yet furnished. So in early December, we meet in a rented three-story house in the Venetian Islands. Parked outside are three Lamborghinis, white, orange and yellow. Pump doesn't have a license, so he can't drive one. There is a basketball court on the roof of the mansion, the promenade leads directly to the yacht and jet skis, the house is decorated with African decor, and there is a huge library inside. The cost of this is eight million - this is Airbnb porn for the wealthy. Pump - or rather, a small group of adults led by a teenager - rented it for a week. He returned home to perform with Young Thug at E11EVEN, but otherwise plans to lay low (by Pump standards) after a multi-week tour of Europe.
I agreed to a re-interview with Pump on one condition - at least most of the time he must be conscious. To date, only two journalists have been able to fruitfully communicate with him: me and Paul Thompson. And it was also rather inert on his part - the older rapper tried to find out how the young artist lives. It didn't work out. “The longer I watched your videos, the more I realized - this guy knows more than others think,” Cole said in the first minutes of the interview, while Pump looked at him with a blank look.
Later, he confesses to me that “he is not very good at communicating with people.” However, he worked diligently to maintain a particular public image. Because of this, at the start of his career, his real name was even less known than The Weeknd and H.E.R. When these artists surrounded themselves with a veil of secrecy, Pump's strategy was to give the listener the illusion of openness, while not giving anything away. As Vulture's Craig Jenkins wrote of his album: “The main points are the same. Lil Pump is on drugs. Lil Pump hates school. Lil Pump sleeps with the teacher. Lil Pump is sleeping with your girlfriend. Lil Pump is drugging your girlfriend."
When I arrive at the mansion around 1 pm, Lil Pump is just waking up. Wrapped in a towel, he tries to carry a suitcase that is almost twice his size up the stairs. His assistant appears - one of many who run around the house all day back and forth without any specific goal, except for small assignments from Pump (like fixing a broken iPhone screen, because of which he had to suspend hectic network activity for almost a day ). He offers to take the service elevator. Frivolous and quick to make rash decisions, Pump usually waits for someone from the team to push him in the right direction.
Later, he organizes an almost hour-long break for food from a Mexican restaurant, because someone else voiced the idea. Previously delivered health food containers remain intact. On Instagram, he appears in the latest (and most often very flashy) designer pieces and heavy chains. But since we spend almost all day at home, he opts for a pajama outfit: baggy pants with older cartoon characters, a black T-shirt, a simple chain and a bejeweled Gucci hat. This brand is mentioned abundantly in the song "Gucci Gang", which made him a star.
Pump started rapping three years ago by a fluke. He found a beat on YouTube and, at the parting word of a childhood friend, rapper Smokepurpp (“Nigga, just say something”), immediately recorded the first track and uploaded it to the soundcloud. Back then, this streaming platform was teeming with young talent without a label. Pump originated at the same time as fellow South Florida rappers XXXTentacion and Kodak Black and has racked up 100,000 streams.
All of a sudden, he was being called to labels. He ended up signing a multi-million dollar contract with Warner Bros. Such a rapid take-off may seem to some to be a trick of the algorithms. It's like major labels grow these rappers in the lab. This may be true of the new wave of rappers that came after Pump, but according to people at the label, it was different with him. “I would like to explain it with some formula. But Pump definitely doesn't fit in," says senior vice president of urban marketing at Warner Bros. Chris Atlas.
Ezin Bolden, senior vice president of creative management, commends Pump for being smart enough to spread his fans across multiple platforms when the logic of the industry should have focused on one. “He is a soundcloud visionary. Started there, moved to YouTube, and then moved the fan base to streaming and succeeded everywhere - I don’t often see artists who go this way.”
It took a while, but the music business has only recently started monetizing media characters like Tekashi 6ix9ine and Bhad Bhabie by slipping them label deals. Pump, in turn, wants and is ready to continue playing by these rules as long as money is dripping into the account. But if Pump has changed since we first met, it's manifested in his weariness with everything that supports his image.
“Wanting money is fine, but when fame comes with it, it breaks,” he sighs, trying to hide from his entourage on one of the mansion's five balconies. “A lot of shit comes along with life.”
The mansion is located at the far end of a curved highway. It is hidden behind a huge sliding gate, which is barely visible among the trees. The Uber driver only finds it thanks to a lone mailbox by the road. Pump grew up only 15 minutes away, but for him it's almost like another planet. Gazzy Garcia was born to Colombian parents who filed for divorce when he was a child. He lived in Miami Gardens, where he was expelled from school shortly before graduation.
