Is G Perico really about what he raps? I don't know for sure, but I can say this: after we met, it was somewhat difficult to get the interview started because of his repeated apologies for having stepped on my shoes as we shook hands. Very real imo.

Not that he had anything to worry about; Perico is very charismatic in a way that his music makes obvious. He's a gangsta and a schemer and a mack, and he's equally capable of expressing all three in rap or conversation. Meeting him in person was an odd intersection of the rap internet and rap reality; I don't think it occurred to him that I could be in any way starstruck, and I hadn't even considered that it could be his first set of shows outside of California. Not that it diminishes him at all - he's worth your time on and off the stage, and was genuinely delighted to perform for our audience of 20, half of them Denver's full roster of Crips.

Here's how he sounds off the record, so to speak.

You’ve said that you would never leave LA, but that you might buy a vacation home somewhere. Anywhere in particular that you’re thinking of?

Yeah! I tell everybody, because a movie turned me on. Fuckin’ Venice, that’s where I wanna go. And not Venice in California - where’s that at? Paris, London? Italy. Excuse me. But yeah, Venice, Italy is where I wanna go and be slidin’ down the street on a rowboat with my girl. What movie was that, the The Italian Job? I’m big on movies like that.

Is that just your personality, or is that from growing up around Hollywood and all that?

Nah, I don’t think a lot of people in LA think like that. N***as in LA think like Miami and shit. Las Vegas, we goin’ to Vegas. That’s the farthest place that n***as go. We gonna go to Vegas, gamble, get drunk, drive back.

You like Vegas?

It’s cool, it’s just so, uh, easy accessible so I’m sleep on it. I probably don’t appreciate it as much as I should because it’s right there.

What’s your favorite movie then?

Whoooo, I got a few favorites. I like 90s movies and shit, though, like Mo’ Money, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Belly, Class Act, shit like that. I watch funny shit and gangsta shit. Shottas.

I keep expecting someone to remake that Back II Life intro from Belly for a music video.

That movie was fucking killer, man. If somebody could pull that off in a video, that’d be cold.

What or who got you into rapping? You broke through quite a bit later than the teens and all that doing it nowadays.

Right, right. I was in trouble my whole life. Juvenile shit, prison twice, living all this shit that rappers talk about. I’ve always been around music, but what got me all the way into rap was Poly Boy, PC from Pushaz.

Besides music playin’ in the house, my uncle used to take me to the studio with this n***a named Rhythm D. And he used to produce for like Death Row, Ruthless, all them. Whitney Houston. En Vogue. I used to be all around En Vogue, my uncle was fuckin’ one of them bitches [laughs]. They used to come pick him up in limos. This was like at the end of they shit, they disappeared right around the time he was fuckin’ with em [laughs].

How old were you at this point?

About five probably, just running around. Other people - you know Jewel, the singer Jewel? I know she got a son that’s like around my age, because I remember running around with him while she’d be in there singing and shit.

LA rap has always seemed so… self-contained, sound-wise. Like every LA rapper learned to do it from someone slightly older that was on when they were growing up.

Yeah somewhat, but I wouldn’t say the generation right now of LA rappers is. Like we grew up seeing Cash Money, big fans of Lil Wayne and Juvenile and shit. And then No Limit, they was fading out. Of course LA legends like Snoop and shit, you can’t miss him. But I think it was moreso down south and east coast, even Bay Area-driven.

I’m influenced by all types of shit, not only rap music. It’s hard to say my exact influence, but Suga Free, Too $hort, Jigga, Lil Wayne, I get something from all of them. I listen to Tupac from time to time. Even the old funk shit, the old soul shit. I was listening to Bobby Womack the other day on the Sprinter while we was coming up hear, and now I got a got a few melodies in my head from fuckin’ with him. He’s a singer, but I’ve got rap melodies.

Which Bobby Womack album was it?

I’m ‘bout to tell you right now, because I got it in my Apple Music. It’s the one where he got on the blue suit. The Poet. I got all his shit downloaded. I was actually in the pen with his son! Bobby Womack Jr. I never even talked to him, we just knew he was in there. He used to get visits every week - [imitates voice over a loudspeaker] Bobby Womack Jr., you have a visitor.

I absolutely love that last album he did, The Bravest Man in the Universe. His voice was totally shot and he died pretty soon after, but it’s still soulful.

That’s killer; the way I see my shit, I wanna be a Bobby Womack. He was fuckin’ 70, on his way to check out but still doin’ the shit and still respected. Even Miles Davis, I got up on his story years ago. I study the game; whatever I’m involved in I have to study. When I was in the street shit, I studied it - I knew who was who, what was what, what I need to do to be important. It’s the same shit with music, Miles Davis’s life story. He was on heroin, he was pimpin’, he had all kinds of baby mamas but he turned it around. And he was legendary, he was doing this shit until he died. He was paintin’ and shit. I wanna get a Miles Davis painting in my house. They gonna be talking about that dude forever. He probably in music classes gettin’ studied and shit, but I didn’t go to school that much.

