Chicago – Baltimore rapper Tate Kobang is ready to bring his city, er, cities to the mainstream hip hop game. Tate Kobang, born Joshua Goods, is a twenty-three year-old (soon-to-be twenty-four year-old, this April) Maryland native, who grew up on the streets of Northeast Baltimore, experiencing the pit-falls of poverty, as well as the joys of music. Friends and family exposed Goods to gospel and 90s hip hop and R&B. As a child and teenager, he studied dance and music, learning to tap dance and play the saxophone, but his love of rap and hip hop, which grew from writing rhymes for his uncle, was what would win over. During his teenage years, sometime around seventeen or eighteen (Goods couldn’t remember his exact age when he moved), Goods left the streets of Baltimore and moved to York, Pennsylvania. Though he grew to call York home, Goods never really left Baltimore behind. In fact, he now splits his time between both Baltimore and York, traveling back and forth to visit his five kids, friends, and extended family.
It is in York that Goods truly fell in love with rap. He spent his time writing music and freestyling, but even still, he was more focused on partying with his boys and chasing after girls, than pursuing a rap career. That all changed shortly before he turned twenty-one, when Goods experienced one of the toughest moments of his life – even tougher than him being homeless, living on the streets, and hurting for food – when his mother passed away unexpectedly. As if that wasn’t enough, just two months later, his father tragically died. Though, he found a silver lining in his misery and sadness. The loss of his parents brought Goods to focus on his music, and his focus paid off. In 2015, the rapper released the track “Bank Rolls,” inspired by the Baltimore classic “Bank Roll,” and he gained the attention of Baltimore residents and natives, including Kevin Liles of 300 Entertainment. Liles and 300 came calling, and in 2016 Tate Kobang signed with the label responsible for developing and nurturing the careers of rapper Young Thug and Grammy nominated Fetty Wap. Now that Tate Kobang has signed to 300 and has been spending time in the studio recording, he’s determined to help shine the spotlight on the Baltimore rap scene… and York’s too. His EP Since We’re Here - set to release this week, during South By South West – will surely help do just that.
Best New Bands talked with Tate Kobang about his EP Since We’re Here, his challenging childhood and teenage years, and giving back to his two cities, but especially Baltimore.
I saw a video of you freestyling and was wondering if that’s how you got started rapping, freestyling on the corner or in school?
Yeah, that’s not how I got into music, but that’s how I got into rapping. When I attended Central York High School, is when I really started battling… but as far as me writing music and playing the saxophone and all that, that was all earlier stages in life. Tap dancing, so on and so forth.
You’d been putting out mixtapes for years, I read, but it was “Bank Rolls” that really took you out of the local scene and led you to sign with 300. What inspired you to sample Tim Trees’ single “Bank Roll,” and also, were you surprised by the success or were you feeling like, “This is the sh*t, it’s gonna go places!”?
Well, actually I got a lot coverage outside Baltimore before that. It’s just that all the projects I put out ended up getting took down, due to a couple of different situations, but yeah, I ain’t gonna say I was surprised. We knew it was coming. We just didn’t know it was gonna come that fast!
At the time that you were experiencing all this success, Baltimore was going through such a tough time, following the death of Freddie Gray, but you were having an amazing moment for yourself. I feel like it was probably bittersweet for you. How were you feeling? What was going on in your head?
Baltimore was going through [a tough time]; I was also going through [a tough time] because the day that all that happened, the Freddie Gray situation, is also my mother’s birthday, who I lost a couple years ago. On her birthday, every year, I release something, and I do a charity event for the less fortunate. For me, my mom was just everything.
I read about that. I’m so sorry. I also read your dad passed away. I was wondering about that because I lost a parent, and I know it changes you so much. I was wondering how the death of your mother, and then your father, had an impact on you as a person and also how it impacted your music?
First, it was a wake-up call. Honestly, I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I felt like that was God telling me that life is too short because neither one of their passings were – we had no idea, at all – it just happened. Just like that, you can be gone. The time that I’m here, I definitely want to make the best of it, and do what God put me here to do. I’m not sure what it is. It may be for me to change music or it may be for me to get a point across in one of my songs, that I wouldn’t even think of writing or get the inspiration to write, that may change somebody’s life. That person might go on and be somebody great, and that’d be the end of my road, you know? You never know, but whatever it is, I’ll make sure I get it done. Some people are here for a reason. Some people are here for a season.
Even before Freddie Gray, you’d been rapping about what you had seen growing up in Baltimore. Now that you’re able to take it outside of Baltimore, so to say, being on a national scale, do you feel more pressure to rap about bringing social change, to bring more eyes on Baltimore, and be part of the Black Lives Matter Movement?
Freddie Gray wasn’t the first and won’t be the last person that cops killed. He definitely wasn’t the first and won’t be the last person in Baltimore. We see this shit everyday. I’d done seen people get their heads blown off. I had cops pull guns on me over bullshit. They had no purpose or meaning behind it. We see that shit all the time. This was just the first time that someone from our area made it to a platform where people were acknowledging it. I’ve seen that shit all my life, you know what I’m saying? But all my music is stuff that I’ve done. Not stuff that I’ve seen or stuff that I’ve heard. It’s all the shit that I’ve been through, for real, for real. It’s struggle rap. I rap the struggle… If what I’ve been through fits into the Black Lives Matter campaign, so be it. I mean, I’m not going to alter my lyrics, my sound, or what I speak about to fit into what is going on. I’m a young, black man, faced with a bunch of odds. That pretty much, really sums up the whole Black Lives Matter. That’s my reality, and like five million others who have the exact same story, for real, for real.