“Just a ghetto,” he says of his old neighborhood, sitting across from me on the balcony. His once colorful dreadlocks are now back to natural chestnut. A few strands dangle in front of a tattooed face - for example, a sad face with X-shaped eyes in the center of the forehead. “I was living there and suddenly I was here. It was unexpected. But I'm used to it."
Or he's good at pretending. At least the money is not superfluous. “I have people who take care of my mom, dad, grandma, aunts.” However, fame is harder to deal with. “I don't care about fame,” he pauses. “She’s the only problem.”
Pump has been under the scrutiny of the law ever since he rose to prominence. In 2018, he was arrested for shooting in a Los Angeles home, then in August there was a violation of probation - he had just turned 18, and he was caught driving without a license in Miami. Later (his joyful photo from there went viral). A few days before our meeting, he and his comrades were taken on a tour of Denmark for alleged possession of weed and taunting a policeman. The mansion is still hotly discussing what happened. At any time of the day, 10 to 20 people gather there.
“It's racist,” says Pump's tour opener Desto Dubb. At this time, twisted joints are passed around the kitchen - this is how days usually fly by. He notes that they had less than an ounce with them (about 30 grams, - approx. The Flow), taking a microscopic leaf of grass from the table for comparison. “They saw the tattoos on our faces [and arrested us].”
Hairdresser Pampa intervenes in the conversation: “So how did they let you go?”
"What do you think? We paid a fine,” Pump shrugs. "We have a right to it."
A few days after the interview, Pump was detained at the airport as he tried to fly out of Miami. The flight attendant claimed that his luggage smelled of weed, although no trace of it was found. The police officer who was aggressive towards Pump in the camera footage is now under internal investigation. The charges were dropped. Pump threatened to sue the police department.
The more popular Pump became on social networks, the more often he was arrested. He believes that both things are interconnected. “Weird shit. The first thing they look at is social media,” he says. This theory has evidence. In 2017, Meek Mill was arrested for a motorcycle stunt after the NYPD saw a video on his Instagram. Most recently, in numerous federal crimes he covered on social media, including the contract attack on Chief Keef. Now he faces 47 years in prison. After killing a close friend of XXXTentacion last summer, Pump suddenly realized that being famous didn't make him untouchable.
“The thought never leaves my mind. Yesterday you were here, and then suddenly died... - Pump calms down. - Safety is the most important thing. After the incident with XXX, I realized that I could no longer move around alone.” Pump doesn't go anywhere without his people anymore. “People have gone crazy,” he says in a drooping voice. - They see one thing and think it's something more. They see me with a chain for about 20 thousand, and they think that it is for 100. They want the same.”
He seems to be really shocked at how much fame has made life difficult for him. On the other hand, shock is part of his image, which fits perfectly into the mood of the younger generation. As is drug use. Pump's addiction to weed, lean and occasional Xanax plausibly explains the heavy reference to substances in his music (later I learn that the only drug Pump doesn't use is alcohol). Once he said that he gave up leaning, but no one understood whether he was serious or not. At our last meeting in September, cough syrup was still an important part of his diet. Since then, he has had a personal assistant from Australia. She later arrived at the mansion and explained her position to me in one sentence: "I can't take this crap anymore." There really isn't a trace of it in the house. Pamp's manager Dooney Battle is sober and keeps an eye on him throughout the day and night.
However, the line between pump real and showy is still blurred. A few days before the release of the album, he reanimated his meme
The famous rapper Lil Pump was in prison. He himself announced this on social networks by recording a video. For the rapper, this has already become the norm, because he often breaks the law and now he has done it again. Now he has two months in prison ahead of him.
In general, this is part of the image of breaking the law, because on stage and in life he is a “bad guy”. Recall that in December the artist should perform in our country, now it is not clear whether this concert will take place, because only in November the rapper will be free. While the concert in Russia is in doubt.
The fact is that the musician violated the rules that he had to follow. As you know, he was recently released on conditional release. The rapper is only 18 years old and has only recently come of age. Do not forget that in the United States, all rights appear in a person when he turns 21 years old.
Well, the reason for the detention was illegal driving. All this happened at the end of August. He was driving down the street in a Rolls-Royce and the police stopped him. When the check began, it turned out that the musician had no rights and never had. In addition, when they began to compare the car and its numbers, it turned out that these numbers were not from this car.
