gLife

HipHopDX Premiere: Madchild, Adlib and Slaine join Salt Lake City-based indie rapper gLife (real name George McDonald) on his third studio album, My Rise, which features 12 new tracks dripping with the blood, sweat and tears it took to make it. It also easily depicts the highs and lows of an independent hustle in an oversaturated Hip Hop market.

“‘My Rise’ isn’t about my career going places,” gLife said in a press release. “I started 2016 out confused—I was feeling lost about my direction. Slaine showed me a lot about stage performance and how to focus on music instead of partying. Touring with him reassured me that my gritty subject matter and seriousness could still go over well in front of strangers every night.”

gLife’s last album, One-Five, peaked at #11 on the CMJ Hip Hop Chart (College Radio), and boasts collaborations from Hip Hop veterans Reef The Lost Cauze, 2Mex, and Living Legends MC Sunspot Jonz. His next step is a full-fledged North American tour, which is set for early 2017. Until then, listen to the album above. - HipHopDX.com

Reality used to be a staple of hip-hop, but with more and more artists embracing the concept of fantasy, real life stories have become harder to come by.

gLife is here to rap about real life.

After a full year on the road with the likes of Madchild (of Swollen Members), Slaine (of la Coka Nostra), and Adlib, the Utah rapper will be hitting listeners with his third solo album, My Rise, on January 10. In anticipation of this, gLife released a video for the latest single off of the album, “Game Changed,” which features the aforementioned Slaine, and Myspace has the exclusive premiere. - MySpace.com

Salt Lake City based indie Hip Hop Artist gLife looks to drop his upcoming album My Rise on January 10th next year with features from Slaine and Madchild. Setting the tone of the overall album, which depicts the highs and lows of life as an indie rapper, and the gritty reality of grinding it out in today’s overly saturated and contentious Hip Hop market, he comes to us with the title track and first single. The song states that no one sees the entire story, they only witness an artist while they're on a platform; not while they're struggling, grinding it out, and hustling just to make ends meet. ELM Production directs the Chance Lewis produced cut and is filmed in various locations of Utah. While you get acquainted with this upcoming artist you can pre order his forthcoming 3rd album here. - OK-Tho.com

#8 and #7 two weeks consecutive on Canada's college radio charts Earshot! magazine. - Earshot! Online

Salt Lake City-based artist gLife presents his brand new album, My Rise, which serves as his third solo project to date.

The 12-track body of work depicts the highs and lows of life as an indie rapper and the ins and outs of the grind.

Aside from gLife holding down the flow, he gets help from some dope featured guests including Madchild (of Swollen Members), Slaine (of La Coka Nostra), Adlib, Nu3tron and more.

Stream My Rise below and support the album by purchasing it on iTunes here. - The Dope Show

In the mainstream of today's hip-hop market you'll come across the same names and overhyped album releases over and over again. While that can be fun, it can also get repetitive at times, and so in times like that it's always good to turn to the indie scene and check out the talent. gLife happens to be one of those great talents that you may have never heard of, but would enjoy almost immediately. My Rise is the 3rd solo album of gLife, and spins a tale of the grind it takes to put yourself out there as a indie rapper. Through a first listen of the album you can immediately catch the high production value, the tight flow, the seamless features, and the overall eerie but gritty theme. Featured rappers like Slaine on Game Changed and Adlib on Fish Fry, also provide great verses that work well with gLife's own flow.

One of my favorite things about the album is the story-telling mechanics utilized throughout. Generally I believe that skit-like tracks take away from an album's value, gLife uses snippets of audio such in as the opening track My Rise and the background of Voices to add a certain vibe and ambiance to the album. While the lyrics and raps could stand-alone and still be great, theses sounds and audio snippets bring the album together. My Rise is truly about the grind of gLife as an indie rapper and his personal journey through it all, and the album reflects his story very well. My Rise is an album you definitely want to listen through all the way in one sitting and really hear to those lyrics.

(Side note: gLife has donated part of his My Rise sales to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, so mad props to him!)

