The latest gift from the Seattle hip hop scene (which recently has most famously bought us Macklemore and Ryan Lewis), Gifted Gab is set for big things. Inspired by ’90s era Queen Latifah, Gab’s debut album was aptly titled Queen La’Chiefah, and has the exact old school vibe you would expect. Pairing simple beats with lyrical gymnastics has proven a winning formula, and Gab has the immense talent to pull it off. We’re rooting for her in 2015. - Kat George

While Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have finally made people pay attention to the Northwest’s hip-hop scene, groups like Common Market, Nacho Picasso, Blue Scholars and Moor Gangs have all been working in the city’s rap trenches for years. In their ranks is Gifted Gab, a Seattle rapper, with a throwback flow and a way with words. She has made no secret of the fact that Queen Latifah is her biggest inspiration — in fact, she named her debut album Queen La’Chiefah. - Melissa Locker

Hometown: Seattle, Wash.
Twitter: @Gifted_Gab
Notable song: “Dead Wrong”
Sounds like: Gifted Gab has an aged, classic-hip hop flow, reminiscent of the New York sound of classic female lyricists like Queen Latifah.
Why you need to know her: Repping Moor Gang, Gifted Gab seems serious about putting the Northwest on the hip-hop map, crafting an impressionable image with her nonchalant flow yet hard-hitting lyrics. With her self-touted title “Queen LaChiefa,” which is also the title of her latest EP, Gifted Gab carries a sound that has the potential to contribute to, or even spurn, a new age of quality female lyricism in the industry. - XXL STAFF

Gifted Gab becomes the first female to make the Freshest in the Northwest list originally at #3 above her Moor Gang brother Nacho Picasso. After this she was voted up to the #2 spot. Gab’s placing was celebrated by the whole panel as Q Dot opened recalling first meeting her and being surprised at her bars when she shared them with him and expressed how much she wanted to get on. Darryl Reese applauded her album Girl Rap released earlier this year and then Mac Smiff announced that he listens to her album every week calling it the best album to have dropped.The female rapper comparisons began to be thrown out such as Rapsody or Jean Grae by various panel members, but Mac described Gab as underrated citing the Time Magazine article of seven female rappers to look for which she was on and dropped recently. Darryl thought that she’s past underrated because everyone knows she’s filthy on the mic. Mac describes he’s heard her be compared to Queen Latifah, but he personally believes she deserves a more solid male comparison. The panel showed distaste to the femsee label and described her as just a rapper. Mac described a particular instance where she murdered a classic Biggie beat. Darryl recalled her killing a performance while opening for Dave B . Horizon asked about her crowd drawl as a headliner and the panel wasn’t sure if the support was there.

Luvva J, who spoke more in this video than he did the whole time, described Gab’s bars as a machine gun-like rage. And this despite beings, as Mac added, soft spoken. He further describes how Gifted Gab does not play the traditional female rapper role much like DJ Swerveone’s comparison to Boss who would always rock flannel. Darryl showed that he was impressed that Gab addressed the subject on her intro for Girl Rap because let’s keep it 100, women don’t have to dress up in short skirts to show that they like men. Even though some say she should change her image nobody at the panel agreed.

Nacho PicassoD-Money looked at the board seeing Nacho Picasso at #4 below her and addressed the elephant in the room asking the panel if they thought she’s the best in Moor Gang. Nobody agreed with the statement giving the edge to Nacho, but most gave props to Jarv Dee. Even though this may be true most doubted Jarv deserved to make this year’s list because he hasn’t put out material recently. Mac turned the conversation back to Time Magazine saying this gives the edge to Gab as far as the criteria of the past 6-8 months. Luvva and D were not so sold on giving Gab props just because she appeared in Time because the magazine lacks knowledge of even knowing about hip hop while everyone at this panel is invested in it daily. Mac was not convinced saying it means more when non-hip hop writers are giving her love. Luvva shared his respect for Gab in that she does not let the world decide who she is, she decides. Horizon listed that there are more emcees than just Gab who don’t perform the usual stereotype either like Rapsody or Angel Haze.

