GERM

GROWING UP IN ATLANTA, GERM DREAMED OF LANDING FRONTSIDE NOSEGRINDS AND JUMPING SICK STAIR SETS. WITH HIS MIND DEDICATED TO PROGRESSING AS A SKATER, HE NEVER EVEN ASPIRED TO A CAREER SPITTING RHYMES. “IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL I HAD THIS GIRL I WAS MESSING AROUND WITH. SHE HAD A BOYFRIEND WHO WAS A ‘RAPPER,’ AND AFTER THAT I WAS ANTI-RAPPER,” GERM SAYS. “YOU KNOW, ‘YOUR MAN’S A RAPPER, BUT HE’S LAME AND I’M WAY COOLER THAN HIM AS A SKATER.’ I DIDN’T GROW UP TRYING TO BE A RAPPER AND THINKING THIS WAS MY DREAM. IT KIND OF JUST HAPPENED THROUGH THE HOMIES RAPPING AND THEN I GOT INTO IT. IT CAME KIND OF EASY SO I JUST STUCK WITH IT.”

- ARIANA WEST

Germ stumbled into the rap world via Fat Nick, who invited him to kick it at his crib after they connected online. It wasn’t long after seeing Nick and fellow rapper Pouya killing it in the underground scene that Germ decided to give music a go. “I did my first-ever song with Pouya and Fat Nick, around 2014,” Germ says. “We went to the studio, started fucking around and rapping. Pouya was on his up and up, so we got on a song and shot a video together. He went on tour that following summer and brought me along. I’ve been kicking it with them since then and watching everybody getting bigger.”