Last Updated on March 2, 2024
Lots of folks nowadays complain that it’s difficult to meet real, honest people. And then there’s Kevin Gates – with his music and lyrics and life all out in the open. From a turbulent childhood to becoming one of hip-hop’s biggest names, this rapper, singer, and entrepreneur is an inspiration to all hardworkers out there.
Who is Kevin Gates
Born on February 5, 1986, Kevin Jerome Gilyard is of Moroccan and Puerto Rican descent. His family moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he grew up. Sources say that his childhood had been tumultuous. Two events that probably shaped his young mind was when he lost contact with his father, and when he was arrested at 13 years old for being a passenger in a stolen vehicle.
That was the first time he’s ever been to prison, but it won’t be the last. The hardship and depression that he felt through the years are evident in his lyrics. He began his career by signing up with Dead Game Records, a record label founded in Baton Rouge, in 2007. His earlier singles were mostly mixtapes and ad-libs, written with ‘a lot of pain…a lot of true stories’.
Kevin Gates on Music, Life, and Love
Critics have described his songs as having autobiographical lyrics with refined Southern beats. Today, you may recognize some of his songs being used on viral TikTok videos. His name truly took off in 2014 with the release of his single ‘I Don’t Get Tired’, which was also his first song ever to make it to the US Billboard Hot 100.
His music is sometimes referred to as confessional anthems because of how he pours his emotions and life stories into them. This has helped him gain a loyal number of fans who have followed his stable rise in the industry. Aside from music, he is also an entrepreneur and one of the owners of the BWA (Bread Winners’ Association) record label.
Gates is married to long-time girlfriend, Dreka Haynes. They have two children, Islah and Khaza, with Islah’s name featured on one of his albums (Islah, 2015). Gates has mentioned that he has other children, even though doesn’t divulge any more information on the matter. To him, his life and music is art – and art doesn’t need any other explanation.
The Rise of Kevin Gates
One of the reasons why Kevin Gates has such a loyal following is because he stays true to himself. His climb to the top has been slow but steady. Since turning out mixtapes, everything he ever did have been all about music and keeping it real. In fact, in an interview in 2016, he says that it would be difficult to get a feel for his album without knowing him as an individual.
His 2013 album Stranger Than Fiction for instance, has been true to its name. Gates can be too real sometimes for public scrutiny. And his history of being in prison doesn’t help in that department. However, it’s also a good source of inspiration. His music talks a lot about those experiences, as well as depression and hustling for success.
Just like Gates, you don’t need fancy gems or viral videos to be successful. You just need to grind harder and be true to yourself – just like these authentic Kevin Gates quotes.
Powerful Kevin Gates Quotes and Lyrics
- “I’m nowhere close to perfect, of this I’m sure, but God is!” – Kevin Gates
- “Sometimes the best move is no move.” – Kevin Gates
- “I know a lot, but there’s some things I don’t know.” – Kevin Gates
- “Entertainment and the streets don’t go together.” – Kevin Gates
- “Ice box where my heart used to be. Eskimo city, no feelings, I’ma igloo.” – Kevin Gates
- “When trying to destroy you, they destroy themselves in the process. F**k em’ – work harder!” – Kevin Gates
- “And the drugs don’t really make the problem ever shrink. But they do release the endorphins that help me not to think.” – Kevin Gates
- “I experience great hurt, this hurt allows me to know I’m alive.” – Kevin Gates
- “You the only one that my dick could get hard for.” – Kevin Gates
- “Some’ll say life is a gamble, which means love is a casino. Everybody just playin’ to win.” – Kevin Gates
- “Climbin’ forward, strivin’, I’m a grinder. Rearview watchin’ what’s behind you: Peripheral, watchin’ what’s on side you.” – Kevin Gates