D returned the convo back to the board asking them if they think she is the best rapper of Moor Gang for the past 6-8 months over Nacho Picasso and everyone around the table said that Time Magazine was the clincher giving her the #3 spot and #1 in the Moor Gang. - D-Money

The Central District's own Gifted Gab has begun interstellar flight as a top Seattle rapper. Stage one saw her suture components of Latifah and Biggie onto fuel tanks of Moor Gang cayenne. Her debut full-length, Girl Rap, has readied her for stage two and beyond. Gab is a fire-starter spitting sprinkler systems at will. She's a mouthpiece made of metronome who ties the vertices of her verses into knots. When asked where she wanted to do this interview, Gab said, "Mars." And since Mars is a nine-month trip, we were put into a cryogenic sleep and shown the following dream: The scene is a small greenroom at a filming of Soul Train, August 1982. Fab Five Freddy, Grandmaster Flash, Don Cornelius, and Grace Jones are enjoying fondue. Jones is hogging it, though. Freddy gets pissed, takes his shirt off, stands on a Naugahyde footstool, and starts singing Prince's "Controversy" way too loud. Then he puts his hand on Jones's slanted flattop. Jones turns around, takes her shirt off, pours the fondue cheese all over herself, and starts kicking the shit out Freddy, stuffing apple wedges in his mouth. Cornelius tries to stop it. Flash sits back eating broccoli and enjoying the show.

[At that point, our spacecraft hit turbulence from a meteor shower and the captain had to wake us up.] Damnit! How does it end, Gab?

Oh, that's when I walk in. In cryo-dreams, I lucid dream. You woulda seen Flash and I lock eyes and give each other the head-nod-of-approval. Then I ask him, "Why the fuck are you eating broccoli when you can smoke it?" And I pull out a quarter of some Blue Dream, and we get high as hell watching those crazy motherfuckers. I don't know what happens next, 'cause Flash and I leave to go on a Fear and Loathing–style adventure. Neither of us remembers shit after that. You ready for Mars, dog? We almost there.

What's your first memory of playing with words?

My dad used to do my hair in the mornings before school, and every day he'd tell me a word, and I'd say it back, giving him the definition. I think that formed my vocabulary and my understanding at a young age of the way words work. I'd tell my teachers, "Please don't condescend to me with your facetious attitude," and I'm all 7 years old, actually knowing what the fuck I'm talking about [laughs]. I've always been better at expressing myself through writing, so I think shit just came naturally. No real lightbulb moment.

Why the title Girl Rap? Do you see yourself as a feminist?

I named my project Girl Rap because if it makes sense for people to say, "Gab's good, for a girl," then it sounds like they need to rap more like a girl. And if you're not rapping like this, you're not doing shit. I'm not a feminist at all. I've been referred to as one several times, but I honestly think that's almost being disrespectful to actual feminists [laughs]. I'm just me. I grew up with nothing but boys, and the women in my family are all very strong and independent. People always think because I'm the only girl in a group of 12 other guys, that it's difficult. Not really. It's nothing that I'm not already used to. I'm competitive as fuck. I'm an asshole. I smoke, I curse, I rap, I fight, I like fast cars and gangster movies, but I'm a GODDAMN LADY. I can hang with the best of 'em, man or woman, it doesn't matter.

I commend any woman that seriously is in the game—not just, "Yeah, I be rapping and shit," but actually doing the damn thing. It's not easy, as far as the business goes, 'cause like everything else, it's male-dominated and you gotta overprove yourself, almost. It has its ups and plenty of downs, but shit, if you can't swim, you bound to drizz-own.

Andrew Jackson is finally being removed from the $20 bill? Not many people know this, but you're active with the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Who's going to be on the new $20?

