ORIGINAL GOODIE MOBB MEMBER BIG GIP DROPS LEAD SINGLE "BEAUTIFUL LOVER" OFF NEW ALBUM "ZAGGA"

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During the last several years, Gipp recorded an album as a member of the Goodie Mob, saw his friends enjoy massive success and the success of these various endeavors led the Atlanta rapper to rekindled his love for music.

“I had fallen out of love with rap,” Gipp says. The biggest thing I wanted to do was just love, to say that I’m back in love with that woman named music.”

The manifestation of Gipp’s love is Zagga, his remarkable new album that features a groundbreaking sonic direction for the trailblazing Georgia rapper as well as several songs that represent his signature sound and style.

 “I am the beginning and the end. There is no you without me. The name starts with the end of the alphabet and ends with the beginning. That’s the significance of it all. I did it full circle as far as being an artist.” That’s what I mean by the name of the album, Zagga,” Gipp says.

Gipp’s rebirth began in London when he met producer Dr. Freak and heard the music for what would become “Spoiled,” a Zagga cut that features Gipp detailing how he will invest in loving his woman. From there, the two combined for “Shine Like Gold,” an inviting song where Gipp and CeeLo Green pay homage to a woman who is everything he’s ever wanted. “As soon as we caught that record,” Gipp says,” “it set a bar for the album.”

The welcoming vibe continues as Gipp documents how a conversation with a woman he just met brightened his day on the up-tempo “How Bout You” and he details the first encounter with an incredible woman on “Hello Ms.” “It’s the heart of the album to me,”  Gipp says of “Hello Ms.” “Ain’t nothing like celebrating the awkward time of meeting a girl for the first time and getting a vibe.”

“Spoiled,” “Shine Like Gold,” “Hello Ms” and “How Bout You” are credible, danceable songs trumpeting women, a topic Gipp says needs more attention in modern rap. “If we don’t celebrate our women and everybody keeps tearing them down, then who are we?” he asks. “There’s always going to be somewhat of a revolutionary overtone to my music.

The vibe continues with the piano-propelled “Paint Your Walls,” an ode to sexual artistry, and the feel-good club energy of “Thank You.”  

Although much of Zagga features Gipp celebrating women, he also shows his versatility by calling out women who are ugly on the inside on the methodical “Miss Pretty” and by examining the shortcomings of the street lifestyle on guitar and keyboard-driven “Gansta,” a hard-hitting collaboration with Kurupt.

Big Gipp delivers another potent dose of social commentary on the powerful “Georgia” and documents street politics on “The Olde World.” The latter reminds him of some of his earlier, politically-driven work with Goodie Mob.

But as important as it is to make that type of material, Gipp wanted to be sure to expand his musical horizons. “I can’t be stuck in that box because it ain’t big enough,” he explains. “It’s also been tainted. If I’m not expected to do something like Zagga, what am I expected to do? It’s almost like, if I try to fit in, they’ll be like, ‘You ain’t gotta try to fit in, Unc. You did this.’”

Gipp has indeed done it, being an integral member of Goodie Mob, one of rap’s most important groups. Debuting in 1994 on OutKast’s landmark Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik album, Gipp emerged as a distinctive voice in rap because of his politically-charged rhymes, imaginative slanguage and his ability to craft story raps that stayed with listeners long after the music stopped.

Goodie Mob was signed by L.A. Reid to his LaFace Records. Today, Gipp reunites with the legendary music executive at Epic Records. It’s a full-circle evolution for Gipp, one also highlighted on Ceelo Green’s the Good Life. The TBS program shows Gipp and the rest of Goodie Mob acting out humorous situations, the group’s version of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In addition to giving Goodie Mob a massive platform to showcase additional sides of their personalities, Ceelo Green’s the Good Life also set the stage for Gipp’s musical evolution, something L.A. Reid championed once he heard songs from Zagga.

“L.A. was like, ‘That’s what I’m talking about’ when he heard ‘Shine Like Gold’ and ‘Paint Your Walls,’” Gipp says. “I feel like, ‘Why should I be afraid to do anything because I’ve done everything?’ I look at it as, ‘Now it’s my turn.’ This is my example of what great albums are supposed to sound like.”