Photo courtesy of Jerry Graham Publicity
Buffalo emcee Gaine$ took listeners back to the late 80s with his latest album “Mr. Gaine$.” The album’s title is inspired by character actor Lou Myer’s role as a wise restaurateur in the hit NBC sitcom A Different World. The songs throughout the project are grimy and street themed, yet aspirational.
Mr. Gaine$ is an 11-track album produced entirely by Nom. The Slime Shack Records release features appearances by Toneyboi, Skate Cobain, and Brother Tom Sos.
Gaine$ spoke to The Real Hip-Hop about finding his voice, why he doesn’t settle for praise, working with producer Nom, and his new album, Mr. Gaine$.
TRHH: Why’d you call the new album Mr. Gaine$?
Gaine$: My artist name is Gaine$. I was watching the show A Different World and I was inspired by the character Mr. Gaines. It’s a 90s sitcom, everybody probably heard about it. If they ain’t never tapped into that, check that out. He was like the chef on the show. All of the students all came to him for advice or whatever. I kind of played off of that. The name made sense for me and I just ran with it.
TRHH: How’d you and Nom get together to decide to do an entire album?
Gaine$: Nom is a relative of a good friend of mine, somebody I’ve doing music with for years, his name is ToneyBoi. They’re cousins and he’s my engineer. He kind of brought us all together like about a year and a half ago. Nom is nasty, that’s the only way I can describe it. My man really makes some shit that elevated my sound. His sound elevated me to a place where the mediums met. But we met at the studio about a year and a half ago. We did like three or four records with the team. From there it was just building.
I’d bump into him and say, “We gotta get together,” I’ll bump into him again like, “Let’s get together.” He started sending me a couple records, told me to come to the studio in downtown Buffalo. I start picking out sounds and what I picked out we worked on a couple of those, and then he started sending me things based off of that section. From then it was like, “Yo, you understand what I want and what I like to work on,” so it was love from there.
TRHH: How long did it take to do Mr. Gaine$?
Gaine$: I’d say 7-8 months. I dropped a single for it back in September. From then he just kept feeding me joints. Sometimes you just build that chemistry with somebody like, “This is what I’m gonna do to what you give me.” So, we built that up and he start sending me records and I’m like, “This is crazy, this is crazy.” I got back to work, right to the pen and pad on it. The idea for the whole project didn’t come together until late 2025. It was kind of last minute.
We had like four or five done and I’m like, “I don’t know if we’re gonna drop an EP or if we’re gonna build on this.” He kept sending me more and we just kept building from there. Here in Buffalo it’s a tight knit community. A lot of the artists, a lot of the producers, we congregate and make everything makes sense. The result of it has been amazing. I’m starting this journey off right now.
TRHH: On the song “The Collection Plate” you say, “Never settle for praise, I’ll settle for a raise/a new house, four bank accounts…” How important is it to you to be giving props for your lyrics? Or unimportant?
Gaine$: For the second half of that, with my lyrics I try to make sure it makes sense to me, it makes sense to what’s going on in my life, my mentality, where I’m at. We tell a story about what we accomplished, where we’re headed, where we’re going, where we’ve been. I’m not here to impress nobody, but at the end of the day I’m here to tell my story. I can’t really say what anybody else is doing because I’m so locked into what I’m doing. At the end of the day did you love the lyricism? Cool. The ability to rap? Cool. Did you hear me? Did you hear this part? Did you hear what I was saying? A lot of it I try to make sure it resonates with me, with where I’m at as an emcee, and an artist, but also as a person.
A lot of times people are rapping about things that don’t connect. You meet the person and you see where they’re at and you understand what that person does every day. Next thing you know you understand why they said this and you understand why they make this type of music. I’m just trying to make sure it makes sense. When you put that pen to the paper a lot of times it’s like, “Are you here to impress me or are you here to tell your story?” I try to culminate them both. I can wow you with my talent, but also give you my story, or give you something to think about. That’s the biggest thing for me.
TRHH: “Trade Deadline” is a song that stands out to me because it’s one minute long and you’re just ripping through it. Why’d you decide to attack that beat straight through with no hook?
Gaine$: I’m from Buffalo, NY, so what’s on fire right now, what the sound is, and what’s coming from here is a lot of Griselda stuff. I fuck with Benny the Butcher, I fuck with everybody that do shit here and come from here, even if they ain’t here no more they’re shaking and moving in the world. That song was really close to his sound and I was like, “I have to show them that I can really do this too.” I can give you bar for bar too outside of just making songs, outside of making something that everybody is going to like.