The decision was not an easy one. After many days of elimination, arguments, several fistfights, three trips to the ER, and 100 runs to the 7-Eleven, we decided that Tupac Shakur will be the new face for the $20, instead of that one white guy who looked like every slave master depicted in every history book ever made [laughs]. Tupac is the human embodiment of all that is great. Tupac's face on the bill will be a still from Poetic Justice, when Lucky and Justice were sitting on the hill overlooking the city. But instead of Janet's face, it's a picture of me cut out and taped onto hers. Sorry, Ms. Jackson. The bill will be fire-engine red, and all over the bill will be lyrics from "Thug Passion" and the words "In Pac We Trust," and it will be spelled and referred to officially as the "Tu-wenty Dolla Bill, Bitch." So when you're at the register, they'll say, "Okay, that'll be Tu-wenty Dolla Bill, Bitch, and seventy-three cents." [Laughs]

Maybe we should put Mike Brown on the new $20, too. Or Trayvon Martin. Or Edward Garner. And every time a bill is used, it donates $20 to a police force that protects African Americans from white cops. An agency that actually polices the police. It's time.

That would be dope. Yeah, special-edition $20s with Edward Garner on them.

And the $50 and $100 bills. Sorry, Ulysses S. Grant, your time is up. Bye-bye, Ben Franklin.

Queen Latifah for the $50, and Martin Lawrence as Sheneneh for the $100.

Talk about "Hit 'Em Up." How did that collab with Blvck Sinatra happen? What's the story in the lyrics? Are you mad? Or is a character you're portraying mad? Is it an offensive or defensive thing?

I met Blvck Sinatra over Twitter. He was just like, "Do your thang." In the lyrics, it's just me talking shit about everything and everybody I hate [laughs]. I'm a passionate person, so when I don't like something, I really don't like something, and vice versa. I tend to get in modes where I don't agree with or like anything that's going on around me, so I'll go on aggressive writing binges. All of 'em with the same message: "You're fuckin' weak, I don't like you, and I don't give a fuck." [Laughs] So classy.

Are you saying, "Solo amendola cujo in a coal mine. You can kiss my culo poppi chula you are too kind?"

Close: "Solo on my dolo, I'm like Cujo in a coal mine. You can kiss my culo, papi chulo, you are too kind." If I break it down in Rap Genius terms, it'd go like: "Gabby is saying that she likes to roll by herself, and that Cujo would maneuver by himself also, even in a coal mine. Then you can just kiss her ass, sir. You're a nice man." [Laughs] I just be saying shit, man.

What do you say to people who question why you use profane language in your songs?

I say my vulgarity all together comes from my family members [laughs]. I definitely got my potty mouth from my grandma, so if anything, they're to blame. No, my whole thing with writing started because I've always had a real dirty mouth. And when I'd get tired of getting whuppings and getting in trouble, I'd write down what I was feeling. And it was always a lot of profanity. Almost like I could still say what I wanted and not get in trouble for it.

It's like you rap in some cursive-knot font. Your lines tie the bars off in knots. I looked up a bunch of knots. You've got figure-eight knots and lariat loops. There's the slippery hitch, the bowline, the Beacon Hill moose buckler, and the Lynwood shipman's bacon-double kusher. Okay, I made those last two up.

I like the knot font—very complicated to the viewer, or listener, but to the one tying the knot, not so hard. I took a boating class once, not by choice, and we had to learn how to tie all these ridiculous knots before we could get on the water. So I'm pretty much a genius with that, too. Psych! I think I quit the second day. I get the knots from hell in the drawstring of my sweatpants, where you have to get surgical with every pointy object in your house to get it loose. I hate that shit [laughs]. On Mars, there are no drawstrings. All pants snap shut. It's the most modern type shit. - Trent Moorman with The Stranger

When she was nine years old, Gabby Kadushin used to walk from Montlake Elementary School to her Central District home and write raps about the girls she didn’t like. She memorized radio songs after two listens and spent Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays in church, where her mother sang in the choir. Throughout her childhood and teens, she soaked up the power of East Coast female MCs like Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Bahamadia. She rode around in cars pumping Bay Area legends like Mac Dre and E-40. Outside of church, Michael Jackson and Tupac were her religious icons.

