Hailing from South London, Rising Star G!ft has quickly become a big success, and a popular hit on Tik Tok. His most recent single ‘Wanna Chill Baby?’ has over 800k streams and is still rapidly increasing! G!ft has built a huge audience across platforms for his authentic and transparent song writing infused with nostalgic hip-hop sonics to provide us with something refreshing within the UK Rap scene. ‘Wanna Chill Baby’ has been compared to 50 cent on UK Rap and the buzz around it has no intentions of slowing down. G!ft has independently reached over 10 million + streams, so his journey is one for the books…

Wanna chill baby? has been blowing up on Tik Tok, congrats on the success of the single. Did you always know it was gonna be a hit?

Yeah, I’d say from the first line. I thought it was gonna be controversial because of the ‘I’m the Magnum sipper, Big dick giver’ kind of thing. I knew people were gonna take to it, so yeah I guess so.

How do you plan to keep up this current momentum? Do you have any inspiration?

Momentum is just dropping new music, teasing what I’ve got coming out. In terms of inspiration, I’d say people think we’re in a difficult time in terms of music because nobody really knows where the scene is but I think it’s quite exciting because it’s inspiring to see that even R&B is coming back, Afroswing is having a comeback too so a lot of the new guys coming up are inspiring to be honest.

You call yourself the Magnum Sipper, is that always your go to drink?

It’s my go to pre drink. I don’t really drink too tough, but when I do go out it’s always my pre drink. Just as a warm up.

It’s nice to see a fellow South Londoner being successful, Whereabouts in South did you grow up and what was that like for you?

I grew up in South East, in a place called Anerley it’s like the bottom of Crystal Palace. It’s a weird place because you could literally drive for 10 minutes and you will drive straight through it. But it’s close to Penge, Bromley, South Norwood. It’s a weird little place.

Yeah, Anerley is a weird place because you could literally go up one road and be in Croydon, and the other road you’ll be in Lambeth so it’s a weird pocket because you’re literally in the middle of anything.

Exactly, so a lot of my schooling was in Beckenham sides but then I grew up in Thornton Heath area and I chilled there a lot, so it’s 2 different places but they’re quite similar.

I love how you sampled ‘How to save a life’ in ‘If I knew how to save us’ as that’s a classic heartbreak song. Would you say ‘If I knew how to save us’ is a classic heartbreak song too and was there a certain experience that you went through that inspired you to make this song?

Ahhh, you lot are tryna get me done! If I knew how to save us is a very touchy one. That wasn’t a song. That was a love letter to get back the girl that was in my life at that time and it was never actually supposed to come out, that’s why the lyrics are so personal. I wouldn’t have made the lyrics as blatant because it was actually for her to listen to. At the time she wasn’t replying to my messages so I put it on my story and she said to send the song, but once I sent it to her she said do you know what, you should release this song… so that’s how it came about.

What was your first introduction to music?

Where I went to school in south, and grew up there, there was so many talent coming out like Krept & Konan, Stormzy and Section Boyz. So at school it was very prominent because we used to see these guys. So rap was a part of everyday life, you couldn’t really escape it but I only started taking it seriously when I was in Sixth Form when I listened to Dave’s Blackbox. I don’t know what it was, but it inspired to give music a try.

Do you have any dream collaborations?

I do, but I feel like some of them I wouldn’t work with just because I don’t know how we would sound together. But there are certain artists I think that we would sound sick together, me & Ice Spice would sound crazy on a record together. Pinkpantheress aswell, Drake and Eminem.

If you wasn’t doing music, what career do you think you would be doing?

Probably a Youtuber or Animator, still something creative.

What advice would you give to people in a similar position to you, and do you have any tips on how to stay persistent?

Just keep doing what you’ve been doing, consistency is key. Obviously, everybody has doubts but surround yourself with people who remind you of who you are, you don’t want people around you who are telling you’re not that guy, you need people to tell you you’re that guy! When you have off days it’s important to keep those people around you.

Where do you see G!ft in 5 years?

On a yacht, counting millions!

Check out ‘Wanna Chill Baby’ here!