OG Stevo
As part of our Artists To Watch list, we’ve conducted interviews with the eight artists featured in our 2021 Spring/Summer edition. Check out our Q&A with OG Stevo below and click here to check out the full list.
When it comes to Chicago’s hip-hop culture, the South and West Sides have been at the forefront of the scene basically since the early aughts. However, toward the back half of the 2010s, it’s been the city’s North Side that’s seen an uptick in new leaders of the city’s sonic landscape. One of these rising stars is Rogers Park rapper OG Stevo, whose 2020 proved to be his most successful year as an artist so far, thanks largely to his hit single “Don’t Scuff ‘Em,” which garnered regular spins on local radio stations and became his first video to hit 100,000 views on Youtube. As the antithesis of an overnight sensation, the success of the track is the culmination of OG Stevo honing his craft for the last three years. Since first appearing on our radar in 2018 with his breakout single “Lemonade,” Stevo has consistently shown evolution with his trap sound. Listening to his music, it’s the flawless delivery of his melodic flow combined with hard-hitting bars that catch your ear. OG Stevo makes music that will make you run back the track halfway through listening to it in order to take the time to fully appreciate it, ensuring your ears catch every 808-infused note and quotable lyrics.
What's it like to be a representative for your community?
Honestly, being a representative of Rogers Park, and really up North, means a great deal to me. You feel like they don't really shed light on the North Side; just the East Side, South Side and West Side. You go to parties and the DJs get on there and be like 'if you’re from the East say this...if you're from the West Side make some noise...if you're from the South Side make some noise." They'll never say nothing about up North. So this is kind of personal for me. I'm really trying to put the whole hood on my back so people can really know what the fuck is going on —it's a whole other side of the city. Stop playing with us… I fuck with Polo, I fuck with Femdot, I fuck with Young Pappy —long live Pappy—Taysav, Wemmymo. It's a lot of artists from the North Side. The North Side brings a different sauce, right now Polo G is arguably one of the biggest artists from the city and he's from the North Side. So that just makes me want to go hard.
I know you also recently graduated from college. What was it like balancing your music career with school and now that you're absolutely done with school, how has it changed?
I'm not going to lie, looking back at it now, I'm like, 'I don't know how the fuck I did that shit. It was tough.' When you look back on it, it's like, ‘how to fuck did I do this shit?’ It was tough. I had days where I had a show and it wouldn’t be done until two or three o'clock in the morning. Now I got an 8:00 a.m or nine o'clock lab, so I got to jet back, driving from the city to the DeKalb for that little hour. Finding time to get in the studio, still go to these labs and go to tutoring, it was kind of crazy. But I feel like when you have a will and you're determined you will make a way regardless of the fact. I wanted to graduate college, I want to be a rapper. I'ma get both of these shits done by any means necessary. So it's really just about time management and being disciplined.
How has your music evolved throughout the years?
'"Lemonade" was actually one of the first tracks or videos that really got people like, "Who the fuck is OG Stevo? This shit hard." That was the first track that really got the city paying attention to me. That's the first track that got Illinois fuckin' with me. I think that's the first write-up y'all did for me too. The music has definitely changed immensely, but I feel like I have been through so much and seen so much shit during that time, that it makes sense that the music change. And also, I just got better at this, I got better at writing music. I became an actual recording artist as opposed to just a person who goes to the studio and lays down a track. I really became one with my craft. So it kind of makes sense that the music has shifted for the better. Now I don't got time for no bullshit. It's time to really sit down and just get to this shit. It's time to really, really, really, really get serious with this shit because people are treating me like a real ass artist. So I've got to come like a real ass artist.
Why should people invest in Stevo and OG Music Group?
OG Stevo and OG Music Group are a great representation of the city. I feel like we represent everything that's wrong with the city and everything that's not wrong with the city. We give back to the community, we drop quality music, we don't diss no dead homies, we don't diss no opps. Everything is just straight off the strength of genuinely good music. And we're just genuine people. So why not invest in OG Stevo and OG Music Group?