Kevin Gates made waves throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, the latter of which saw the release of 12 mixtapes and the birth of The Luca Brasi Story series. The rapper released the first installment in 2013, and gave it a 10th anniversary re-release in February to celebrate the work, he explains to Billboard News in a new interview.
Speaking with Tetris Kelly, Gates says that The Luca Brasi Story was a transcendent body of work that the industry wasn’t prepared for when it was originally released. “I’m immortal. For the people that don’t know what that means … when I put it out, it was before its time,” he asserts. “It was received well, but once I put it out again, it was re-received ’cause people like to discover Kevin Gates, and I’m still discovering Kevin Gates.”
The Luca Brasi Story continued with two other mixtapes — Luca Brasi 2 debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2014, while its follow up, Luca Brasi 3, peaked at No. 4 on the all-genre tally in 2018.
As for the state of mixtapes in rap, “I don’t feel like it’s making a comeback,” Gates says. “It’s me staying true to my roots, because when you say ‘mixtape,’ it takes the pressure of an album. When you say ‘album,’ that’s when the anxiety hits, like, ‘Oh my god, I have a fear of failure. Is it going to be received well?’ But when you say ‘mixtape,’ it’s like I’m going to give you the current events in between the album.”
In recent months, the Baton Rouge native has kept busy by releasing a string of singles including “Do It Again,” “Prada Me” and “Breakfast,” which charted at No. 45 the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs survey. “I love this version of myself,” Gates says of himself and what’s to come. “I’ve never been more in love with version of myself right now because I come from being so hard on myself.”
Watch Gates’ full interview with Billboard News above.
