We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gorilla Souf a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gorilla , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Worldwide hip-hop is a weekly show Invented by and hosted by Gorilla Souf on WRFN-LP Pasquo in Nashville, TN. I was consistently ridiculed for attempting to play international hip-hop and R&B artist in the American market. Despite me having a second show on the same station that is dedicated to the local artist, Worldwide hip-hop has easily surpassed the local artist show and the popularity continues to grow. I took a risk that many felt would be a complete failure and yet the project continues to grow. The show has been played regularly on multiple stations in the Pacifica family.

Gorilla , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was a producer and artist originally and had a record deal right out of college (EMI – ’09). I submitted music to labels multiple times. Got good reviews from Atlantic Records Gee Roberson at the time ’08 as relayed to me by his assistant Calvin. The deal from Atlantic went to B.G. and the Chopper City Boyz. I found out it’s much more expensive to fund a new artist than an established one. Also had good reviews from Hakim from Chopper City Records (New Orleans). Went to an event Sha Money XL hosted and got in touch with some of the right people which led me to EMI. I now help artist get connect with the right people (record promoters, management agencies, attorneys).
I want to see these artist win so having the right team around you is important. Having an attorney who knows how to do audits is imports to keep from getting ripped off. If the local artist need radio play, they can come to me for that.
I’m an authentic person, I don’t charge for a lot of things, especially information.
I do have high standards when it comes to music. I don’t believe in half-assing anything so if you’re going to deal with me, you’re going to have to be willing to work hard.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Success. That looks different for a lot of people. Everybody’s goal is not the same. There are a lot of different avenues in the music industry to make a living. I believe that as long as you can make a DECENT living doing something you’re passionate about, your job won’t feel like work. I think you should be able to enjoy what you do for a living.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

YOU HAVE TO HAVE A TEAM! Myself and my dog from high school both tried to pursue things individually and found ourselves severely overwhelmed. It takes a team to make the dream work. I thought because

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Gorillasouf
• Other: Gorillasouf on all platforms.

Image Credits
My dog DJ Fatmack is in the picture with me at TSU homecoming.