New Orleans rap stalwart Lil Elt has been on an absolute tear with the resurgence of his popular “Get The Gat” tune.
Originally released in 1992, the bouncy record reincarnated itself once entertainer Subtweet Shawn’s social media campaign kicked off and fellow Louisiana staples like the LSU Football team and Jay Electronica incorporated the song into their respective wheelhouses.
Lil Wayne — who has been open about his obliviousness regarding current issues — even peeped the song making its way to the White House, hammering home’s the song’s ubiquity.
“When I heard Wayne shout the song out, I felt it was big,” Lil Elt tells HipHopDX for the “Get The Gat” official premiere. “There have been so many people showing love, but to hear a hometown legend like Wayne talk about it, it really showed me that things came full circle from where I started. If Wayne’s saying something about it, ‘Get The Gat’ is major.”
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And major is definitely an understatement. Although the 28-year-old single was just re-released in February, it currently sits at over 3.7 million Spotify plays, 2.7 million on YouTube and another 2.4 million on Apple Music. Its accompanying #GetTheGatChallenge on the varying social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook) has reportedly raked in an additional 43 million impressions.
Lil Elt Discusses LSU Football's Championship Run Injecting New Life Into 'Get The Gat' & His Career
During a recent interview with HipHopDX, Lil Elt shared the reason the song fell into regulatory purgatory and how he was able to reignite the spark.
“I was the youngest and had the hottest song on the label, which was called Parkway Pumpin Records,” he explained. “Just a lot of heads was clashing. I think that’s the best thing that could have happened with them shutting it down because heads was getting big because ‘Get The Gat’ was bringing in the money to the label. It was actually blowing up, and when we shut it down, it was in demand.
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“I kept doing music. I went to a distributor in Gonzalez and he was looking for “Get The Gat” in 1998. We shut it down in like 1993. We stopped it, but it was in demand. I really couldn’t control nothing. I was 16 years old, so I just rolled with the flow. But I always just had something, had a vision that even just putting it back out myself. But man, I never thought this [newfound success] would have happened.”
Watch the newly minted “Get The Gat” video (directed by burgenoning filmmaker Jade DelValle) above and follow @lileltofficial on Instagram for more information.
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