These were minicooper numbers. The artist said that while he is behind bars, he will release a new album. His release was all postponed, but now he should leave in the middle of the month, when the musician will be in prison. In his video, he turned to subscribers and invited them not to do like him and go to school.
As for the concert in the capital, tickets have already begun to sell, but it is not known whether the action will take place. Such behavior, meaning breaking the law, has been the norm since childhood. Well, after fame fell on him at the age of sixteen, he could not change his behavior, and now it has a strong effect.
After more than a year and a half ago he released his first mega-popular hit, the rapper became known not only in the USA, but in the world. Garcia was born in the 2000s in Florida, in the state capital. Its roots are in the Mexican people.
He was a difficult child. He constantly clashed at school with other guys and often fought. He didn't get on well with his teachers either. As a teenager, he became addicted to cannabis. In addition, he also used other drugs. He didn't actually study. This led to him being expelled in high school. From an early age, he was fond of rap and learned the lyrics by heart. This led to the fact that over time he began to write himself.
In high school, Gazzy met Omar Pinheiro, known in the hip-hop community under the pseudonym Smokepurpp. Pinheiro heard Garcia's freestyle and literally forced him to record tracks in the studio.
So since October 2015, Garcia, who later began to perform under the nickname Lil Pump (which Russian-speaking fans jokingly translate as “lilac pump”), began to be active in creative work and quickly settled firmly on the rap scene.
Lil Pump posted his first track under the same name on the SoundCloud website, and in a couple of days he scored 10 thousand plays. This inspired the young artist to take music seriously.
Subsequently, the young musician collaborated with such reputable artists as Lil Tex, FamousDex, Ugly God, etc. In 2016, Lil Pump went on a tour with Smokepurpp, which they called "The Meantime". In June 2016, a video was released for the rapper's first single, which gained almost 9 million views in a year.
His record was broken by the video for the track "D Rose", which gained more than 70 million views in six months. The song is dedicated to another young talent - basketball player Derrick Rose, who at the age of 22 became the most valuable player of the NBA season. The artist himself considers “Broke My Wrist” his favorite song, but it was “D Rose” that has become the most popular at the moment and brought fame to the young performer in the new school hip-hop world.
The texts of the young rapper with yellow-crimson dreadlocks were not lyrical or deep meaning: they are full of profanity, and their main idea is sex, drugs and fun. However, this did not stop Garcia from winning the hearts of millions of fans at such a young age. In June 2017, two Lil Pump videos were released: for the songs “Boss” and “Next” (Lil Pump recorded the last song together with rapper Rich The Kid).
On October 13, the artist released his debut mixtape featuring Smokepurpp, Chief Keef, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz and other famous rappers. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart with 46,000 copies sold in its first week.
At the end of October, Lil Pump released a video for his viral track "Gucci Gang", which became the fifth single from his mixtape. In the video, the musician, dressed in Gucci, comes to school accompanied by a tiger, disrupts classes and throws a party, and at the end gives the teacher a bag of marijuana.
The rapper has many tattoos on his body and face, including five skulls in red flames on his neck. He made one of the last tattoos (under the eye) in June 2017.
The height of the musician is 171 cm. Lil Pump bathes in female attention, but whether his heart is occupied or not is unknown. In one of his Instagram posts, the musician wrote that he would "never buy a girl an engagement ring."
In 2017, Lil Pump's fans suggested that he was having an affair with 14-year-old Daniella Bregoli, or, as she is called in Russia, "the Western analogue of Diana Shurygina." The girl became famous after the transfer of Dr. Phil Show, where she talked about how she steals cars and provokes people into fights. She now has over 10 million followers on Instagram. However, it is difficult to say with accuracy about the relationship between the two infamous idols of youth.
In July 2018, a video for the song "Drug Addict" was released, starring actor Charlie Sheen. The video plays up the star's addiction to cocaine in the 90s - he tries drugs with Lil Pump, after which his friends throw a party in the hospital.
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Real name— Gazzy Garcia / Gazzy Garcia
Nickname- Lil Pump / Lil Pump
Hometown— Miami, Florida, USA
Height — 172
Weight — 63
Activity— Rapper
Lil Pump / Lil Pump biography
Gazzy Garcia, better known as Lil Pump, is a young Mexican-born rapper best known for his Internet-breaking hit "Lil Pump - Gucci Gang".
