Lord Gasmique on the start of his career, Six O’Clock Gang and his first solo concert

On April 11, Lord Gasmique set Ancienne Belgique on fire with the release party of his new EP 'Mieux'. During his first solo-concert, Lord Gasmique managed to conquer the heart of the Brussels crowd. Eddy Ape, DJ Ekany, Phasm, Feud, YG Pablo and DEE EYE were also present on stage to support him.

Article by Nora Nqi, picture by José Pombo

Lord Gasmique is a 20-year old rapper on the frontline of the Brussels’ hip-hop scene, known for his heavy-toned voice and dark and ego-tripping lyrics. He’s part of Six O’Clock Gang and has been working on his solo career in the meantime. Among other things, he made the soundtrack for the film ‘Tueurs’ and released the track ‘Flex’ together with Roméo Elvis.

Recently, he released his first EP called ‘Mieux’ on Friday, April 5 and threw a release party on April 11 at Ancienne Belgique. Chase went to meet Lord Gasmique in the office of Back In The Dayz (management, booking and event organisation agency in Brussels) to learn more about him and his impressions of his first solo-concert!

HI THERE! WE'RE CURIOUS: WHY THE NAME LORD GASMIQUE?

I remember me being in my room in 2015 and saying to myself: "Ok if I want to get into rap music, I need a name that defines the person I am". I was thinking about 'Lord' because I like narcissism and ego-tripping. But just 'Lord' was too serious. So I added 'Gasmique', as a joke, referring to the word 'orgasm'. Basically, it was a joke and it ended up being my artist name. Now people always call me 'Lord'.

WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BEGIN YOUR CAREER AS A RAPPER?

What pushed me into rap, was my discovery of the genre in 2015 thanks to Deuf, a befriended rapper who also was on stage with me at Ancienne Belgique. He's a buddy of mine since primary school. He's the one who opened the way for me so I wouldn't be here today if Deuf hadn't been here. I owe him eternal gratitude.

He started rap one year earlier and I was always supporting him. I wasn't even listening to rap back then, but he made me discover everything that was being done in Belgium and France in terms of music. For example, what Caballero & JeanJass were doing at the time and Roméo Elvis with "Bruxelles c’est devenu la jungle". Before that, I had no knowledge of what was happening in Brussels, I didn't know it was flourishing that much.

When I discovered the scene, I thought to myself: "wow, rap is awesome". That’s also why I often say that I am a lover of the French language. I'm a lover of what can be done with words and how we can use words and sentences to express a specific feeling or emotion. The French language is very strong but can also be very poetic. So I thought to myself, why not write a French rap text?

SO WHAT ABOUT YOUR FIRST RAP TEXT?

I wrote my first rap text in 2015. I was sitting with Deuf in my basement, we were smoking a joint and I told him: "Hey brother, I wrote my first rap text, do you wanna listen to it?”. I had never rapped before that, but he immediately approved my text: “What you just did to me, writing and rapping, that’s incredible! We have to do something with your text!”. He was talking in a very sincere way and to hear that from a guy who introduced me to rap and who brought me all the tools: I was flattered. That’s the moment when the penny dropped: I could also start rapping. If the guy who has been rapping for a while tells me it's okay, then let's go!

I was thinking of the best way to introduce myself and I decided to release a series of my freestyle video clips on Facebook, which I called “Minifristile”. Almost nobody knows about that. I then released my first official freestyle on October 21 2015, and it was filmed by my little brother in black and white on an IPad. It was my first text and I will always be very proud of it. Actually, I could re-release it with the mastery of music I have now!

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT THE SIX O'CLOCK GANG?

Six O'Clock Gang is composed of 14 rappers. There are Dutch-speaking and French-speaking artists, including me, Phasm, the BerryKrimi duo, Convok x Mistral, Hesytap Squad, Yogen, Soon Jay, Shaman, Jay MNG, Elka, STR, Venlo, L'Artriste and Le 77. The collective is unique because it is bilingual, an important part of the Gang's identity, and it was founded in England during the Boom Bap festival. We were rapping at 6 p.m. on the stage and everyone began to call us the Six O'Clock Gang. Most of the members are Phasm's friends and everyone gets along with each other.

HOW DID YOUR FIRST SOLO CONCERT GO?

I never gave a better concert than this one. Because that day, I realised that people just came for me. In the past, I've done a lot of concerts, and other great and beautiful things. But people didn't especially know who I was. I did Dour in front of 10,000 people, it made me happy and it was a crazy experience, but people weren't there especially for me. And then finding myself in Brussels, in a mythical venue like Ancienne Belgique with people who are there for me, that's the most wonderful thing for me.

I approached this concert with a lot of serenity, I was feeling comfortable. I've been performing for 2 years now with Deuf and Phasm and I didn't feel particularly stressed. It was more of a feeling of excitement, positive stress. Just before the concert, when Eddy Ape just finished the warming up, I was feeling so excited! I was saying to myself: "I'm going to have the best time of my life". When Eddy came off the stage, he told me: "Brother, it's going to be hot. Your audience, the people: they are there for you, you're going to see when you get on, it's going to be incredible."

After that, I went on stage with all my brothers, with whom I have rapped and struggled in the streets from a young age. We went through so many things together and they have always supported me. To be able to tell them that I'm finally performing a solo-show at Ancienne Belgique, is incredible. This is the result of the work I've done over the past 3 years.

My family was also present that night. I saw them at the corner of the room, and all of a sudden my father walked into my direction and got on stage. It was the first time he came to see me during my concert and I couldn’t hold back my tears. Where I come from, with my parents, it wasn’t easy every day and we went through a lot of things. Three years later, my father is on stage with me, and that's what's wonderful. He looked at me with pride and also had tears in his eyes.

In the end, I'm glad I realised all of this. It's something I've always wanted to do. Even if I will come to fall one day, I'll get back on my feet and I'll do everything to make my dreams come true and go even further in rap. The past 3 years, my life has changed completely: morally, personally, even my identity.

WE ALSO HEARD THAT YOU'RE GONNA BE THE WARMING UP FOR ROMEO'S SHOWS AT ZENITH PARIS AND FOREST NATIONAL. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO FINALLY GET ON THOSE STAGES?

I have lived all my life near Forest National, 500m away from it, and I always saw thousands of people waiting and doing the queue. To tell myself today that I'm finally going to be on the stage of Forest National and especially to do the warming up for Romeo Elvis...

Roméo, the first artist who brought me strength, the first guy I really liked, who really touched me in rap. It's wonderful to be able to do this with him now. But I know that it’s the fruit of my work that allows me to be where I am now, it doesn't fall from the sky. It will be wonderful to be at Zénith Paris on April 19 and then at the Forest National on April 20. I will have only 20 minutes, but I'll get right to it.

ANY LAST WORD FOR OUR READERS?

From my own experience, I have learned that if you keep being motivated, everything will be fine. If we stay in a sad mood and if we'll always see the negative side of things we'll never be able to move forward. Always look on the positive side, that's how I work and how I move forward. If you want something, get up for it and remember where you come from. This way, you will succeed in any case. Even if it takes time.

Listen to Lord Gasmique his first EP 'Mieux' here!