In 2012, Kadushin, 22, released her first EP under the name Gifted Gab (formerly Gift uh Gab), Queen La’Chiefah, and emerged a fully-formed composite of her influences: Her wall-to-wall, classicist flow combines a combative, unrestrained love of self, codeine-dipped blunts and West Coast lingo with an unflinching acknowledgement of death and those she’s lost. Her influences inform her style, but they don’t stunt her scope; she can take the stage alongside her peers as well as she can open for her idols. She’s the self-possessed female among the many dudes in her crew, Moor Gang, Seattle’s answer to the Wu-Tang Clan.

On “My Life,” she glides from the voluble declamations of her verses to the ’90s-tinted R&B of the chorus. With equal, icy verve she brags that she’s “snatching mics like she’s Kanye” and scoffs that if Jesus “was what he says he is, my mother still would be here.” Kadushin’s first full-length album is nearing completion and the new year looks to be just the place for her old soul.

Age 22
Hometown 
Central District
Greatest inspiration 
My mama
Achilles’ heel 
Old-school cars
Current obsession 
Method Man

- See more at: http://www.cityartsonline.com/articles/rapper-gifted-gab#sthash.6WGDe5bF.dpuf - Clayton Holman

Straight outta Seattle, Gifted Gab (not to be confused with Blackalicious MC Gift of Gab) is a rising rapper with an old school spirit. She cites Queen Latifah as one of her key influences. In fact, Gab named her debut album Queen La'Chiefah in honor of the legendary Dana Owens. - Henry Adaso

Seattle’s rap scene has a kind of Yin and Yang complex. On one side are the shining intellectual Paladins, “message” rappers like (duh) Macklemore, The Blue Scholars and, to some extent, Shabazz Palaces. Moor Gang (often caps locked as MOORGANG) sits across the aisle — on a pile of cash, in a cloud of blunt smoke.

The tension between these two camps — one politically correct, one deliciously provocative — delineates the biggest stylistic rift in Northwest hip hop.

The banner of Moor Gang’s website reads “Seattle’s Favorite Bad Guys.” The music this collective of rappers and producers releases never minces words. It’s brash braggadocio, full of slick wordplay, blatant sexuality and drug fantasia. It is also wonderfully creative, inextricably woven into the expanding tapestry of Seattle’s rap scene.

Moor Gang counts more than a dozen members, a boy’s club with one exception: Gifted Gab.


The 24-year-old artist has been compared to Queen Latifah, and deserves comparison to Missy Elliot as well. Her songs sound like they could have been released last month or 10 years ago. She raps with as much swagger and aggression as any Moor Gang member, and often surpasses her male peers in lyrical complexity.

Surrounded by caffeine-fueled college students at the U-District Cafe Solstice, we discussed her near-future career moves, opinions on the changing Central District and the ever-challenging work/life balance.

Let’s talk about some musicians you’re interested in.

I really like Royce the Choice, I’m glad he’s now getting the shine he so deserves. I really like UGLYFRANK from Tacoma a lot. He’s in the group ILLFIGHTYOU. I like all of them, but Ugly Frank … he’s tight to me. Also The Moors, and The Physics.

Tell me about the recording process for your debut album. Who do you like working with production-wise?

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I’ve been working with JayB Beats. He did all the beats on “G Shit,” the last EP I dropped. He did some s*** on “Girl Rap” as well. I like Blvck Sinatra, he just changed his name to Hanzo beatz. I believe, he’s from from Tacoma. And of course Rob Skeetz from Moor Gang, he does a lot of the beats. Pretty much those four. I’m trying to branch out now, the next [project] I have coming out I have a lot of different producers.

