If you’ve been to any dance club or party in the past year, you definitely heard his verse on “Gas Pedal” by Sage the Gemini. When this guy stepped out onto the stage, he got crowd hype on bass bumping beats while he bernied his way across the stage with his friends.
Enter the IAMSU! and his posse, the Heartbreak Gang.
IAMSU! is a rapper and producer based out of the Bay Area and he’s been making music for about 10 years. He gained recognition after a couple of mixtapes and his debut LP “Sincerely Yours.” Recently, he released his new mixtape, “Eyes on Me” and is now on tour with Dave Steezy and Rome Fortune.
I had the opportunity to interview Su for BU in the Morning. He has a chill vibe that only a hippie could match and was the definition of down to Earth. In our interview, he said he loved Boston and wanted to put on a show for everyone to just jam and have fun with it.
At Brighton Music Hall, there were only a handful of people who came out to see the Heartbreak Gang. Opening for the show, he brought out Chris Miles, a 15-year-old rapper from New York with a speedy rap style. Dave Steezy came out, rapping with a chill San Francisco vibe. Rome Fortune came on next with his trippy beats, performing energetic as ever. But the minute Su and his DJ, Azure, came out, the place became lit like a packed dance club. Starting off his set with his hit “I Love My Squad,” the tone was established for the rest of the night: Su and his gang came to have some fun and you could tell.
From start to finish, the crowd was excited and the energy only built up from there. Su played a handful of songs from his new mixtape such as “Hella Good” and “They Say (Yeah).” But for some of the diehard IAMSU! fans, he played some of his popular songs from his previous album and mixtapes such as “Only That Real,” “What You ‘Bout,” and “Never Goin Broke.” When these songs came up, everyone was jumping and bumping to the beats. Someone started waving around the California state flag as homage to Su’s home state, demonstrating the level of fandom this rapper has.
In spite of his celebrity level status, Su is one of the most humble and grateful rappers I know. He ended his show thanking his fans for supporting his career and even got off to personally meet and thank each and everyone in the crowd. When I came up to him and told him I interviewed him on BU in the Morning, his face shot up with a smile and he thanked me for giving him a chance to blast his name on the radio.
It’s amazing to see such a high profile artist maintain a chill attitude. Fans go nuts at his shows, which quickly become one big party. Definitely go see IAMSU! live when he rolls through your neighborhood. In the meantime, you can tune into his music on Soundcloud or find out what he and the rest of the Heartbreak Gang are doing on their website: http://www.hbkgang.com
-Daniel Guan
