That Mexican OT (Outta Texas) was mumbling raps before he could write them. When he failed grade school classes, he remembers his mother saying, “Fuck that school — my son is going to be a rapper.” In middle school, his father regularly woke him late at night to battle (and embarrass) his inebriated homies. OT’s decision to pursue a rap career might seem inevitable in this light, but he needed one final push, a moment of clarity so profound he couldn’t deny fate. That life-altering realization, as it does for so many, arrived when he was running from the law. He was also soaked in urine, his toes caked with fresh cow shit.
“I pissed on myself like 12 times that night to stay warm. It was cold as fuck. I was stepping in cow shit to keep my toes warm,” OT explains over the phone, understandably mum about the incident preceding the police chase. “I’m running from Brazoria [County, Texas] all the way to Lake Jackson. And while I’m running, guess what I’m doing? I’m rapping. That’s when I realized there’s no running from this rap shit. I have no choice but to do it.”
Today, things are much improved from that ripe and shivery night in the Texas backwoods. The 24-year-old born Virgil Gazcon lives in Brazoria (about an hour south of Houston) with his girlfriend and his dog, Bushwick Bill. (OT says his dad partied with the famous Geto Boy.) Quietly signed to Good Talk/Manifest/Good Money Global last year, he spends most days playing video games, relaxing with family, and recording. Of late, he’s added performing to the regular agenda. When we speak in mid-June, OT is back home from a string of sold-out Texas shows in cities like Corpus Christi and Austin.
“I’ve been performing my whole life,” he says when asked how he prepared for his first concerts. “I was sitting on the bed rapping to music videos while my mom ironed money on the floor. My dad would wake me up in seventh grade — house full of women and dudes — and he’d want me to eat these dudes up in rap battles. I’ve been performing. Now, I’m just getting paid for it.”
Question or Comment? Enter it below.