Lil Pump as a child
Lil Pump was born in a family of refugees from Mexico, to say that the guy's childhood was difficult is to say nothing. Studying at school was accompanied by constant fights, conflicts with teachers, problems with drugs began at an early age, all this led to the young Garcia being expelled from high school.
Lil Pump / Lil Pump rapper
From early childhood, Garcia was a fan of rap, his favorite rappers were Chief Keef and Lil B, whose compositions greatly influenced the work of Lil Pump. While still at school, Lil Pump meets a fairly popular rapper Smokepurpp. Who, when he heard Pumpa's freestyle, began to persuade Garcia to start a career as a rapper. Pump resisted for a long time, but Smokepurpp was more assertive.
And in October 2015, Little Pump released his first track under the pseudonym "Lil Pump" with the same name. The composition was posted on the popular music site Soundcloud, in a short time it gains more than 10,000 plays, which greatly motivates Garcia for further work, he became quite famous in just a day.
By 2016, Lil Pump manages to gain a decent audience of listeners and, together with Smokepurpp, go on a joint city tour and make a good fortune.
On June 5, 2016, the rapper uploads a video for his debut track "Lil Pump - Lil Pump", which already has more than 10 million views on YouTube.
Popularity
Lil Pump began to gain great popularity after the release of the video for the song "Lil Pump - D Rose", which currently has more than 90 million views on YouTube. The video was shot by "ColeBennett", the same person who shot the video for the Russian rapper "", for the song "- I don't give a fuck."
April 2, 2017 Lil Pump presents a new video for the track "Lil Pump - Flex Like Ouu", which gained 50 million views in 6 months.
lil pump and June 2017 was marked by the release of two videos for the songs "Boss" and "Next", which, like the rest of the rapper's videos, collected tens of millions of views.
Lil Pump Gucci Gang
The end of the summer of 2017 was especially significant in the career of Lil Pump, because it was then that he posted his track " Lil Pump - Gucci Gang“, and a couple of months later, on October 5, Lil Pump uploads his first solo studio album called “Gucci Gang” online. On the joint tracks in the album, rappers such as childhood idol Chief Keef, the world-famous rapper Rick Ross, a young rapper and others were noted.
Lil Pump cover Gucci Gang pictures October 23, 2017 Lil Pump presents a video clip for the track "Lil Pump - Gucci Gang", who looked about 200,000,000 people on YouTube, and is currently the most viewed clip of the rapper's career.
Lil Pump chose this name for the album, since he and his friends are fans of the Gucci brand, and even organized their own party called the Gucci Gang. Little Pump even has a Gucci brand tattoo on his chest.
What does Eshkere mean / Eshkere Lil Pump
Everyone who heard the cries of the word " eshkere“, wondering “what is this?”.
Wikipedia says this word came from Western rappers with pseudonyms "Lil Jay" and "Chief Keef", who said " Let's get it', which translates to 'let's get it'. This phrase began to be used by many rappers, including Lil Pump, and the infamous Russian rapper who is constantly compared to Lil Pump. When pronouncing the phrase " Let's get it she sounds like Eshker / Eshker.
What Lil Pump is reading lyrics
Those who do not know English ask the question: “ What is rapper Lil Pump singing about?". There is no semantic load in Pump's lyrics, the main themes for the tracks are sex, girls, drugs, cool cars and of course money, a lot of money. He talks about how he lives, and he lives to the fullest, makes good money, because the fame that fell on him at the age of 17 may well turn his head, from this addiction to drugs and other prohibited things.
lil pump with money pictures Lil Pump and his girlfriend
Lil Pump leads a cheeky lifestyle, lives to the fullest, because he is only 17 years old, and he has a huge amount of money. Because of this, he hangs out every night with different girls, sometimes with several in one night, so thinking that Pump has a permanent girlfriend is very stupid. Another rapper, under one of the photos on Instagram, wrote that he “would never buy a girl an engagement ring,” which gives reason to think about the female half of his audience.
Lil Peep and Lil Pump Gazzy Garcia, known by his stage name Lil Pump, was born on August 17, 2000, in Miami, Florida (Miami, Florida). Chief Keef and Lil B influenced his future work. As a child, Gazzy did not differ in exemplary behavior, got into fights with classmates and argued with teachers.