I understand that one hundred percent. I’m from Chicago. We have so much police violence and brutality, but no one really paid attention until Laquan McDonald, and then there was this spotlight on us. But it’s like, it’s been happening for years, and the media is just now on top of it. Speaking of Chicago, we have a lot of rappers, who once they break out, they find ways to give back to the city, like Chance does a lot of stuff with youth and so does Common. I’m curious, now that you’re making your way up – and I have no doubt that you’re going to be big because you’re with 300 – do you plan on giving back to Baltimore? Are you already giving back?
I’ve been giving back since before I had “Bank Rolls,” honestly. To Baltimore and York, Pennsylvania… I’ve been doing shoe drives and all that shit, you know what I mean? I was homeless. I slept outside and had to go days without eating, to make sure my kids ate. I’ve seen my mother go through what I went through and stuff like that. I know how all that shit feels. I’m the type of person who don’t want nobody else to go through, I mean I had to feel that pain, for real, for real. Like I said, I do those shoe drives and all that, and now that I’m working with Reebok, and I got 300 behind me, and all of these platforms, that will help me out in all that I’m doing. Swizz Beatz and all this shit; now I can do all of that on a bigger platform. Not on a bigger platform like it’s gonna be televised. That’s not what we’re doing it for. Now I can put more into it. I don’t have to just do shoe drives, you know, and food drives and pay out of pocket. Now I can get the sponsors and for Thanksgiving do Turkey give-aways and all that stuff because we need it, honestly, especially in Baltimore.
That’s amazing. I have so much respect for you, for that. Let’s talk about signing to 300. I know you’ve been in the studio, and you have an EP coming out soon. You’re also working on an LP. Can you talk about it or is it all pretty “hush, hush” at this point?
Well, signing to 300 was definitely amazing! It was crazy at first. Hearing 300, I’m like I’m not signing, but then we did our research. I looked up who they was. See, my manager, he’s an older cat, so he knew who all these, you know, Todd and Kevin Liles and all those guys. See, I’m young. I didn’t know who the fuck these guys is. So I looked them up, and was like, alright, this might be worth a meeting. So we went out and had dinner, and the rest is history. They’re family now, man. They call me and we just talk. It ain’t all business 24/7. That’s good. We definitely had a lot of offers, and we took 300. I don’t regret it, not one bit. The EP is dropping right before South By South West. It’s called Since We’re Here. It’s just going crazy, man. Everybody, all the OGs I looked up to growing up, is looking out, reaching out to me. That’s real cool. [I’m] working with Swizz [Beatz]. Everybody, honestly. E-40 reached out. Nelly reached out… it’s been crazy… Spotify is doing like seven, eight mill. And all of it is organic. We ain’t really put any real money behind pushing it. People just like the sound of it. We’re not pushing it down people’s throats.
I listened to “Oh My,” which I’m assuming will be on the EP. It definitely has more of a dance beat, like you could definitely dance to it. I read you’re big into that; you like going to the club and dancing. Are we going to hear a lot of that on the album?
Well, honestly, 97% of Baltimore culture is dance, and me being from Baltimore, dancing is just in me. Right now, what we need in music, in the world, is fun. Honestly, everybody has been so fucking serious and it’s depressing right now. The music is slow as hell, and everybody is all emo and shit. That shit is annoying. I don’t want to be in the club and drinking and hear these songs, like, “No! What the fuck?” I want to dance, man! “Bank Rolls,” as well, was more up-tempo. I just want to stay relevant in the clubs, on the radio, and in the streets… it’s definitely reaching all points. And I’m definitely reaching for Billboard, you know. Shit! [chuckles] You’re gonna hear pretty much everything on the EP.
Are we going to hear you play saxophone?
Oh, hell no! [laughs] My hands went and got real bad. I’d up and die in the studio fucking around… Not these old muffs. Nope. I don’t even smoke weed no more. I gave up on everything. I got arthritis now. I’m getting old as hell. [laughs]
You’re going to South By South West. Is this going to be your first time at South By?
Yes!
What are looking forward to and what are your plans?
Honestly, I know a lot of people who are going to be there, from home, so I’m looking forward to seeing Baltimore being a part of South By South West, as well as a couple of York, Pennsylvania representatives. That’s gonna be crazy! But I’m definitely hoping Chance The Rapper is gonna be there! I want to watch that guy perform!
He’s so good! You should try to team up with him. That would be sick!
Yeah!
I was really interested in your music when I found out about you because I feel like in so many ways, from what I’ve read, Baltimore is so much like Chicago.
Indeed, indeed. And there’s a lot of artists here. I feel like Chicago had a mean year. Chief Keef, Louie, and all them. I feel like Baltimore, hopefully, is gonna follow.
Tate Kobang will be playing SXSW on Friday March, 18 at The Gatsby from 8:45PM – 9:00PM. Follow Tate Kobang on Facebook and Twitter for more show listings and news of his upcoming album releases.
Photo Credit: Dan Reagan
Sarah Hess
After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.
You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.
Latest posts by Sarah Hess (see all)
- The Wild Feathers Check One Off The Bucket List - July 31, 2017
- RY X Captivates Chicago - October 24, 2016
- Four New Bands at Day Three of Riot Fest - September 20, 2016
