“As soon as you make it, motherf**ers are gonna start hating on you. That’s when the most hate comes, because they want to bring you down with them. They see you leavin’ them, motherf**ers don’t want you to leave.”
Sleazy, also known as SleazyWorld Go, has moved around quite a bit in his life — letting every place he’s been to define his artistry in some way.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the now Los Angeles-based artist later moved to Kansas City where he spent a majority of his time growing up. Relocating to LA after his music career took off, he stills claims both towns in hopes he can gain more exposure for the cities’ respective hip-hop communities.
“I’m doing it for two cities, I’m representing two cities,” he said. “That’s who I’m doing it for, I’m doing it for Grand Rapids, I’m doing it for Kansas City, Missouri. There’s talent in both cities and I want to let the world know, we coming.”
What aided Sleazy in his pursuit of rap stardom was his viral song “Sleazy Flow,” released in October 2021. With the iconic line, “How you mad she choosing me? I like what she do to me, she say she feel safer over here this where the shooters be,” Sleazy made himself one of TikTok’s most recognizable voices.
The sound for the song has been used in over 600,000 TikToks, including some of rap’s superstars like Jack Harlow and Lil Baby. Although he knew he had lighting in a bottle after he made the song, Sleazy explained that the spontaneity of the lyrics created a perfect harmony.
“The song, I ain’t really know what I was gonna say on there, I really only had the beginning of it where I said, ‘Put y’all’s Glocks in the air,'” he said. “I just saw a vision for that (song), so when I started putting bars on there, I was just saying whatever. That sh*t just came together.”
Along with the success on TikTok, its music video has now eclipsed over 6 million views, as Sleazy credits his fans for his blow up because he’s “not on the internet that much.”
With the boost from “Sleazy Flow,” Sleazy was able to ink a record deal with Island Records, famous for housing clients like Bob Marley, Shawn Mendes, M.I.A. and more. TikTok was truly a life-changing tool for Sleazy, but he did not even realize its potential until after it helped him ascend.
“I slept on TikTok, that sh*t is raw as hell. It’s definitely different, and I feel like it’s one of the most popping apps right now. I’m not really an animated person so I can’t be on it like that, but how they took my song was different from how they take other songs that do dances and sh*t. It made sense. I f**k with how they used my song, with just rapping it and sh*t. I feel like I gave (users) that type of confidence.”
Sleazy to Our Generation Music
Although he does not plan to make a sequel for “Sleazy Flow” — similar to NLE Choppa‘s “Shotta Flow” series — Sleazy has big plans for the future, including his upcoming mixtape Comer. The concept for the project is to attract fans to tune into the movement he is creating with his music.
“I say it a lot in my songs, ‘Come Here’ (Comer) means a lot to me,” he said. “The whole concept of ‘Comer’ is like — I feel like I be sitting here alone and the world is over there watching me and the wave and what’s going on. It’s just me telling them to come here. It’s a new wave, it’s just me introducing them to this new sound, this new person.”
While he has been working with big name producers like CashMoneyAP, Dmac and Einer Bankz for Come Here, Sleazy does not want many features included, because he wants listeners to pay attention to his sound.
“I might have a feature on there, but I like focusing on my sound…” he said. “My projects, that sh*t be personal, I want people to listen to my sh*t to focus on me.”
Sleazy to Our Generation Music
With a huge 2022 ahead, Sleazy linked with OGM host Hakeem Rowe, touching on his upcoming mixtape, his favorite football team (the Kansas City Chiefs), how he got his stage name, his love for Kodak Black and Rod Wave, the Sleazy clothing brand and much more in our latest Our Generation Music exclusive interview.
Watch Sleazy’s OGM exclusive below!