As a teenager, Garcia discovered the world of drugs, smoking marijuana and experimenting with other illegal drugs. Due to serious problems with his studies, the future rapper was expelled from high school.
His musical career began when rapper Omar Pineiro, known as Smokepurpp, was recording a new track and literally begged Gazzy to "freestyle" to the finished music.
The resulting single - which became the debut for an aspiring rapper who took the pseudonym Lil Pump - appeared in 2016 on the online music platform SoundCloud. It was quickly followed by the singles "Elementary", "Ignorant", "Gang Shit" and "Drum$tick", each of which collected over three million streams.
The rapper has earned recognition from the South Florida underground rap scene. He took the lead in a style known as "SoundCloud rap" and took part in the 2016 "No Jumper" tour with Smokepurpp. The rapper is estimated to have made $150,000 net this year.
The year 2017 began for Lil Pump with the release of the singles "D Rose" and "Boss", which became one of the main hits of the SoundCloud website and collected a total of 70 million streams. The popularity of the track "D Rose", dedicated to basketball player Derrick Rose (Derrick Rose), led to the birth of a video clip, which was directed by Chicago-based director Cole Bennett.
The clip was released on YouTube on January 30, 2017, where, as of December 2017, it has been viewed about 93 million times.
On June 9, 2017, Lil Pump signed a contract with Tha Lights Global and Warner Bros. Records, two months before his 17th birthday. By the way, the rapper spent his 17th birthday in a strip club, where, they say, "there were more strippers than guests."
Best of the day
In July 2017, the rapper announced on his Twitter account that his debut album, which is in production, will be released by August. The record was not presented by the appointed date. However, in August, the song "Gucci Gang" appeared, breaking into the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
On November 8, 2017, the track "Gucci Gang" soared to number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song's official YouTube video has been viewed 232 million times as of December 2017.
On October 6, 2017, Lil Pump released his debut commercial mixtape, Lil Pump, featuring Smokepurpp, Gucci Mane, Lil Yachty, Chief Keef, Rick Ross and 2 Chainz.
Sometimes referred to by Russian fans as the "lilac pump", Lil Pump in his work is not distinguished by either deep meaning or thoughtful lyrics. His texts are full of profanity. The rapper is happy to rap about sex, drugs and burning life. And such "plain" topics are liked by millions.
In 2017, Leela Pampa fans suggested that their idol was dating 14-year-old troubled teen Danielle Bregoli, who earned the status of the most talked about person in February 2017 in the United States. Bregoli appeared on the program "Dr. Phil" ("Dr. Phil Show"), where she told how she steals cars and provokes others to assault. Nothing is known about the relationship between these two.
In May 2017, Lil Pump showed off his new car - a yellow Porsche - on his Instagram account. A little later, he said that he had crashed his car and that its hood was the most damaged.
Lil Pump is the owner of many tattoos. Only on his neck are five skulls surrounded by flames. In June 2017, a new tattoo appeared - under his eye.
It remains to be added that the now popular word "eshkere" (esketit) is not at all the merit of Ivan Dremin (aka rapper Face). HYIP chant "eschkere" - short for the phrase "let" s get it "(" let's stir up "). Try to pronounce the phrase quickly and you will understand.
- The manner of behaving, moving and speaking, as well as the appearance (sloppy raspberry-yellow dreadlocks) of Leela Pampa provoked the appearance of the Eshkere meme. And it was an incredibly coup that attracted an additional audience to the work of the musician. Such a new "trend" fell in the spirit of young people around the world and Russia was no exception. In 2017, it became normal not to know who Lil Pump is, but it’s not natural to not understand what we are talking about at the mention of “Eshkere”.
- Lil Pump visited Russia with a concert. On November 10, 2017, the young rapper sang for Russian listeners in the Tesla space. Presenting himself fully dressed in Gicci brand clothes, he earned the title of "young fashionista". For several years, the work of a 17-year-old guy has been inspiring Russian rappers (Face, Thrill Pill), who use elements inherent in Leela in their tracks.
- Pump never planned to make music, by coincidence, he became a prominent person in the musical community of international rappers.
- It's hard to believe that a native of a Mexican family could develop an addiction to Gucci clothing. In his videos, he often shows looks that are fully represented by his favorite brand. In addition, Pump "wears" a tattoo with the logo of this brand on his chest.
- The rapper's favorite song is "Broke My Wrist". However, she failed to become the most popular in Leela's work.