So you’re not attached to one main production team the way your fellow Moor Gang member Nacho Picasso is with Blue Sky Black Death? You like to switch it up more?

Well, yes and no. [Hanzo Beats] and Skeetz are the ones who actually know my sound. They’re the type that could send me a beat pack and I’ll like half or all of them. Other people, it’s kind of hit and miss. People think they know. They’re like ‘you’d sound great on this!’ and I don’t hear it at all.

Could you tell me what your “sound” is in terms of beats? What do you like?

When I say ‘these producers know my sound,’ I mean they know I like to switch it up, and they can keep up with me. [An older mixtape] “Queen La’Chiefah” was a little more mellow. I’m not really on that anymore. “Girl Rap” had more hard hitting beats. Someone I really admire a lot is DJ Quik. His beats are really West Coast, as in you can sing on it or rap on it. Right now I’m on some grittier stuff. What really inspired me is J. Cole’s new album [“2014 Forest Hills Drive”]. He had a few beats on there that made me say ‘That’s what I’m talking about!’ I wish someone had made some of those for me before he got to it (laughs).

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You sing the hooks on some of your own songs. Did you grow up singing?

Yes I did. I grew up in the church, so I was singing at a helluva young age.

Would you ever release an album or mixtape where you sang instead of rapped?

“G Shit” was the closest. When I put it out, I was still in the process of working on some other stuff, so it’s just three tracks. These days people’s attention spans are shorter. Even a couple years ago, you could make four-minute tracks and people would listen to them, but now not so much. People skip through.

I noticed that although you have a lot of material out, the lengths of many tracks are shorter.


I’m very observant. I watch other people, and I go to a lot of shows. When I go out it looks like I’m kickin’ it but I’m really studying. You can put out an album of 13 or 14 tracks that are four minutes long, but Bandcamp has these stats that show your plays and the number of people who play [songs] all the way through. There’s a lot of people who only listen halfway through. It just makes more sense to release a project of five to 10 songs where each song is only three minutes.

I don’t know if you’re a Kanye West fan, but his latest album “Yeezus” was like that. He took the punk rock approach, he’s in and out in 40 minutes.

I definitely admire Kanye. It’s all about the EP’s and stuff. My next project is going to be a full album, but the three-minute song is where I’m at.

I noticed that Moor Gang has a mission statement which says “familial pride is as common to the members of Moor Gang as self-sufficiency.” Could you explain that?

So Moor Gang is named after the Moor tribes of Africa. They were some cold dudes … They were self-sufficient and did their own thing. We take a lot of the same values. There’s 12 or 13 of us, and we’re all a family pretty much. A lot of us are blood-related or grew up together. We’re all intertwined in some type of way but we’re all individual artists. At the end of the day, it’s all about the unity.

How did you get involved with this collective? How do you know these people?

So Nacho [Picasso] and Jarv [Dee] are the creators of Moor Gang. My older brother and Nacho grew up together, but they’re like six years older than me. I caught on [to Moor Gang] right when [Nacho and Jarv] were putting it together.

And you would have been around 18 at the time?

I’m 24 now, so that sounds about right.

Another part of your mission statement is about “forming deep roots in a swiftly-changing city.” You see lot of graffiti tags calling out gentrification. How do you see this city changing?

Seattle, just like all over the US, is going through this now. Myself, I’m involved in saving the Central District. I just attended a community meeting trying to come up with some solutions. I was born and raised in the Central District, and over the course of less than 10 years it’s become unrecognizable. A lot of the mom and pop businesses, and a majority of the black-owned businesses are gone.

That’s what the meeting was mostly about. The area on 23rd Ave and Union Street is in danger of being bought by big-time executives. Like Uncle Ike’s across the street — I f****** hate that. I can’t support it. It’s exactly what’s wrong with the Central District. They already bought the car wash next door, and they’re trying to push the church out. They’re building some apartments kitty-corner from the pot shop, and I heard from a few different people that they own that too. They have everything we don’t: the lawyers, the money, the power.

