MOST Magazine Fashion APR'15 ISSUE NO.8 | Page 161

By: Rick Krusky

ecording artist G Sepp credits his musical
roots to a house full of women listening to
classic R&B. On any given day, his sisters
would fill the modest Brooklyn home he grew up
in with the sounds of Mary J. Blige, SWV, Boys to
Men, R Kelly and Keith Sweat. The hip-hop and
rap influences came later and from the male side
of his family when his older brother introduced
him to a Tupac CD, and then his uncle to Shyne,
DMX and The Notorious B.I.G – another Brooklynborn rapper. But even though music was always
prevalent in G Sepp’s life, it would not become a
serious career choice until much later.
G Sepp’s parents, who hail from the Caribbean
Islands, both moved to America at a young age.
His Trinidadian mother met his Jamaican father
stateside. They eventually settled to raise a
family in Canarsie, NY, a residential suburb of
southeastern Brooklyn nestled along – ironically
– Long Island’s Jamaica Bay. This New York
borough is where G Sepp would spend the bulk of
his early life.
Considered temperamental by those he meets,
G Sepp is actually quite the opposite. “I think I’m
misunderstood mostly. I’m easy to talk to – that is,
unless I don’t like you. I mean, you definitely don’t
want to get on my bad side. But I’m actually very
easygoing. Considering my upbringing, I came out
pretty ‘clean.’ When people meet me they never
guess what I’ve been through in my life. My father
died when I was 12. I left home at 15 and had to

find ways to survive in a very tough neighborhood.
But I always tried to carry myself in a clean and
positive way and never let people know what I’m
thinking. Even if I only had 25 cents in my pocket,
no one would ever know by looking at me.”
G Sepp’s love of the craft was further inspired
by music from late-night, New York recording
sessions. “When I was younger, my older brothers
and cousins would book studio time at night.
They’d bring the music home and I would sit and
try to write to it. I’d hum along, jot down lyrics. Stuff
like that. But that was about the extent of it. Later,
in junior high school I began playing around a little
more. I’d beat on the lunchroom tables and rap
along. In high school I joined the basketball team
and tried that for a while, but it didn’t work out how
I planned it. I was distracted by the streets and
got caught up in what was happening ‘out there.’
Then one day in a friend’s back yard, his older
brother hooked up his Xbox to a big speaker. It
had a bunch of instrumentals on it. I sat back and
listened. Then I heard this beat and rhymes started
coming to my head. So I just started rapping. It felt
so natural. And I saw the reactions of my friends. It
was an empowering feeling.”
It was at age 21 when G Sepp really
started taking the music seriously. He began
experimenting, and took the music to another level
by harmonizing over the beats rather than merely
rapping. He could feel the more melodic side
from his R&B background, which had sat dormant

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