Exposed Vocals just sat down with ‘Lorenzo The Gawd’ for an exclusive interview!

Exposed Vocals score 8.7/10

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

LorenzoTheGawd: I’m LorenzoTheGawd of Ocean Money Guru. I’m from Long Island, NY. More specifically, Bellport. music is a lifestyle to me. I was always creative growing up, always into some type of art. My first rap came about because i wrote and continue to write poetry and one day i decided to try and make music with my lyrics. i grew up listening to a lot of different types of music, but naturally, Hip Hop became a staple in my life, and music as well. nothing really made me decide to be an artist, i was just born to be.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

LorenzoTheGawd: The inspiration behind my name is actually Wu-Tang Clan. i was always very into their music and work as a whole and they served a big inspiration to me musically at an early stage in my life along with other rappers like Nas. They always refer to one another and other people as GOD in their music and skits. But the way we pronounce things in new york is the reason i spelled it the way i did.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

LorenzoTheGawd:i think it is the future of the music industry for sure. streaming at least. i give my music away for free because im trying to build promotion for myself as well as expand my fanbase. my music is for the people. its for my fans. im focusing on booking shows for the money making aspect at the moment.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

LorenzoTheGawd: the best advice i could ever give anyone is BE CONSISTENT. consistency is everything. howmany timesdo you scroll past that one video on facebook before you finally watch it? exactly. but you still watch it the 5th or 6th time you see it being shared. The second thing is put your money where your mouth is. getting your music promoted to people who never heard of you before is crucial for two reasons. 1.) 9/10 times people who dont know you will support you more than anyone in your hometown will. 2.) if you have people who already like your music near you chances are people will like it all over, but its about getting heard in the first place. you cant do it alone unless you yourself are a social media guru.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

LorenzoTheGawd: of course. everyone makes mistakes, but its all about how you handle them. a real artist will make a mistake and you wont even realize. never falter or stop just own it and make it seem like you know what you’re doing. 75% of it is confidence and energy.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

LorenzoTheGawd: at this point in my career i am still local but with that being said, the shows still get very lit. we done stage dives, pour water on people, broken things, girls be flashing stuff and all of that, fights happen, its wild sometimes but typical Shit. it gets turnt up but we love the energy and we usually get good positive vibes going on. thats all i can really say about shows at the moment.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

LorenzoTheGawd:i get inspired randomly but i try to keep my motivation high. its easy to get off track and get used to it. i think about the future and my potential and it makes me hungry for more. my whole way of working is very abstract and random but when i write songs i try to play the beats and freestyle my flows and once i get nice flows in i make the lyrics to match. but sometimes i do write with no beat and just come up with the bars and everything first. sometimes i don’t even know how i come up with the lines, it seems as if the bars come to me from somewhere else i surprise myself a lot.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

LorenzoTheGawd: i do have an artist profile page but it has’nt been updated in a while, although it is pretty dope. my primary music sharing platform is soundcloud, and my instagram has a lot of really dope artwork i make myself.

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

LorenzoTheGawd: im really not embarrassed by any of the music i have or listen to. maybe if you found one of my old songs. bars were always solid, sounded young and stupid though.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

LorenzoTheGawd: firstly, id invest my money in a lot of different places to insure long term wealth. id also put a lot of money into my equipment and promotion as well as travel the world and lock down a nice place to reside. id self sustain after that i wouldn’t need to go back to working.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

LorenzoTheGawd: I engineer all of my own music, so next step after getting some better quality foam is a better location in general. and maybe some new yamaha speakers. at the moment i have a really dope gaming computer to run all the programs i work with. my mic is a shure KSM 44A which is a really dope mic. thats my baby. got the focusrite interface this dope pre amp i got from a friend and i mix all of my songs on adobe audition but here and there ill use logic when im in diferent studios.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

LorenzoTheGawd: you have to be relentless, especially if you dont have anyone else promoting you. you need to be consistent and constantly be sharing posting and sending your music everywhere to everyone. be active on social media, engage with your followers and make people feel like the wave you’re on is something they wanna be a part of. catch trends. its all about how you play the game.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

LorenzoTheGawd: Kendrick Lamar. hes just dope i like his energy and what he stands for. his music is also incredible so definitely him.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

LorenzoTheGawd: Go check out “Chasing Presidents” NOW! Go check out “Coke Dreams” featuring my Brother, Reed. both of those songs can be found on my SoundCloud. Also look out for the EP dropping soon. its a collab tape with me and Reed. Fire all summer. OceanMG with the takeover.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

LorenzoTheGawd: Definitely Graphics, Video, and/or Clothing. all of which i currently do, but music is my main focus.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

LorenzoTheGawd: first CD i actually physically bought was the carter 3. i was hyped i played that cd till it aint work no more. mp3 players were out though so i didnt have many cds. i think thats the only physical cd ive ever actually bought.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

LorenzoTheGawd: trade out all the time you spend chilling out and make that your time for music. priorities.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2018?

LorenzoTheGawd: massive amounts of music at consistent rates. A lot of shows being scheduled. and music from no only me but all of my OceanMG family gonna be everywhere. Please stay tuned and dont forget to check out my brother and President of OceanMG, Pe$o The Guru, & our Brothers, Reed, Drose Guapo, Mel’O, LI Meechie, and Quan’O All the music is on my SoundCloud page.

Follow Me On ALL Social Media @LorenzoTheGawd