John Givez is an emcee from Oceanside, California, but since a young age, he’s been torn. With influences of gang life around him, he’s wondered if he’s going to have to “eat a penitentiary meal” or “die young, buried in the Earth six feet [under].” On Givez’s latest single, “Elementary Trill,” he examines the thoughts he had as a kid and the influences that kept him from following a path that may have kept him from music.
The rapper remembers getting in his first fight in fourth grade. He lost, he bled. His brother laughed at him. When he was 8, he saw his first robbery while he was at the skate park, later fearing the same thing would happen to him. Through it all, Givez thanks his parents for guiding him in the right direction. His dad was a preacher – who believed in discipline by belt – and his mother worked at his school (and worked another job at night). Together, they introduced him to God. These are the reasons, Givez says, he stayed relatively innocent throughout his youth. He was simply elementary trill.
Givez’s latest single will be on his upcoming album, Soul Rebel, which doesn’t have a release date yet. Take a listen to “Elementary Trill” below.
The Cali native is also in a group with JGivens (who we introduced over the weekend) called Cousin Neighbor. Turns out, as the name implies, the two are cousins. Check out “LM2FY” below.
