GAME TALK PT.3 Da Blacc Goliath, No Holds Barred

Towering over lesser emcees, Da Blacc Goliath exudes imposing force with every facet of his rap arsenal. From his 2004 collaborations with Dway, to colossal performances with Dirty Wormz, on to a recent alliance called The Guud with artists including Young Nick, Trashman, and Mirage…Da Blacc Goliath certainly holds his own.



HC: So which rappers actually made you want to rap?



BG: I always had a fondness for hip-hop, but the one person who made me actually start writing and taking it serious was this local rapper out of New Orleans named G-Slimm. He was with Big Boy Records which started out with Mystikal and him. G-Slimm was my homeboy and stuff, and to me he was the coldest rapper on the planet. G-Slimm just brought something totally different when he came in. Because after Mystikal, niggas had to come with lyrics to be a stand-out artist. So when G-Slimm told me that I was tight, that’s when I started taking it serious.



HC: Hearing your music, it makes sense to me that you’re from New Orleans but I’m hearing something very West Coast about your delivery.



BG: A lot of people tell me that I’m a combination of all coasts. It’s just a rhythm thing for me. The track is what brings it out of me. If the tempo is slow, then yeah I’mma go fast with it. But I like to go in and out, hit you with the fast shit, hit you with the slow shit. That’s just my style. So I really don’t have no style. Actually, I always thought I had a percussion-like flow. I just write them and that’s how they come out. I just love what I do so much, I just have fun with my shit.



HC: So it’s kinda open-up-the-floodgates effortless for you?



BG: Just be original. Anything that comes to your mind, if it makes sense and if it’s saying something, do it. Whatever comes to your mind, if you got style and rhythm with it, spit it out. I boast a lot in my lyrics because the world don’t really know me so I have to constantly let you know who I am in my music. I’m a monster in all aspects. I can hit you at all angles, not just one style. I can make you cry, I can make you laugh. I like to keep the total package.



HC: So how much of the New Orleans influence sticks with you in doing your music?



BG: I’d say about 80% of my influence comes from New Orleans. I do feel good stuff as we like to have fun down there. But at the same time, I got a whole lot of pain in my music too. A whole lot of pain mixed with the zydeco-like style, the rhythm. I’ve been in Austin eleven years. But I got a whole lot of people from New Orleans out here. The majority of my people I got them out here. My mama was a Katrina victim, so I got her out here. And she’s doing pretty good now, and two of my sisters.



HC: I’ve heard many people from New Orleans say, after they get through all of the negatives related to Katrina, that there was a hidden blessing that prompted many to relocate and actually improve their quality of life in other places.



BG: I looked at it like God went through there with a big vacuum cleaner and just cleaned it up. Hell, because as far as the cops and the people period for that city, it just needed to happen. I mean, it’s kinda harsh to say, but something like that needed to happen to New Orleans. Actually, it really didn’t even affect nothing because the murder rate got ten times worse. It’s dog eat dog down there, like the whole city. I done lost so many people since I’ve been here eleven years, I hate to even think about it. I don’t even have no more tears.



HC: Would you say that the Katrina situation taught you a specific lesson?



BG: It taught me the value of life, to take life more serious, because you never know. Some of the stories I done heard is like damn, I thank God for every breath, everything, every day. I let that just push me to be the best at everything that I do. I lift weights and I lift ‘til I can’t lift no more. At school, at work I kill them with overtime. I put 100% into everything that I do. I have nothing holding me back. I feel it’s my world.