Gerry Skrillz on Immigration, Die Daily, & Next Project

Last week, Rapzilla took a look into the life and testimony of rap artist Gerry Skrillz. This week, the emcee addresses the narrative and stereotypes put upon immigrants and those struggling to make it.

Speaking directly from his experience of living in the U.S. with his Mexican immigrant family, he believes that most people do not have a problem with others trying to make it from other countries. Most, come here to make a better life and provide opportunities for their families.

“There are a number of people who understand that but that is why our country is so divided,” he said. “I think obviously they are some of the hardest working people here. Their desire is to work as hard as they can so they can have something to pass down and be proud of. That’s in general for America.”

He then went on to speak about minimum wage, and how it is difficult for lower-income families to survive on it.

“Who is on minimum wage? Immigrants, entry level position – This is the backbone of America. These are the people who build enterprises. The idea is that in America there was a time when you could have a blue collar job and you can own a home. That’s why people celebrated the 50s so much. It wasn’t because morals were better, it was because somebody could work and have a blue collar job and provide for their family. They could buy a home, provide, and do all these things. That is the American dream,” Skrillz explained. “I believe we have strayed from that because we have destroyed the entire middle class to the point where everybody is struggling. Anybody that is making over six figures, I have no idea how they are doing it out here. It’s really hard for people when they look at immigrants. They need someone to blame. The scapegoat is to blame them for taking your jobs but in reality those jobs, nobody else wants to do them.”

One of the things that Skrillz has a passion for is working with “these” people who are struggling. He is very focused on going into communities to help equip them to survive and know the Lord. That is how he got linked up with the Die Daily crew.

He started working with one of the producers of Die Daily and throughout the year started to get the know the other guys.

“We all had a very similar mindset and the same beliefs,” he shared. “I love what they were doing with the youth. My wife and I serve with the youth as leaders. When I saw how involved they are and how dope they are as artists and using their platforms to die to self and live for Christ. I thought it was amazing. It became a brotherhood and it all worked out.”

Die Daily didn’t have a presence on the West Coast. Most of the members are located in Oklahoma or in Texas, so for Skrillz, he had a territory all to his own.

Other than that, Skrillz is working on a new album and wants 2017 to be his busiest year yet. He’s already working on an EP but also has few things around the EP that will see new music in upcoming weeks.

“My main deal is I’m trying to better my craft and get to the point where I’m as good as I can get and serve my community around me and bring people home through the music. That’s the main thing we can do through music. It’s so powerful.”

He continued, “I created this person that I was never meant to be. This is not who God intended me to be but my influences and circumstances influenced me. What I had to do is surrender it and watch him destroy the image of the person I pretended to be. As I got to know him, I learned who I really was. The image that we paint of ourselves is inaccurate if we haven’t asked who we are.”

Read part one with Gerry Skrillz.

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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