Introducing GioLeo: Imperial’s New Rap Duo
Rapper and producer aren’t ever words that I associate with MechEng, and yet this last Saturday I sat down with Gio: MechEng student and lead vocalist of trap duo GioLeo. Along with fellow engineer Leo, the pair have been producing music together since the end of last year. Beginning this July under the title GioLeo (genius name) they have been releasing music to the public. The duo now has five songs out on Spotify. Gio was surprised when I asked him about their song on Soundcloud. Turns out they didn’t post it, but they must be doing something right if someone’s stealing their music.
In true Imperial spirit they’ve decided to make internationalism one of their key ideals and artistic motives. As we’re talking about why students should go check them out, Gio leans into the microphone to directly address IC students - “…that’s one of the most beautiful things of imperial is how international it is. We believe that the hip-hop world has alienated a lot of your beautiful languages and cultures, GioLeo is a reaction against that oppression and we’re refocusing music onto a wider range of cultures”.
GioLeo’s international reach isn’t just an idea, it’s already being put into practice. Raised in Shanghai, Leo is fluent in Mandarin and Gio has been learning, now incorporating it into his verses. The track “Live Life” features a friend of theirs - Monica Curtin -singing in Spanish, and their most recent release features a Guinean rapper who’s vocals are in Sousou. As for the future, the pair are in contact with an Angolan rapper, Chinese rapper, Burmese singer and American rapper Ryan Oakes.
Despite all these international collaborations, they seem pretty set on working within Western trap/hip-hop/pop style. “Many of my friends not from the west aren’t fans of trap music from their own countries” Gio says, “they enjoy the production and style of Western trap, so we want to provide that but with a bridge for the culture”. The boys take their production influences from Justin Stone, Shawn Mendez, Major Lazer and Drake. However, their desire to expand genres is leaving them open to further influence from artists across the world.
From last December Leo has been working hard to learn the ropes of production with help from fellow Imperialites. Their hunger to grow is still strong and they’re welcoming any other students to come be a part of the process. It’s not just music either, a possible ICTVxGioLeo collab music video for their debut single GAMMA is in the works. At the end of our conversation Gio once again reaches out to the IC students saying, “anyone who has had a dream of singing, making music or rapping, please reach out to Gio and Leo [@xgioleox], because what we really love is collaborating and making music with other people”.
