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Yo Gotti is helping an aspiring rapper get his shine in the rap game. The Memphis native has signed Milwaukee rap upstart Wave Chapelle to his label CMG.
Gotti and Chapelle’s friendship started back in January when the ‘Act Right’ rapper started following the 20-year-old newbie on Twitter. Chapelle tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it was a surreal moment to see a big-time rapper follow him on the social networking website.
“I was tripping, my heart was pounding heavy,” recalls Chapelle, who is a student at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tenn. “I had never seen Yo Gotti, never came across him, so for him to follow me was random.”
“Ten minutes later he sent me his number in a direct message,” he continued. “I jumped out of my seat, and I straight-up freaked out, [screaming], ‘Gotti gave me his number!’”
Yo Gotti says Chapelle’s rep and his music were some of the things that caught his eye and ears.
“I heard from a couple young dudes [in Memphis] talking about [Wave's] music over and over again,” he said. “He’s very lyrical… he holds a lane of music that’s different from mine, but he owns his lane of music. Once he releases his music, people are going to gravitate toward it.”
After a brief meeting in January, Gotti and Chapelle spent two months working together in the studio. After performing a slew of shows, including a set at SXSW in Austin, Texas in March, Chapelle officially signed to Gotti’s CMG label, which is distributed through Epic Records.
Chapelle has been putting out music way before he caught the attention of Gotti. So far, the young rapper has dropped nine videos and a mixtape called ‘It’ll All Make Sense Soon.’
You could say rapping in his blood. His father is rapper F1 Diamond out of Memphis.
“I have a very memorable moment when he took me to the studio for the first time when I was 5 or 6. I’ve had that image in my mind ever since,” he tells the Journal Sentinel. “I wrote my first song when I was in fourth grade. It was the worst rap ever. I have it balled up in a drawer in my mom’s house.”
Now that he’s a signed artist, Chapelle is looking forward to the future of making a name for himself in the rap game.
“I’ve been working toward this my whole life, literally since middle school. I wanted to make my mom proud, and I knew I could do it through music,” he says. “I have four projects worth of music on my hard drive. I’m still in the stage of trying to figure out what I’ll put out first for the next mixtape. Basically, it will be a sequel to what I already have out. It’s me narrating my life from getting to Memphis to where I’m at now.”
Watch Wave Chappelle’s ‘Kill Em’ Video
