Imagine having Atlanta royalty like Future as your label head and also your cousin. That’s the reality for Guap Tarantino who is currently enjoying the road, performing on the Legendary Nights Tour, alongside Future, Meek Mill, YG and more.
The rising star is currently riding the wave of his new project, Charge Em Up, which is full of bangers, including the street anthem “Churches Peppers.” The release has been over a year in the making and the result of Guap transitioning himself into an artist that lives in the studio.
For Guap, this tour experience came with years of preparation. Being close to Future has instilled in him the value of hard work and putting your craft first. Talking with The Source, Guap Tarantino detailed lessons he has learned from the family and artists around him, preparing for the tour and what it means to be part of the next wave of Atlanta artists.
What does it mean for you to have the experience of this tour? Especially with such big names and stepping in front of crowds at this size?
You know, Future my cousin. I used to talk about this shit in high school, in the hood. Shit crazy, a nigga finna do it. Opening up for Future. I know what time it is. I got energy and the bigger the crowd, the more I’m ready. I don’t know what I’m going to do but I’m one of a kind.
How did you prepare for this tour with it being your first ever? Selecting your setlist, getting ready for the road life?
Just focused on work. The past year I started changing my eating habits. I know I want to be a touring artist so I stayed active, didn’t get too lazy.
Working with and having the family and professional bond with future, what has that done for you?
It’s always been like that’s my cousin, but I stood on my own as Guap Tarantino. He gives me advice and I take it and make sure I’m a better leader. That’s just not music, it’s life, morals, and shit. I used to be in the studio and the street and he told me the studio was more important. It took him two years to get it in my head but the last year and a half I been in the studio every day.
Are there any gems that he has dropped off on you or specific advice that has stuck in your mind?
Not really, he knows I’m ready. He has been waiting for me to tell myself what he already saw.
Taking it back to the studio, what was your process for creating Charge em Up?
That’s the mixtape that made me a studio junkie. I was supposed to drop this since last August, but it took me a year to get it together. I’m very comfortable in my music but it’s about perfect timing. Can’t rush it, it’s a process. My next one, it’s going. I’m going back-to-back. Ain’t no telling when but I ain’t waiting years.
That “Church’s Peppers” is going crazy, what is it like to have such a big response to one of your records.
This how I been looking at it bruh. I sat back for a year straight and was on everybody else album, [Lil] Keed, [Lil] Gotit, Moneyman, [Young] Scooter, and watching my fan base evolve and knew how my new music is. I knew it was there, I knew the response was there. The wait is paying off big. Me dropping “Church’s Peppers” it was the product of testing the waters and a heat check. I was prepared for it.
We hear you attack verses, just getting off and giving your all. What puts that hunger of every single record in you?
I got too. That’s what it is. Everybody say I got good beat selection. Nine times out of ten the features I’m on, I selected the beat. I call it walking. YSL, we family, we all use the same lingo and I call it walking. It’s a certain wave. It’s like I’m walking on it. You got no choice but to dance. I try to keep that energy with every song and even my slow music is the same way.
You are coming in the next wave of artists from the A and its love between you, Gotit, Keed, what does it mean to hit that ground running together with people that’s family?
It’s crazy, me and Gotit didn’t even know we were cousins. It’s from my momma said, future from my dad side. We already had a good vibe and energy, when we found out we were family it was just a stronger bond. Ia was been around somebody that blew up. Even me and Silento was doing the same shows before he was “Whip, Whip, Nae Nae.” He still calls me his big cousin. I’m glad everybody winning and getting this money.