How would you like the city to change, and how do you see your art and your peers’ art playing a role in that?

They have a 20-year plan for how Seattle’s going to look, called Seattle 2035. But talking to people who have been to meetings, the black people, the artists, the minorities, the people at the lower end of the totem pole, they aren’t a part of it. We need to keep the culture and diversity. I remember Capitol Hill … it’s unrecognizable compared to back in the day. There are all these useless stores now.

There need to be more art hubs too. I remember there used to be a lot of artist lofts, but I tried to get into one and there was like a two-year waiting lists.

I’m curious about how you write your lyrics. Do you have a set time you write every day, or is it more spontaneous?

I really don’t have a process. My s*** is everywhere. I have about 600 notes on my iPhone. Some of them have full songs, some of them just have a bar or two. I just write whenever I feel inspired. I’ll hear a beat and if I’m really feeling it I’ll write a whole song right there. There’s times where I can sit there and think I’m writing something but don’t like it and delete it all. It’s pretty haphazard.

Right now I’m working on writing songs for some singers. I write all my own stuff, but this is another lane, you know? … I’ll write some songs and be like ahh, I couldn’t do it justice. I’ll write from other people’s perspective, like a guy’s perspective, where if I were to try and do it people would be confused.
On “No Days Off” you talk about how it’s challenging to succeed in the music business and take care of your personal life. What are some of the biggest challenges?

One of the biggest changes is that I’m really f****** busy all the time. I have friends and family that just don’t understand it. I work four days out of the week from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. If I have meetings I have to do them before or after work. I’m off on Saturdays, except not really because there’s always shows or something I have to do.

And I’m definitely getting noticed everywhere I go. I don’t mind it, but it takes getting used to. You get the passive people at the bus stop who stare at you and be weird about it. Don’t be weird about it. I’m hella regular, you can come up and talk to me like anybody else.

One day, I’ll have all the time in the world, but it’s a lot of grinding, a lot of comeuppence. Especially being a female in the game; that’s a lot of extra hurdles. A lot of people come up to me saying they need this, or lying about dumb s*** … I would love to pass them my shoes for a day, or any other female’s in a male-dominated game.

Sounds like you’re working a full-time job and swimming up-stream in a misogynistic industry while trying to take care of friends and family.

I’m more about grassroots and taking it slow. I don’t really have any desire to sign [to a label] right now. It’s already stressful … if you don’t know how to handle [signing], you’re going to drown and your career will be very, very short. It’s an entire lifestyle change. I’m still in my artist development stages, still studying. This is my life.

You’re not like Diddy, or Jay-Z who are self-admitted hip-hop entrepreneurs. It sounds like you’re trying to stay true to your writing.

There’s always different intentions. Some people want to get rich quick, or the fame. Some people just want to f*** b****** all day. That’s fine. But those aren’t my intentions, so please stay out of my lane. People hit me up all the time to do collabs, and it’s cool to get the money, just for the simple fact that at the end of the day, I’d do it for free … but I’m an artist. If I don’t like the song, I don’t care how much money you give me. I have my job, but with my [music] career, I’m the boss … I love it! (laughs).

You did a very funny interview you did with The Stranger where you said, at one point, that you weren’t much of a feminist. What did you mean by that?

I don’t even put a title on what I am. I’m a woman. I want to see other women succeed. But once you put a title behind it, you have these expectations. I talk about bitches and pimping in my songs. I’m all for women’s power, but [the title] just changes s***. - Joseph Sutton-Holcomb

Gifted Gab, Girl Rap (out now, self-released, 1giftofgab.bandcamp.com/album/girl-rap)

For all of Seattle hip-hop’s perceived positivity, the one thing this album really drives home is our city’s incredibly polarized, complex rap identity.

