Galo ShadeZ is a veteran artist returning fresh to the music scene after a brief hiatus. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Galo Naranjo, III fell in love with basketball and music at a young age but shortly after, Galo realized his calling to pursue music over sports. He began writing lyrics and freestyle rapping, which lead to the release of his first album in 2005 titled, “IT’S MY TIME”. In the most recent years during Galo’s short performance hiatus, he founded his own label, TRE Entertainment. In January 2019, Galo Shadez released “Culture Shock” a hard-hitting single calling for the return of meaningful lyrics to the hip-hop culture. With his return to the studio, managing a record label, newfound love for EDM and undying devotion to hip-hop, Galo Shadez is returning quickly, bringing his unique flavor and sound back to the scene.
The West Coast hip-hop artist released his latest track “I Wanna” and we’re loving it. Since getting involved in the EDM scene, Galo ShadeZ expertly mixes contagious club beats into his music. “I Wanna” is layers with meaningful lyrics about success and doing whatever you want! It’s the perfect track for the dance floor at any club or party. It’s an infectious melody with a beat that doesn't quit. Galo proves his talents over and over again through his addicting rhythmic textures and contagious melodies. A track full of surprises, the drum & bass are a refreshing addition to “I Wanna”. We love what we’ve heard so far and we’re stoked for what Galo ShadeZ will deliver next.
Check out “I Wanna” here and read more below in our exclusive interview!
Hi Galo ShadeZ! Can you tell us more about your upbringing and how you got started in music?
Well I was born and raised in LA. I grew up predominately with my mom and my two younger sisters. There was a period of time where my uncle lived with me and shared a room with me. He would wake up really early to go to work and would blast West Coast hip-hop from the bathroom while he was showering.
That started the spark of me listening to and learning everything I could about hip hop.
A few years later my sister was in a school talent show and My uncle thought it be a good idea of me being her background dancer for the show. The show went great and I had a breakdown part of the song where I did the tootsie roll dance. I got like a standing ovation and since the moment I knew I wanted to start performing.
Towards the end of high school I started freestylin little by little & by the time I got out of high school I recorded my first verse in my friends closet vocal booth. After that is was on.
What’s your song “I Wanna” all about? Can you dive into the lyricism?
I wanna it’s about living the life that you want to live. I believe all people have a certain lifestyle or aspire to live a life that they think about our dream of. To me I wanna is just saying that out loud.
In the chorus you know it really just talks about how I want to live my life freely you know like stress-free worry free and just have a pure heart and a clear mind and it also just shares that I wanna always be having a good time having fun and doing that with someone that’s meant for me.
In the verses I really just dive into a lot of the places that you know I’ve been to or that I want to go to and some of the experiences that I want to have in the music industry and just things I wanna accomplish with my music.
Who are your top musical influences? How do they inspire you?
I definitely have a lot of musical influences. But if I have to choose my top ones they would definitely have to be Jay Z, Pitbull, Eminem and Nelly.
Jay Z has always inspired me because I feel like he’s the perfect storm of Hip Hop or at least what I want to be in hip-hop. Because he’s got ridiculous Flo you know he’s one of the best to ever do it and he is an extreme businessman. Which to me I like up to a lot because you know I’m an entrepreneur at heart so one of the things I want to do outside of music is definitely develop businesses in the entertainment industry and outside entertainment industry and be able to help others as well.
Pitbull inspired me because Pitbull really made me believe that a Latino can make it big in the main stream hip-hop market. When I saw Pitbull I was like oh damn like he’s lighter than me. And he’s doing it, he’s making it, he’s killing it. He raised my belief level a lot so he was just an inspiration that a Latino like me can make it in the main stream game.
Eminem did similar things as far as raising my belief. Obviously you know my first I was like well damn it is white boy can make it I mean that opens up the doors for everybody. But I think Eminem story of overcoming so much struggling so much challenge was the most inspiring thing about him. The fact that he just never gave up any really just stuck with it no matter how bad I got for him. So that was the real light most inspiring thing about Eminem. Not to mention he’s the greatest rapper of all time.
Nelly did for me was Nelly basically made it OK to make fun music. When I first started making music I didn’t really know which row I wanted to go because I grew up in the West Coast and the West Coast is the birthplace of gangsta rap. You know but that wasn’t exactly my lifestyle you know I was around that and had family members that had that lifestyle but that wasn’t me. But when I heard Nelly and like all his like really fine records and the way people just wear like five into it and enjoy his music I thought to myself well damn that’s cool like I could do that too. Because you know I have always been really social guy and love the party love to have fun and that’s what kind of influence me and let me know it’s OK that you know be able to get on record and just have a good time.
How would you describe your live performance?
My live performance is LIT!!!
From the first time I performed I always had an entertainers mindset. What I mean by that is like I never ever just thought, oh I’m gonna go up there and just rap. I always thought I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna put on a show. So most of the shows I did when I dropped my first album I always had dancers, I had in a live DJ and I had my producer playing the keys live. So I would give you a show. Being a good entertainer I think is part of you know your package and for me I pride myself on that. So you’re going to come see Galo ShadeZ show you’re definitely going to be entertained.
Do you have any upcoming shows or events you’d like to talk about?
I don’t have any upcoming shows or events that I’m promoting right now. I’m focusing on getting a few more singles out and shooting videos for them. And once I got there wrapped up I will start performing regularly again.
Keep up with Galo ShadeZ on social media!