We were lucky to catch up with Shots Fired recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Shots thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning how to navigate the world of battle rap has been a truly immersive process. We were hard-headed high school graduates and had no problem driving to Orange County, LA, and the Inland Empire multiple times a month to soak up as much game as possible and to put our names and our talent out there. The most important part of this process, and I cannot stress this enough, was being authentic. Being who we are no matter the situation and operating with integrity. Because of this we were quickly accepted by the wider battle rap community and quickly became a force to be reckoned with in the culture.

I think the most essential skill in all of this is also the spot where we have been the weakest: the marketing. We have been hosting battle rap in San Diego for nearly 14 years. We have booked some of the biggest names in the entire battle rap culture, yet way too much of San Diego doesn’t know who we are or have never heard of us. There are many reasons for why this is, I could write a whole paper just on that alone. We definitely found ourselves “lost in the sauce” – getting blinded by what the culture was doing versus our original goals.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We are Shots Fired. Founded by two natives of San Diego County: Gryffin and K Philosophy. Two best friends since 8th grade. We grew up on hip hop and started to find our identity in it. We found it to be our main source of expression of who we are. Shots Fired started because we loved battle rap. And when we tried to look for it in San Diego, we found nothing. We were forced to go to LA to experience the culture firsthand and we decided that we were going to do something about it. We were going to UCSD at the time, and we started the league as a student organization and began hosting our first events on campus. After that, it grew legs. We started getting attention from the city. Rappers wanted to battle. Next thing you know, our cards had almost no students on them, and we decided it was time to take things off campus and into the real world.

We provide hip hop in its rawest form. No re-dos. Pure bars. Fresh lyrics every battle. No repeats. When the camera goes on, rappers have one chance to get their rounds off. It truly is one of the most brutal tests that an emcee can go through.

The thing that I am most proud of? I mean we booked Dizaster vs Danny Myers, sold the battle to King of the Dot and it got over 1M views. We booked the first ever Geechi Gotti & B Dot 2v2 battle. We’ve gotten San Diego natives on the URL platform. Our guys have been invited to rap in NY and Canada. All of that is great but to be honest it’s not what I am most proud of.

It’s hard to put into words. But there’s a pull that we feel from the culture. There’s a looming feeling that we were meant to do this. I’ll be vulnerable: there have been many occasions where we were ready to throw in the towel. We were ready to hang it up. Thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars down the drain. No clear path of ever breaking even. Meeting some of our biggest idols and realizing that they are divas in disguise. But we never could. Every time we felt discouraged something has pulled us back in.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

We literally change and save lives. Art gives people purpose. Art gives people a sense of community and a sense of belonging. It sounds dramatic. But it’s true.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Stop chasing the shiny things. Big names are great, but the most important thing is investing in your own people and in your own community.

There have been times where we definitely got swept up in the moment. Booking some of battle raps biggest and most famous names. And we thought we were doing the right thing. But we didn’t realize the optics and the signals that it sent to our home team. It showed them that we valued outsiders more.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shotsfiredrap
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shotsfiredrap