On her first full-length, Gifted Gab—aka 22-year-old Gabrielle Kadushin—is getting lots of support, including a nice push from her otherwise all-male rap crew, the Moor Gang, and praise from her female peers in the biz, like Miss Casey Carter and Thee Satisfaction. They’re right, of course: This girl can rap. The beats on this 11-track album are solid enough but pale next to the record’s best quality: the rapper’s quick rhymes and lyrical agility. Gab can spit and snarl a stream of words like the best, alternating tone and feeling as the subject demands. For her brassy confidence and braggadocio, she’s been compared to Queen Latifah, and it’s a good fit.

The irony here is that for an album called Girl Rap, Gab still plays a man’s game. Bitches abound, and with them the inherent misogyny and all the other trappings of gangsta rap: money, drugs, thuggish threats. The problem this poses, not just for Gab but for this particular genre of hip-hop, is compelling, because we’re living in a world in which the NFL is considering banning the use of the “n-word” (liberally used on the album) among its players; anti-bullying awareness is at an all-time high; and sensitivity campaigns denounce the use of frequent gangsta slurs like “gay” and “faggot” (not heard here, to the rapper’s credit). There is, however, a sense that Gab feels conflicted about where she should direct her skills in this medium.

On opener “Problems,” she’s just one of the Moor Gang guys, echoing the agenda of misogynistic bravado heard throughout the crew, rapping “We’re the goddamn Moors/Got a lot of whores.” Picasso himself is on the next track, rapping about how he “killed that bitch.” Gab changes her tune a little on “Pop It,” when she quasi-advocates for female sexual empowerment: “The bitch already sucking dick and fucking for nothing/Bitch is fucking trippin’/Stop it/Pop it for a profit.” While Gab can turn a rhyme on a dime, it’s worth paying attention to what is actually being said here. With every casual dis of her gender, she helps proliferate the Moor Gang’s rapey, thuggish worldview, one I’ll leave you to explore at your own risk. And as long as Gab’s preaching this kind of sermon, she’ll have to be OK with being the First Lady of the Moor Gang—not the president of her own club. - Gwendolyn Elliott

Meet Gifted Gab, a Seattle-based female rapper who recently collaborated with the Swisher Sweets Artist Project on a Convenience Store Session. Her talent has brought recognition to Seattle, a city rarely associated with hip-hop.
Gifted Gab’s ability to create complex verses with variety in her sound, ranging from smooth melodies to strong lyrics, is what makes her so unique. She grew up with constant exposure to music. From singing with her mother in the church choir to learning to play the piano at age 6, she quickly developed an affinity for memorizing and reciting rap lyrics. The witty wordsmith finds inspiration in the lyrical genius of artists such as Queen Latifah, Michael Jackson, and Tupac.
Gifted Gab released her first full-length project “Girl Rap” in 2014. “Gab The Most High” is her most recent project, which consists of 14 tracks, where she demonstrates that not only can she drop a powerful verse, she can also sing. Her 90s hip-hop sound has been well received, earning her acclaim not only locally, but from recognized music industry publications such as XXL, VH1, and TIME. The 25-year-old emcee has performed at several events to include opening for DJ Quik, Rakim, Cam’ron and Slick Rick. Her confidence shines through in her rhymes, and as the sole female member of Seattle’s hip-hop group Moor Gang, she is not easily intimidated.
Gifted Gab has proved to be a force to be reckon with, and we know we’re not alone in our anticipation to see what she has in store next.
Check out her interview below with the Swisher Sweets Artist Project. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Swisher Sweets YouTube to receive alerts when new videos are released.
You can keep up with Gifted Gab on Twitter or Instagram and find out more about her music at www.giftedgabmusic.com. Stay in tune with the Swisher Sweets Artist Project by following #SwisherArtistProject on Instagram or Twitter. - Swisher Sweets