Present & Show: That Mexican OT
Phrases: Kyle Eustice
Editor’s Be aware: This story seems within the Spring 2024 subject of XXL Journal, on stands now.
Persevering with within the custom of UGK, Paul Wall and Slim Thug, That Mexican OT, which stands for Outta Texas, is continuous to hold rap’s torch for the Lone Star State. He brings his signature model of southern-dipped, tongue-twisting rhymes to the plenty whereas rocking his hallmark cowboy hat, boots and a diamond grill.
Final Could, a snippet of his music, “Johnny Dang” that includes Paul Wall and DRODi, went viral on TikTok and rapidly turned successful. The monitor peaked at No. 65 on the Billboard Scorching 100 and No. 19 on the Scorching R&B/Hip-Hop chart, whereas the video has racked up greater than 63 million YouTube views. Regardless of his schtick, That Mexican OT, born Virgil René Gazca, describes himself as a “easy man” and “nation boy” who nonetheless isn’t fairly certain how he received on the trail he’s driving down now. “Actual speak, I’m the final one they anticipated,” he says throughout a Zoom name in January.
Born in Bay Metropolis, Texas in 1999, to Carlos Moreno and Sophia Ann Gazca, the 25-year- previous rapper had a bumpy begin. The barrio the place he’s from was a tough neighborhood. Medication and violence littered the streets and poverty was rampant. His mom was killed by a drunk driver in 2007, when he was simply 8 years previous, and his father was locked up in jail. Little Virgil and his youthful half-brother lived with their grandmother throughout this time. “Simply being within the hood, you discover ways to develop into a politician due to guidelines, and you’ll’t cheat the principles,” OT maintains. “For those who cheat the principles, you die.”
Music proved to be a supply of consolation. Launched to rap by his uncles as a toddler, That Mexican OT started rhyming at 4 years previous and wrote his first raps at 8. He knew early on he had a ardour for making music and he beloved listening to it. A “Texas Mexican,” as he describes himself, OT proudly identifies as Tejano. Hip-hop helped him be taught his ABCs.
“Music positively taught me English ’trigger my mama had me younger,” he shares. “She was there, however she was out, and my dad was in jail, however I had music.”
In seventh grade, OT relocated to Austin, Texas to stay along with his dad, leaving Bay Metropolis behind—albeit simply briefly. There, the aspiring artist continued to hone his rapping chops. As a free man, his father would typically throw wild events and get up his younger son to battle rap his drunk mates. These friends would finally stroll away embarrassed that they received outshined by a child. “He’s in all probability a part of the explanation why I’m an animal at present with this music,” OT recollects of his dad pushing him to rap at an early age. “He put me by way of gladiator faculty with that sort of s**t.”
By the point OT reached highschool, he says he was “at all times mad” and often getting in hassle as he experimented with medication and hustled to scrape cash collectively. Impressed by artists like Massive L, Eminem, UGK and Lil’ Keke, OT sharpened his abilities as a rapper by way of highschool, recording music within the faculty hallways earlier than graduating in 2018.
As That Mexican OT tried to seek out his footing in life, a brush with the legislation in 2020 abruptly woke him up. Hiding from the police within the backwoods of Texas for a number of arduous hours, he determined rapping was his solely approach out and began importing his music to Fb and SoundCloud. In June of 2020, OT launched his first mixtape, South Texas Undertaking, and the music “Plan C” turned the debut single. But it surely was “La Muerte,” launched later that 12 months, that actually marked a shift in his perspective. “I had a second once I realized I wasn’t rapping no extra, as a result of there’s a distinction between rapping and making music,” he explains. “Once I recorded ‘La Muerte,’ that’s once I realized like, Oh, yeah. I’m doing one thing now.”
That Mexican OT stored pumping out music, with the Southside Steppin and 1 Double O mixtapes arriving in 2021. The next 12 months, Manifest Music founders Greg Gates-Davenport and Price Banks found OT on Fb and promptly signed him. Banks launched OT to GoodTalk Founder/CEO Jonny Shipes they usually all ended up becoming a member of forces.
Later that 12 months, OT signed a cope with Interscope Information. His debut studio album, Lonestar Luchador, arrived through Manifest Music Group/GoodTalk/Good Cash/Interscope final July, and included OT’s hit music “Johnny Dang.” The monitor, a homage to famend Houston jeweler and grill maker Johnny Dang, took off throughout streaming, YouTube and social media. Paul Wall, who says he was itching to collaborate with OT for a “very long time,” jumped on the alternative to hop on the music. It was notably serendipitous as a result of the idea revolves round Johnny Dang, Wall’s longtime buddy and enterprise accomplice.
“He was popping earlier than ‘Johnny Dang,’” Wall says of OT. “I used to be a fan of him earlier than we labored collectively. I adore it being about Johnny Dang. That’s my man, so I’m gonna love that. And OT’s bars; he received a variety of bars. He says some s**t.”
OT hasn’t let his foot off the gasoline since. In January of this 12 months, he launched the music “02.02.99,” “Level Em Out” that includes DaBaby got here in February and the Texas Technician mixtape was launched in March. Now he’s trying towards the longer term. “There’s extra work,” OT expresses. “I don’t know what I’m gonna be doing, however anticipate to see me in every single place.”
That Mexican OT is impressed by his personal success. He’s crawled out from the tumbleweeds to create a life for himself he by no means imagined. “As a child, I hated all the pieces about me,” he says. “I hated my identify, my ethnicity, the best way I appeared—all the pieces—and lil ol’ me is doing all these items. I’m simply good at rapping, and I’m a real-life cowboy. I’m from the nation. None of it is a facade.”
Learn That Mexican OT’s Present & Show within the Spring 2024 subject of XXL Journal, on newsstands now. The brand new subject additionally contains the quilt story with Gunna and conversations with Metro Boomin, Danny Brown, 42 Dugg, Jim Jones and Maino a.ok.a. Foyer Boyz, Druski, Teezo Landing, 41, BabyDrill, Rapsody, actress La La Anthony, BigXthaPlug, Rob49, Reuben Vincent, singer Tyla, actress La La Anthony and producer Tate Kobang. There’s additionally a take a look at how social networking has a chokehold on rappers’ emotions and the way hip-hop in 2024 is experiencing extra wins than losses and the methods through which child rappers are thriving due to social media.
See Images of Gunna’s XXL Journal Spring 2024 Subject Cowl Story
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