Once you get that legacy and that credibility, you can do whatever you want and people will appreciate it. I dunno if you worry about what people think of your music, but -

Nah, it’s moreso about a legacy. A lot of the times, what I was just telling ol’ girl, the most misunderstood shit be the best in the long run. E-40 was the perfect scenario of this, when he came out with Mr. Flamboyant and shit, I’m pretty sure I heard stories about motherfuckers saying this shit is garbage, this shit is wack. But now it’s classic, historical shit that people study.

Do you think much about what the next step would look like for your career or legacy?

I mean a hit song, always. But branding is highly important. It all revolves around the music, though. Building a core audience. This is my first time ever on the road, if I could bring fifty, sixty, seventy people out that’s still something to build on. I don’t think there’s any single wrong or right way for the artist to hit.

Would you say you’re able to make the music you want to right now, or do you have to be strategic with releases?

Nah, nah, nah. I got better plans - every time I make a good song or a great song, I wanna make a better one. As soon as you make it it’s old, whether it come out or not. So once it do come out, everybody’s just asking what’s next. It’s just that era. The biggest question is always what’s next. I feel like I haven’t got all the way there yet, even though I love the shit I’m doing right now. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it. But everything can get better.

What were your motivations in starting So Way Out?

Everybody had cliques and shit around that time, and I had a crew of people already with me - we just gave it a name. Just something for us to be identified as in the street, not as the gangbanger shit. It was really to separate me from the gang shit, as just a Broadway or a Crip type dude. Even though that’s still quite obvious, So Way Out just lets the cops and everybody know that I’m on some legit shit, entertainment. We’ll be looking for artists soon, but we got so much shit going on with my shit, then getting the artists we got in order. I wouldn’t wanna hold nobody up right now, unless they understand what’s going on. But I don’t no know man that wanna wait, you know what I mean?

Do you think it’s still possible to set yourself up for life rapping, or do you immediately have to get into other stuff?

From studying the history of rap music, you see so many rappers that came and went that there’s more rappers that’s broke than rich. You definitely wanna diversify if you plan to continue to have money and live a certain lifestyle. Athletes, artists, there’s a lot of people that come from the ghetto not having shit and not being able to do shit. So when you get some money, it’s fuck it, I got it now. I think a lot of people got that attitude where you can’t tell me shit unless you got more than me. But it’s important to diversify as soon as possible - if you got some extra money to put to the side and let that grow, do it. A lot of people say, you know, live fast die young but you might fuck around and still be alive in five years [laughs]. Then what? I just look at a lot of people like man, this n***a is fucked up. He was a legend. I don’t wanna be like that. Even homies, the n***as that was rich selling dope that are broke as fuck now that I know. You gotta diversify.

You have a dream job or hobby or something you wanna do if you make it huge someday?

Yeah, I wanna run a escort service. In Vegas. You can come through and get all the best bitches, courtesy of me but you do gotta pay. I wanna get on my Hugh Hef, my young Hugh Hef shit, just beautiful women around me at all times. Smilin’ all day.

I love that line on Can’t Play about going to Sugarfish (We got sushi from Sugarfish / Patrons like, Who is this with all these Crips?) - do you still get a lot of looks even in places you’ve got every right to be?

Yeah, that’s why I said that. You walk in and the room stops and looks at you and shit. It’s to the point where I just enjoy it now. It used to be like man, what the fuck - I’m leaving, but now I just enjoy it. I got people’s attention, which is hard for a lot of people to do out here. It’s hard for a person to get someone else’s attention, and I know people that damn near kill they self for that shit. I get that type of attention, that mean I got power. That don’t mean I’m gonna abuse it, I just understand the world a little different now so I enjoy it.

As a phrase, what’s the significance of Shit Don’t Stop to you? Should I read that as more of a boast or a complaint?

Shit don’t stop referring to everything. When shit happen - whether it something good, bad, happy, said - it’s over and we gotta keep going. That’s forever the motto as long as you’re in life, you gotta keep going. Shit don’t stop. Even if you die, if you with a crew then best believe I’m gonna be mad as fuck if I die and these motherfuckers all stop. Get to mourning and actin’ like bitches and shit.

Do you view all your music as passing on a philosophy like that?

Yeah, I’m definitely philosophisizing - is that a word? Let’s just say I’m a philosopher. I’m a definite philosopher, and I got my views and opinions on shit and I voice ‘em. There’s a lot of people that think like me, and then there’s a lot of people that need to be enlightened on the way that I think and the shit that’s going on. I consider myself a ghetto president, because I done did all the ghetto shit that you can think about. And if I didn’t do it, I was right there when it happened, you know if it was some real fucked up shit, so I got firsthand experience on everything. Just me being able to turn these situations into words where you can visualize it, I’m definitely a ghetto philosopher. Which in turn, as I get more money and more life experience, it’ll go from a ghetto philosopher to the worldwide shit. But I still be on my n***a shit with it [laughs].