You have to touch a little bit of everything when you’re approaching the music and shit. That was that. Bar for bar it wasn’t no room for a hook. I didn’t wanna make that a song. I wanted to make it, “Here, I have something. Listen to a nigga real quick.” Every record don’t require the full ensemble of what you can do, so that was a quick in and out on that joint though. I feel like I was satisfied with walking on that shit and keeping it moving.
TRHH: On the song “The Otherside of $$$” you use a different flow. It made me wonder who your lyrical influences are?
Gaine$: Originally, I always roll back to 2Pac. Pac gave anything that requires energy. Not just energy like I’m loud on this song volume wise, no, it’s passion involved into what you’re saying. You’ve seen some artists say some bullshit and they make it sound like it’s the dopest shit ever. Nah, I want to say some real shit, but the with same passion and intensity. You’ve got to grab the audience. I’ve been recording music for about 20-21 years and I didn’t have that voice.I didn’t have direction, I didn’t have that grit that I feel like a lot of artists miss.
That record was just me showing my abilities, but still give you something that captures your attention. The whole record is double time rap. It sounds fast, but really the record is at a steady pace. I just try to do something to the sound that makes sense. Do what the song is calling for. I decided to do a video to it because the energy matched. I wanted to have something that grabs the attention of the audience.
TRHH: How did you find your voice?
Gaine$: It’s crazy, you hear me now, I’m 35, at the time when I was beginning to really record and take music seriously I had the bars, I had everything. Everything was good, but it wasn’t grasping the audience while performing on stage. You’re going light and you’ve got to bring some bravado, you gotta bring me some energy. I did this one show and one of my OG’s pulled me to the side like,” Yo, the bars, on point, what you’re saying, on point, make them feel shit. Bring that grown man energy to the microphone. Not just ‘I’m saying my shit ‘cause this is how it sounded when I recorded it.’” I’m not bringing the studio to the stage. I’m bringing a whole ‘nother energy like I’m talking to y’all, not just trying to perform my song.
So, that was one of the things and then getting a little older my voice changed a little bit. We kicked it how we always kick it, but you definitely gotta bring another level of energy. That was it. Voice on record versus voice live, it changes. How you wanna sound in the studio, it’s a difference. I’m here to capture your attention. You ain’t here to see me rap over my backtrack [laughs]. You’re getting the real me – every ounce of energy I got. Live versus studio, but even with the studio I come completely prepared. You can say that’s where I got my voice I guess, just understanding that difference between being on a microphone and just speaking, and actually talking that shit on time with a purpose.
TRHH: Who is the Mr. Gaine$ album made for?
Gaine$: You know, I’ve had projects in the past that were just for me. Because I love music, I love to do it. This was a chance to have a presentation or a representation of something that I relate to. I fucked with the concept of A Different World and all of that, but it’s like how can I mesh who I am with a concept that makes sense? That’s like, “Oh shit!” Coincidentally, I guess, but you know what’s crazy is the whole idea of this project came from my girl was in the living room watching A Different World and I heard this one clip and the actress that plays Whitley on the show said, “Hey, such and such, Mr. Gaines is looking for you.” I said, “I need that!” I said, “Babe, rewind the show!” I took my phone, recorded that shit, took it right to the lab. I said, “I’m ‘bout to go crazy!” I knew what I wanted to do, but I was gonna name the album “A Different World” but I said, “Oh shit, let me play off of this Mr. Gaines theme.”
Ideas come to you and you might be creating something, but you don’t know what you’re making. The idea will come to you and you’re like, “Oh, this is what this can be!” I’ve done this for years, but just understanding what I wanted to accomplish here, it was just more like, “Let me build on what I’ve done in the past.” I had a recent project in 2023 called “Pain in Full” but it had all the clips from “Paid in Full.” I’m making my own rendition of what inspired me, what I fucked with, and just running with that shit. That’s where I was at with it, man. I’m kind of looking forward to seeing how everything moves out. It’s my first chance to really tap in with people that obviously don’t know me, but at the same time I get to show you who I am as a person, show you my artistry, and try to juggle and balance and present it to the masses.
Purchase: Gaine$ – Mr. Gaine$