Sounds Like: Slaine
Eminem- vocally gLife really has an Eminem vibe
Recommended Tracks:
2. Let It Burn- great flow and featured rapper, Madchild
7. Voices- really sounds like Eminiem
8. The Feast- sounds like Odd Future/Tyler at times
Name: Ali Shareef
Date Reviewed: 03/19/2017 - KAMP radio Arizona

Meanwhile, across town at Metro Music Hall, we'll see the latest from G-Life, probably one of the hardest working hip hop performers in the state. I can't recall a year in the entire time I've been writing about local music when he didn't have some kind of album or EP out. Seriously, his catalog is impressive and worth checking out if you want to see how to grow as a performer on the mic. His latest album, My Rise, will be available tomorrow night as he performs with Family Grind, Mr. Denton + Lumberjack Tracks, Born Backwards, Jef Doogie, Unbalanced, DJ Pookie and more. Tickets are just $5 and the doors open at 8 p.m. - City Weekly

On the Hip Hop charts this week, Public Enemy stayed No. 1 for the fourth week, while Gangrene stayed at No. 2. Paris joined the top 10 at No. 9 this week, while Mega Ran debuted at No. 10 (the chart’s top debut). Dr. Dre cooled off three spots moving from No. 8 to No. 11. The chart’s top mover was gLife (from No. 33 to No. 18). - College Music Journal

One-Five = Salt N' Pepa + Tupac Shakur

Really mainstream comparisons, I know, but I'm not as much of a hip hop savant as I'd like. Female vocals hover over strong samples, especially in the first track, and rap about life on the street and hard blows - of life, that is. Male vocals on the second track rap about politics, and harmonized female vocals back up the mix with sad sweetness. The one thing One-Five could benefit from is some beefier production and some extra layers. The overall song ideas are sound and catchy, but they could use some fleshing out and studio might

-Rebecca Vernon - SLUG Magazine (SLUGmag.com)

One-Five is a time capsule from one of Utah’s most polished artists in the game—the Salt Lake City emcee boasts a clothing line (They’re Here Gear), sponsorships, solid production (Self Expression Music and Melvin Junko), college radio spins and a stateside tour on top of that. If all that’s not enough, he is accompanied by DJ Pookie and a live violinist by the name of MasterQ, who adds refreshing live riffs for the majority of the album. Whatever you want to call him—G. Life, George Life, or his government name, George McDonald—you can tell he put his heart and soul into this album. He tackles societal unrest, undergoes self-examination and covers romantic relationships all in the span of 19 tracks. With features from Adlib to local guest spots by Utah veterans Joe Bacca, LAM and Sefo, One-Five is definitely a project that will make an imprint long past its release. –Keith McDonald - SLUG Magazine

Very Good track, Such a Really Cool Feel to this song. Very Different, I love the Production and Lyrics on this track. Also the Hook is super catchy so thank you because i'm going to be singing "they call me Dangerous!" the rest of the day.. lol, keep up the good work. and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.. Thank You and Happy New Year. Fred Hanba - A&R - Tommy Boy. - Tommy Boy Records

Switching to upcoming release shows, tomorrow night, we'll see three. The first two come to us from gLife, aka GeorgeLife, and Fleetwood, two of SLC's finest from the hi- hop community. They've been grooving together for some time now, supporting each other's shows and ventures, and now they're combining efforts in a big way, as they'll each be putting out a new album this Saturday - City Weekly - Gavin's Underground Blog

"your ears are about to hear pure awesomeness..." - Vents Magazine

he's been working hard around the state, playing several big hip-hop lineups and producing music behind the scenes - Salt Lake City Weekly

Once focused on hip hop, but opening up their music to a broader audience, George Life & the Bridge offer up a ska punk sound in a very similar style to Sublime. Living the life, having a blast, and telling tales, - DarlingDork.com

Speaking of GeorgeLife, a quick shout-out about his album release that passed us by. George is one of the hardest working performers we know, busting his ass on national tours and getting thew word out of hip-hop in Utah. So imagine our shock when we saw his latest release, Against The Grain, pass everyone by without any proper introduction. A very awesome follow-up to his first twenty-track album, simply titled GeorgeLife. If you head out to the Fizzy Form show, I highly suggest you hit up George for his new one while he's still in town. - www.cityweekly.net

Go to: GeorgeLife.com - "Press" for more press, here are some quotes from that press:

"Impressive DIY philosophy"

"I'm impressed by the quality"

"hardest working and BEST rapper I've EVER heard in my life" - Great White's Mark Kendall

- 12 articles on GeorgeLife.com

When the subject of rap music comes up most people think about the East Coast, West Coast, or the "dirty" South. Unknown to most, however, is that Utah has a powerful hip hop movement taking place right now.

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with one of the leaders of the movement: George from the rap duo One-Five.

One-Five was officially formed in 1998 when George McDonald (aka The Memory Man) met Ayisha (aka IE), a very talented performer who would later win the 2001 Salt Aire Talent Competition and the 2005 Rapfest GoldenMic Competition. She and George completed their first album One-Five: "Straight Outta Salt Lake," in December 2004 and thier next album will drop this April.

As I spoke to George, I was curious about some of his goals for his music. He replied "Our aim as a group is just to continue the upward momentum as a group, also for the Utah Hip Hop scene as a whole. That is why we started www.utahhiphop.com." He went on to say that he wanted to "... give people a chance to get their voices heard."

