G.I. Magus is one of the most respected voices behind the microphone in the Birmingham music scene, and with good reason. The musician has spent years perfecting his craft while never allowing himself to stagnate, only grow in new directions. G.I.’s latest project, “Bare”, displays the musician’s brilliance wonderfully. Magus had eight of the city’s best producers sample the same song: Kirk Franklin’s “More Than I Can Bear”. The result is eight distinguished songs that highlight the musician’s new vulnerability while still keeping the lyricism at the highest level. The release also came with a limited edition book with lyrics and photos from Tez Davenport, which can be found of G.I.'s website.
“The idea has definitely been in the works for a couple of years,” the artist explains, “I wanted to do something that was a little more introspective and this was a good song for me to be able to do that.” G.I. Magus had built solid friendships with so many top-tier producers and was curious to see how different minds would transform the original song into a new masterpiece. He was hoping to get a few tracks back, but received eight must-hear creations and knew something special was being made.
“I just sent them the song and told them to do what they do,” Magus relays, “They all somehow found different places to gravitate towards to make something.” Erthling., ITP, Dreux Kaine, Akil Pratt, Suaze, King Tall T, Anthem, and KeBaiy all shine in such unique ways with the music they sent back to G.I., and Magus made sure to give every track matching lyrical energy.
G.I. Magus knew he wanted to embrace vulnerability and tell his tale. “I wanted to talk about my life more on this one. I wanted to tell stories from my life where it’s experiences I’ve had. Struggles I’ve had.” While the musician has never been afraid of going bar-crazy and embracing clever lines, he placed a focus on the story in this release. The two features are both singers that G.I. could envision on the track while creating his verses. “I'm not a singer by any stretch of the imagination, but I had vocal concepts that I wanted to do for the hook on those songs,” the musician explains. “Stripped Down” features Wisdom Bibbs and “Vain” features Dean Priest, who used to be in the rap group Battle Cats with G.I. Magus and Therealjoeclark (who G.I. credits with beginning his music career on the album and in this interview), and both singers deliver terrific results.
“I intentionally didn’t put this on streaming sites right now because I know the culture is leaning in the directions that people aren’t buying records anymore,” G.I. Magus shares. Fans and interested listeners can check out “Bare” on Bandcamp, which pays artists more than other platforms. Magus explains that he understands not everyone can afford to spend money on an album, but he spends a lot to ensure his releases are high-quality and wants to find the crowd willing to financially support that endeavor. “I’m challenging people to make that trend and go and purchase it,” he states, “Even if you’re going to stream it from Bandcamp for the rest of your life, support your artists by purchasing their music. Or finding some merch. Find some way to put money in the artist’s pocket because this is not a cheap thing even if it’s a hobby. If it’s gonna sound like something. Some people can record themselves, mix themselves, all that: that’s not my testimony.”
“I think it’s been an evolution,” G.I. Magus shares of his personal sound, “I started out in the group, then I started doing solo stuff more out of necessity than a desire to be this solo artist. I went off to college and I wanted to keep doing shows and performing and writing.” He’s now seeing the next evolution as “Bare” aims to “open different perspectives of me personally instead of this philosophical esoteric guy on music. We’ll see what the next iteration looks like but that’s where the headspace is now.”
Magus is thankful for his own evolution (as heard in the song “Bear With Me”) and wants to help rising artists in the city feel their hometown can be the launching point for their personal growth. “It’s a huge thing for me to (make music) in Birmingham. I’ve moved to other states and cities, and I've always wanted to help the Birmingham music scene - specifically the music scene - grow and get to a place where artists feel like they have a culture that they can evolve in,” G.I. shares, “Even if those artists move on to other places and celebrity and fame outside of Birmingham, I want them to feel like they have a place here that they can grow from.”
You can catch G.I. Magus as a featured artist at The Flourish’s High Tea at The Little London event on July 17th at 7pm. The musician is also already hard at work on a couple of other projects he’d like to release within the next year. The next evolution of G.I. Magus is bound to impress, but “Bare” and his previous work are enough to make him at Magic City great today.
Cover image taken by Figen Basdogan
