The Final Call

Lil Herb: Voices From the Street

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Lil Herb is known for describing the gritty tales of what is happening in his city, in his neighborhood and on his block and recently made a song with Nicki Minaj titled “Chiraq.” He shared a bit on how he sees the world and life in Chicago with The Final Call’s Ashahed M. Muhammad.

Interview with Lil Herb (also known as G Herbo)

Ashahed M. Muhammad, The Final Call (FC):  So, as a 19-year-old Hip Hop veteran, tell me how you got started in Hip Hop and rap?

Lil Herb (LH):  In Hip Hop it’s actually—I’m knee deep in hip-hop because it’s in my blood.  I actually got my first love in Hip Hop being around my uncle. He passed away, but his name was K-Tone. I just used to always be around him. He was big in the music, he was trying to break into the music industry but you know how the ups and downs go—but that was one of my role models who I looked up to. I didn’t really take music serious back then because I was playing sports but I always had a love for it.  So that was my first introduction to music, and his father who is my grandfather he was a member of  the group The Radiants in the 1960’s so music was big in my family. I always knew how to rap and rhyme and stuff like that but I never really got into it until I was about 15 years old and going through some stuff in my life, like losing people that were close to me, some of my real close friends, and I just started rapping about what I was going through.

FC:  A lot of people have their ideas and opinions about what’s going on out in the streets.  You got elders sometimes that speak negatively about the younger generation; you got people who are outside of the Black community speaking about what they think is going on. What’s one of the misunderstandings that people who aren’t from where you are from have about what goes on in the city?

LH:  I talk about that a lot. If you listen to my music, I try to cover that a lot but the misunderstanding is really just—people don’t know what you’ve been through! Just stuff like that … people don’t understand really what you go through on a day-to-day. It’s all about—at the end of the day—I think one thing everybody has in common whether they’re negative or positive is they’re people. Like Minister Farrakhan says, no matter what gang you’re from or what area of the city you’re from, one thing everybody is going to have in common is wanting to have unity—unity for the people, that’s really what it’s about. One thing that I think everybody got in common is just everybody care for their people, so by any means you’re going to try to make it happen for your family and the people you care about. Sometimes you’ve got to do things that even you don’t want to and you know that it is not right, just put a meal on the table at night and that don’t make you a bad person. God forgives everyone for their sins.  I feel like even though I’m not real big on religion, I’m not in church all the time but I got a relationship with God and I feel like God is still with me.

FC:  What do you think when you’re looking at what’s going on out in the streets of Chicago—seeing what’s going on? As we discuss the Black on Black killing, the back and forth threats—that’s a reality.

LH:  It’s just like—all the stuff that’s going on in the city, it’s just crazy. It’s a lot of bad negativity going on in the city as far as gang violence and all the Black on Black crime. It’s really because a lot of people don’t know anything else. You feel me?  A lot of people in the city have never been outside the city, they’ve never seen anything. Nothing like that. They’re limited and all they got is just this one mind-set whether it’s kill or hustle or whatever it is,  they’re limited. That’s why with my music I try to cover so much and talk about so much because I know I’m not the best person either, but I just try to provide knowledge for people and tell them what I’ve been through.

FC:  What do you think about all the different protests regarding the killings of Eric Garner in New York, Mike Brown in Ferguson, Tamir Rice in Cleveland?

LH:  It’s definitely necessary. People got to be heard and protest. People got to know what’s going on. It’s not just Chicago, it’s the whole country. The whole country is at war with each other. As far as all the Black on Black crime and the police killings, that’s the type of stuff that’s been going on for years and years and once in a while someone might get acknowledged. So when they do, you’ve got to embrace it. You have to really talk about it and make it a big deal because people won’t listen.

FC:  As a young Black brother in Chicago, I’m sure you’ve gone through your share of interaction with the police, right?

LH:  Of course! I have had my number of interactions with the police and I just try to move past it. I try to not let what’s going on in the ‘hood affect me even though I know I’m still out here in the streets and I do what I do and I got stuff going on. I still got ties in the street even though I’m trying to better myself for the music and everything. I know really that if you let the streets bring you down, you’re a hypocrite. You can’t talk about what the next person is doing if you’re doing the same thing. You feel me?

FC:  Do you have a vision for the future what would you tell people—not just people who are interested in getting into music because of course that’s your own reality— what is it that you would tell people if you had the opportunity to talk to them about the crime, the fighting that’s going on in our communities and the lack of love between brothers and sisters?

Lil Herb:  I don’t try to like…too much use the music, that’s just how I express myself with what I have been through. But it’s really just like I said…people just got to stay humble and be smart and use their head especially with the streets. When you’re in the streets, it’s all about using your head. You can’t make the wrong mistakes because the wrong decision could cost you your life or anything at any moment especially when you’re deep in the streets and I be connecting with people in the streets because I’m from the streets myself.

FC: Thank you.