Louisville is known for many things, among them bourbon, the Kentucky Derby and bluegrass (both the plant and the music). It is not known for being a hotbed of hip-hop, especially the gangsta glorifying popular in street rap. But, in the rich tradition of rappers putting on for their cities, EST Gee is looking to change that.
Gee, born George Stone III, started rapping during a house arrest that sidelined his college football career. He started getting mainstream attention in 2020 with a pair of hardened mix tapes, “Ion Feel Nun” and “I Still Don't Feel Nun,” that established him as a trap nihilist numb to the vice and violence inherent to a life on the streets.
“I hope the world hear my story before suckers get lucky,” he rapped on “Break Check.” “The most gangsterest street rapper to ever come out Kentucky.”
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On a map, Louisville is about halfway between Memphis and Detroit. In kind, Gee’s music lands somewhere between the two cities, with the syrupy menace of Memphis rap and the frantic, New Orleans-inspired bounce of Detroit’s new class.
Gee’s voice is gruff and his delivery is breathless, each line dense with drug-deal detail and matter-of-fact tales of murder. His lyrical darkness is matched by the body-whomping bass lines, chattering high-hats and horror score piano melodies that make up his beats.
Despite his rising profile — including being signed to the label of Memphis heavyweight Yo Gotti — his feet are still planted firmly in the mud. As he rapped on “Sky Dweller” last year, “I don’t get tired of thuggin’, I’ma be on this till judgment / They told me leave the streets alone to rap, but I wasn’t budgin’.”
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Along with the co-sign from Gotti, that streetwise attitude has helped him score hits with contemporaries Lil Baby and 42 Dugg (with whom he recently teamed for a collaborative mix tape, “Last Ones Left”) as well as trap godfathers Future and Young Thug. Perhaps surprisingly, he’s also provided some street cred to rising culture vulture — and fellow Louisvillian — Jack Harlow.
EST Gee’s rise comes as rappers of his ilk are increasingly under attack, both literally (rappers Young Dolph and Drakeo the Ruler were killed last year) and by a legal system that is using lyrics and music videos as evidence of real-world illegality (Young Thug and protege Gunna currently face racketeering charges). Even as his business associates face federal charges, Gee seems undeterred.
“I know it could not have turned out like this,” he told Jeff Weiss in an interview for Audiomack. “I could have died. I could have gone to jail. I sacrificed for this. So I’m supposed to be right here.”
June 6 at 8 p.m. at the Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. fillmoresilverspring.com. $29.50.
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