A rapper’s hometown is typically the place they get the most love but it can also be the place they receive equally as much hate. Rooga is a Chicago native but once he acquired the means, he moved out to the West Coast and settled into the cozy hills of Calabasas.
Speaking with VladTV, Rooga implored all rappers to leave their hometowns whenever they can and used Nipsey Hussle as a prime example of someone who is as solid as they come but it still ultimately ended in his tragic demise during March 2019.
“That’s every city,” he explained. “You can’t stay in the city you damn near from. That’s where the hate comes from first, your own city. You gotta be a dummy to stay in your own city. It even happened to [Nipsey Hussle] in his own city.
“This shit just ain’t that. You gotta get going. That’s the only way you’re going to secure the bag and secure your family and secure yourself.”
For the “GD Anthem” rapper, it got to the point he refused to perform in Chicago because he believed any show issues could destroy his branding as an artist and Chi-town rappers already have a contentious relationship with the city’s police department.
“I ain’t performed in Chicago at all,” he said. “I don’t perform in Chicago because it’s too much of a high-risk. I’m not scared of nothing, it’s just the principle. It’s so close to everything it’s a chance some shit could happen. And I don’t want to have that on my name, like a show gets shot up and now that’s on my name. Now nobody want to book you.”
Rooga made a guest appearance on Kanye West’s Donda album cut “Ok Ok” alongside Yeezy, Lil Yachty and Fivio Foreign. He even performed his “GD Anthem” track at the Chicago listening party for Donda in August at Soldier Field.
“It was definitely a great feeling,” he said of working with Kanye. “It was definitely an honor to be there. It just let me know where I stood in music. It let me know my purpose and it let me know don’t give up because there’s more to it. It’s a reason he reached out and I’m sitting in that room with all those people. It let me know I’m one of them.”