Flashback nine months since the Midwest rapper and current Blue Collar Gang hip hop artist Gerald Walker stepped into the Vibe Magazine offices on that Wednesday afternoon, “admiring the several large VIBE covers that decorate the workspace” as quoted by his artist feature article in VIBE Magazine . Walker, then a wide-eyed artist, was eager to follow in the steps of the great hip hop artists before him and blaze his own path for years to come. It’s a difficult task for an independent artist trying to make it in the industry, but this Vibe magazine feature proved he was moving in the right direction.
Since signing to Blue Collar Gang in April 2018, ran by former Maybach Money Group artist and fellow Midwest native Stalley, Walker wasted no time releasing the smooth lounge, kick back melodic single “Piece of mind” featuring then another former artist from the MMG Rockie Fresh and BCG boss Stalley. It was a solid debut for the Milwaukee-born dynamo, yet he still wasn’t finished, he was eager to prove he belonged with the best of his peers.
Now, in 2019, Gerald took it upon himself to use his BCG platform to release five projects this year alone three EP’s and two singles, and no signs of slowing down. With only three months remaining this year, Walker said he is hoping to “go on tour pretty soon and drop this EP called ‘The World Will Spin Without You.’” Additionally, Walker commented on his work ethic by saying “the blue collar lifestyle is what I take serious to develop that reputation of being a hard working artist.” He also said “I love being the guy from the midwest, that’s the type of work ethic that I try to bring to music.”
Despite the long restless hours in the studio, and have instilled that work ethic and “blue collar mentality,” Gerald Walker created a sound that connects all walks of life regardless of age and gender a sound that could in fact catapult him to higher accolades in this music business. During his time in the studio, Walker created a new sound he classifies as “quiet storm rap.” He debuted the phrase in one of his most recent EP titled “The Little Foxes, That Spoil the Vines.” Amidst the heartthrob track, Feels so real, so surreal sampling Al B. Sure!’s “Nite and Day” in tune with the ladies’ harmony in the song, Walker pitches “its that quiet storm rap.” Different from Bryson Tiller’s version of Trap Soul and from other contemporary R&B genres. Walker described the subgenre he had a hand in creating “Quiet storm rap to me is a subgenre of soulful rap music” says Walker “ Records that infuse pop, contemporary R&B, smooth soul, smooth jazz and jazz fusion- songs having an easy flowing and sometimes romantic variables”.
In this day and age, we live with social media at the helm; hip hop artists are now a dime a dozen, with Soundcloud, Apple Music, Spotify and other streaming services that simply makes the process for aspiring artists to release their music and to ultimately find fame and fortune. With so many people wanting to be the next rap superstar, artists are here today and gone tomorrow. Without a doubt, Gerald Walker is exceptionally talented, and his stylistic word play over each track makes the saying “the cream always rises to the top” all too true.