One-Five will be performing their demo album including their new song "Find Peace" at Liquid Joe's on Tuesday Night, February 7th. The show will feature respected DJ's: DJ SamEyeAm and DJ Chase on the turntables, as well as the well known local rap act Krucial Keys. - Weber State University Newspaper

"GRIND" Bomb City. Bomb City is a rap duo featuring Ogden-born Maxem ILL and Salt Lake City-born partner George. The two join their rap to soulful female vocals and imaginative rhythm tracks.

Although the album presents fare meant for everyone, such as the radio-friendly opener "Earthquake," it also contains cuts for a more mature audience, such as "Rock Me," a song reminiscent of Marvin Gaye at his sauciest.

The CD's crisp and solid production was provided by Great White's guitarist Mark Kendall, who is currently residing in Ogden. Having recently landed a distribution deal, Bomb City's CD will be available nationwide on Oct 31. Overall, "GRIND" is a strong entry in the national hip hop marked by a talented and determined Utah duo.

-Linda East Brady - Ogden Standard Examiner

A Utah hp hop album produced by Great White guitarist Mark Kendall? It makes sense when the duo spits fast and furious of GW's "Rock Me," a mash-up so over-the-top and out-there it boomerangs back as genius. Few other cuts on the gangsta-free GRIND are as striking, but the party-positive 801 message is solid throughout.

-Bill Frost - City Weekly (slweekly.com)

Bomb City
George – Emm Cee
Maxim ILL – Emm Cee

Bomb City, George and Maxim ILL, mix and match rap rock with electronica to produce something, as George says "… [that] isn’t Limp Bizkit isn’t 311 and certainly isn’t Rage Against The Machine." According to George it is its own sound.

Bomb City’s influence range wide and clear, roaming the spectrum of 60s psychedelic, old-skool hip-hop, even friends and family. "Max and I always talk about how Jimi Hendrix is basically one our biggest influences. We both used to be in rock bands when we were 14 and then started rapping when we were 16," says George.

The Grind, the duo’s first album, has recently been re-released due to unresolved issues with its production, with a few special bonuses. "Personally, I wasn’t happy with the art work so Max and I redid all the art and it just snowballed from there… We did a song with Royal Bliss, a big rock group around town. We covered one of their songs, ‘Music Man,’ we did a kinda reggae version. We also covered Bad Company’s ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love.’ Then we did a song call ‘Let It Snow’ which is a hardcore song for skiers and snowboards," says George of the re-released CDs expanded track list. The upgraded The Grind includes a couple of skits to add that concept feel and five more new songs that span a wide range of influences. "The biggest influence on The Grind would have to be Mark Kendall the guitarist from Great White. He helped us produce our album and took us out to California. We played a couple of live shows with him. He has just been a real positive influence," finishes George.

Positive influence is exactly what people have come to expect of the half Ogden half salt city based duo, that and high-energy. What keeps the kids coming back to Bomb city’s live shows, George explains, is the "high, high energy. We’ll be sweatin’ the whole time and you’ll be sweatin’ the whole time. We’ll go back and forth between rock n’ roll -hip hop over to what some people call techno-rap numbers."

Like Konsickwence, Bomb City sees the current Utah hip-hop scene as overzealous in their conception of themselves. They feel that the scene is premature in thinking that it can break out of its local setting. "You know I’m disappointed in the direction the local hip-hop scene’s headed. I haven’t really witnessed a change. Although there’s always been a few people like Lamb from Self Expression who have always tried to portray positive messages. I think the scene’s headed more in the direction of the bling bling, U92 busta style."

Check out their Myspace page for the positive force behind Utah hip-hop at
www.bombcitylive.com

-Miles - SLUG Magazine (SLUGmag.com)

My Rise is truly about the grind of gLife as an indie rapper and his personal journey through it all, and the album reflects his story very well. My Rise is an album you definitely want to listen through all the way in one sitting and really hear to those lyrics. - KAMP Radio Arizona

#8 and #7 two weeks consecutive on Canada's college radio charts Earshot! - Earshot Magazine - Canada's radio charts

gLife.is a hip-hop lifer, spending the last decade on the road after cultivating a rabid local fanbase in and around town. The prolific MC blends streetwise rhyming à la La Coka Nostra, Jedi Mind Tricks and Eminem with a melodic singing style that recalls Nelly, Eamon and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. But it's his electro-flavored beats that really stand out, turning your typical gLife song into a sonic feast for the ears. Alongside Adlib and Space Kamp, gLife set out on a Break Rules Spread Love North American tour just last week, which is sure to make a splash. - City Weekly