How specifically do you think about your audience? Either who you’re making music for or who’s checking it out?

Yeah, the ghetto understands me. They could just see me and understand me, I don’t even have to talk to ‘em. It could be body language, or certain movements. The audience that I do wanna reach is the people that don’t understand, or are just interested to it but not from it. The same way the Beatles touched people, I wanna touch those same type of crowds.

Ever feel like someone like me might get a little too hyped about the gangsta shit without any sense of the reality of situations like that?

When shit like that happens, that’s just when you know that the journalist is not doing his full job. It’s just a jerk-ass, suck-ass journalist who’s probably just doing it for something to do. When it’s real, solid, concrete journalism, you don’t have to worry about that. But a lot of people got different types of agendas… I try and have as few hang-ups as possible. But it’s definitely a sad situation when people don’t understand, or don’t wanna do the work to explain what’s going on in the correct way.

At the same time, I’m not even mad at it because a lot of people view shit in a certain fashion. I can’t be mad at a person for having they opinion on me. It’s a very thin line. Speculating and assuming shit is the worst. That should be a fucking crime. It just gets so much shit twisted and turned, it’s crazy. Especially today, man, in 2018. A lot of the world is working off of speculation and assumptions, not real information. With this internet, Instagram shit. Even I fall into it sometimes - I’ll see some shit and just believe it. I’ll even pass it on sometimes, ignorant. I’m not a journalist though [laughs].

Do you read a lot of your press or album reviews?

Nah, not really. I try not to. It’s just so much going on, I just want to create. I just want to do music, movie scripts, and different ideas, fashion. I got loads of ideas, a lot of them still in my head. But a lot of ‘em are written out, and I’m gonna get started with that real soon, like after we get off this tour. We gonna see how that go.

There’s so much in life that I wanna do that I felt like I kinda kept myself away from - you know, I’m a street n***a, this old ignorant bullshit. I try not to tap into anything that I’ve done already. If I do an interview, I already know what I said. Hopefully he write up the right shit; if not, oh well. We gon’ stay focused on this mission ahead, because I got a lot of people depending on me.

It’s cool that everyone’s going to Youtube or whatever for music videos now, you don’t have to make something that fits perfectly in an MTV context or whatever.

Exactly! That’s the great thing about everything now, you can do pretty much all of it yourself until one of those majors wanna get with you and turn on the big money. Just by me having an audience already on the internet, it’s a lot easier to do it.

Would you take the same approach to movies as you do rapping, in terms of it being rooted in your experience?

Yeah, that’s how most of the scripts that I got right now are, situations that I understand. And then a lot are just crazy shit that I’ve thought of. But the scripts that I got written out now are pretty much life experiences, without the typical over and over shit that we see in all the urban movies. Anything outside of fuckin’ doing drugs, anything besides gettin’ high and fuckin’ bitches is not represented well. Just bein’ a person, whether you in the ghetto or just regular life. If people ziggin’, I try to zag - that’s my whole creative approach. The market’s so full of everything because it’s so easy to access. I want people to be able to notice the differences.

Across a bunch of your songs, you’ve mentioned the idea of being on a second strike or being a case away from your life being over. How much control do you feel like you have over whether you get caught up in something intentionally or otherwise?

I got complete control over it right now. At first, I don’t think I did, and the reason I say I didn’t - you know, everybody can do whatever the fuck they want, you got free will. It’s just all about knowledge and what you know. Before, I didn’t know shit, besides this what we gon’ do, we gon’ take the risk, we gon’ eventually get caught. I had little to no control over it. But now that I’ve faced my fears as far as, like, steppin’ out, I see the world a whole lot different. I know how to move different, I know how to generate money, enjoy my life, relax. As far as me going back to jail, catchin’ some shit? It gotta be some crazy old conspiracy-type shit to get me back in the motherfuckin’ jailhouse. I done seen so much shit that I could get rich off of, life that I could live. I’m in Denver right now, in Colorado, talkin’ to you! Naturally, I’d be like I’m not talkin’ to nobody. Don’t ask me no fuckin’ questions, you askin’ too many questions - are you police? Shit like that, you know what I mean? I overcame all that.

I got so much patience now, because I know what’s gon’ happen. Ok, you gon’ press my button. And I’ll tell a motherfucker, you gon’ pretty my button, then I’ll do something to you, and you gon’ play victim man. Just relax, live your life man, go on. Have a nice day, because I know where I’m gon’ go, I know where you gon’ go. You gon’ go to TV, I’m gon’ go to jail, they gonna forget about me. I already know the consequence. Shit man, I’m so rational right now, in most cases. Certain times motherfuckers did shit and made me wanna bust a U, but then I get to talkin’ to myself like I’m talkin’ to them. Out of it [claps], back to regular life. I been there with people who been sittin’ in jail for like 20 years for shit like that, never gettin’ out.