Guap Tarantino

Georgia rapper Guap Tarantino relays tales of street life in a slack, singsong style often set to a melodic, melancholy backing. The cousin of rapper Future, Guap grew up in the East Atlanta neighborhood of Kirkwood, known to many of its residents as "Lil' Mexico." He began rapping at the age of eight, and took his stage name from Quentin Tarantino after seeing the acclaimed film director's Django Unchained while he was in high school. As a youth hustling to make money, he was often in trouble with the cops; at the age of 19 he was shot in the abdomen during an altercation outside a party. Becoming part of Future's Freebandz crew, Guap got his start handing out D.I.Y. mixtape CDs on the street. His first proper release was 2016's Fatboy Season, but it was with the following year's Guap Mode that he really started to get noticed. From then on, he devoted himself full-time to music, showing up at the studio every single day. He maintained a prolific work rate, dropping a new mixtape every year -- Geico (2018), Charge 'Em Up (2019), and Bandemic (2020) -- as well as two EPs, One Night (with Nav) and Off the Charge. ~ John D. Buchanan