Roach Gigz or Roach, is an American

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

per and

hyphy The term hyphy ( ) is an Oakland, California, slang meaning "hyperactive". More specifically, it is an adjective describing the hip-hop music and the culture associated with the Oakland area. The term was first coined by rapper Keak da Snea ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

artist from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. Gigz released his first independent album in 2012, entitled ''Bugged Out''. He runs his own label, Goomba Records.

Career

Early career

While a student at Leadership High School, Roach Gigz was involved with Youth Radio, an

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...

Area nonprofit youth organization, and then started to develop an interest in

ping. In 2006, Gigz started rapping in his closet with a microphone, and started to create his own hip hop songs, which were liked by his peers. He first gained fame locally after forming a hip hop duo called Bitch I Go (B.I.G.) with rapper Lil 4Tay. Roach Gigz was given the nickname due to his resemblance to a character from the movie ''

Next Friday ''Next Friday'' is a 2000 American stoner comedy film and the sequel to the 1995 film ''Friday''. It is the first film to be produced by Ice Cube's film production company Cube Vision, and to be written by Cube himself. It was directed by Stev ...

'' named Roach, and "gigz" due to his frequent performance at gigs around Northern California.

2010–present

In May 2010, Gigz released his first major

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

entitled ''Roachy Balboa'', which received much airplay on Bay Area radio station 106.1 KMEL.

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

music critic David Drake described the mixtape as "one of the most energetically fun rap records released this year." Gigz was selected to be KMEL's Top 10 Freshman Rappers of the Bay Area. In November 2010, he released his single "Can I Rap". A music video for the song was uploaded onto

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and has received over one million views. Mixtape ''Roachy Balboa 2'' was released in January 2011, and the mixtape ''Bitch, I'm a Player'' was released in August 2011. Gigz was featured on the track "Golden State" with Bay Area rappers Bobby Brackins and

Iamsu! Sudan Ameer Williams (born November 16, 1989), better known by his stage name Iamsu! (stylized as IamSu! or IAMSU!), is an American rapper and record producer from Richmond, California. He is the co-founder and lead member of the hip-hop group ...

, which was released in November 2011. Roach Gigz's first independent album, ''Bugged Out'', was released on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

on September 4, 2012. The album features fourteen tracks, and a digital booklet.

Discography

Studio albums

* 2012 Bugged Out * 2015 The Float

EPs

* 2010 Roach Gigz & Lil 4 Tay – From Another * 2012 Bitch I'm A Player

Mixtapes

* 2008 Bitch I Go Vol. 1 * 2009 Buckets And Booty Calls * 2010 Roachy Balboa * 2011 Roachy Balboa – Round 2 * 2012 Roach Gigz & Iamsu – Heartbreak Goomba * 2012 Hot Air Balloons & Cinnamon Sticks * 2013 Roachy Balboa – Round 3 * 2015 Roachy Balboa – Round 4

Influences

Gigz cites rappers

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

and

Mac Dre Andre Louis Hicks (July 5, 1970 – November 1, 2004), known artistically as Mac Dre, was an American rapper, record producer and songwriter from Vallejo, California. He was an instrumental figure in the emergence of hyphy, a cultural movement ...

as his musical influences, who are both artists that grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also states

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

, Andre 3000, and

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

to be among his hip hop artist influences. He claimed that the first rap song that he heard that got him interested in wanting to rap was "Summertime in the LBC" by

The Dove Shack The Dove Shack was an American G-funk group from Long Beach, California. Consisting of C-Knight, Bo-Roc and 2Scoops, the group made their debut with the song "This Is the Shack" on Warren G's album ''Regulate...G Funk Era''. Under the same name ...

, a

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

hip hop group. Gigz first heard of it in elementary school and described the fact that it was a "California song" made him feel connected to it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach Gigz American people of Italian descent 1988 births Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area Hip-hop musicians from San Francisco Living people 21st-century American rappers