With an emphasis on the realistic side of Southern rap, EST Gee uses trap and other modern Southern rap subgenres to accurately capture day-to-day living in Louisville, Kentucky. Following the release of multiple self-released mixtapes, EST Gee established his distinctive style.
With an emphasis on the realistic side of Southern rap, EST Gee uses trap and other modern Southern rap subgenres to accurately capture day-to-day living in Louisville, Kentucky. Following the release of multiple self-released mixtapes, EST Gee established his distinctive style. In 2021, he signed with Interscope to release his gold-certified project Bigger Than Life or Death. A year later, in 2022, he released his debut studio album, I Never Felt Nun, which consisted of tense street raps interspersed with melodic verses from guest rappers such as Future and Jack Harlow. The album peaked at number ten on both the R&B/hip-hop and Billboard 200 charts. El Toro 2 and Mad, two extremely difficult 2023 projects, came after that success.
El Toro
Gee, who was raised in Jefferson County’s Newburg neighborhood, attended Indiana State University on a football scholarship. He was the first person in his family to attend college, but his time in the classroom was limited when he was arrested. He started recording music in 2017 after being released, creating a persona by connecting the acronym EST, or Everybody Shine Together, with the initials Gee, which is a play on his first name, George. His easygoing yet unrelenting lyrical style was frequently distinguished by a distinctive trail-off in song ending delivery. El Toro, one of his two albums that he self-released in 2019 (the other being Die Bloody), makes this clear. His son was born around the time of these projects.
Feel Nun Ion
Gee was shot five times in September 2019 while filming a video in Atlanta. In addition to the stomach injuries that landed him in the hospital for a short while, he also suffered a sight impairment in his left eye. His recuperation was interspersed with the release of singles, including “Morals,” “Taught Different,” and “On the Floor,” which were all eventually featured on March 2020’s Ion Feel Nun, as he had already finished recording sessions for his next album. He tragically lost both his mother and brother in the first few months of 2020, which strengthened his resolve to take full advantage of the platform his rising music career was giving him. In just a few weeks, Gee was doing web interviews discussing his travels and expanding discography. He released I Still Don’t Feel Nun in December 2020, a record that had cameos from modern artists like Yo Gotti, Babyface Ray, and Jack Harlow.
The final ones remaining
Bigger Than Life or Death, released in 2021, was the rapper’s next project after he signed with Interscope. Among the star-studded roster of guest collaborators on the 15-song mixtape were Future, Young Thug, and 42 Dugg. It went gold fast after debuting at number seven on the Billboard 200 (number five R&B/hip-hop). When EST Gee and 42 Dugg collaborated on the mixtape Last Ones Left in 2022, they carried on their collaborative partnership. With appearances by Tae Money, BIG30, 42 Cheez, and other artists, the dark and ominous trap tape re-entered the Billboard 200 at number seven. I Never Felt Nun, EST’s first studio full-length album, was released a few months after Last Ones Left. With guest appearances by Future, Machine Gun Kelly, Jeezy, and several more rappers who were already well-versed in chart success, the album made its debut once more inside the Top Ten. EST Gee made a comeback six months later with the mixtape Mad. In addition to a few features from Kada, Young Scooter, and Boosie Badazz, the project featured fourteen tracks. On the Billboard 200, Mad peaked at number 25 (number nine for R&B/hip-hop). He returned after five months with El Toro 2, which featured the upbeat hit song “Turn the Streets Up.”