- “All things are obtained by Wisdom and Knowledge.” – Kevin Gates
- “I have trouble with letting go. That’s my problem.” – Kevin Gates
- “Don’t let nobody know that you a monster. Keep it on the tuck and then surprise ‘em.” – Kevin Gates
- “I know I write a lot of my best music in the car, like late night. Three, four in the morning.” – Kevin Gates
- “Anybody that’s borderline brilliant – they’re gonna suffer with depression. ‘Cause you don’t see the world how other people see the world. You see it for what it is. You see it different.” – Kevin Gates
- “Out my window… I see everything I dream about and wished I had.” – Kevin Gates
- “Fat, black, nasty, who your baby daddy? Sure as hell ain’t Puerto Rican Gates.” – Kevin Gates
- “Wealth is not of the pocket. It’s of the heart. It’s of the mind. I live like that.” – Kevin Gates
- “I walked a hundred thousand miles, long way from home. Miss my niggas, some dead, some ain’t comin’ home.” – Kevin Gates
- “I don’t pay attention to social media. So if I do something I do it from the heart. I don’t do it for any feedback, I did it ‘cause that’s how I felt.” – Kevin Gates
- “When you come up in the slums, having nothin’ make you humble.” – Kevin Gates
- “Bein’ logical gave me a reason to doubt.” – Kevin Gates
- “You mean to tell me if you’ve been f**king with someone for three months. Everything beautiful and your grandmother come tell you one day that’s your cousin, y’all done? Why f**k up a good thing?” – Kevin Gates
- “When you follow your heart, you always win!” – Kevin Gates
- “Without true pain, one could never know true happiness.” – Kevin Gates
- “Would you still be my friend when I’m lonely?” – Kevin Gates
- “I believe that life is a journey and for me to tell you my plans; things never go according to plan.” – Kevin Gates
- “Whenever someone says something about you, whether it’s direct or indirect, don’t entertain this. Don’t let no body trick you out of your position.” – Kevin Gates
- “I was built for that pressure.” – Kevin Gates
- “Women say they love but never more than the ice.” – Kevin Gates
- “I was saying that if I loved a woman, I’m supposed to lick her toes, ego, pussy, and eat her booty.” – Kevin Gates
- “I’m not made out of concrete. I’m a real person.” – Kevin Gates
- “You learn fast or you die young.” – Kevin Gates
- “I love vampire novels by Anne Rice but I also love Nicholas Sparks.” – Kevin Gates
- “Get it, get fly, I got six jobs, I don’t get tired.” – Kevin Gates
- “If it matters to you, pursue it aggressively.” – Kevin Gates
- “She says I’m a dog, but it takes one to know one.” – Kevin Gates
- “I could give a flying flip about doing promo because, no disrespect, nobody put me in the position that I’m in. I was doing sold-out shows before I got radio play.” – Kevin Gates
- “Some may consider this a problem, I easily fall in love.” – Kevin Gates
- “Loves a battlefield it’s not a one night stand.” – Kevin Gates
- “I got partners that got life sentences at a young age, and I had to step up to the plate and take care of their children. I’ve always been a caretaker of young people.” – Kevin Gates
- “Music’s the most therapeutic thing for me. Because I suffer with depression, and it’s my only form of releasing it.” – Kevin Gates
- “I like where we at now – but I’m in love with where we going.” – Kevin Gates
- “God made it impossible for me to be anything other than what I am.” – Kevin Gates
- “Anything lost, can be found again, except for time wasted A vision without action is merely a dream Action, it’s the grind, it’s the hustle, it’s the persistence.” – Kevin Gates
- “Knowledge is provided but only to those who need to know.” – Kevin Gates
- “Everybody round you pretendin that they your partner, let you have a problem they won’t even help you out.” – Kevin Gates
- “If you associate yourself with peer pressure or complacency, you’re destined for failure.” – Kevin Gates
- “Emotionally I’m an introvert but it come off as aggression.” – Kevin Gates
- “My daily conversation, it consists of hustle. Grinding from the bottom sick and tired of struggle.” – Kevin Gates
- “It is illegal to steal my feelings and leave.” – Kevin Gates
- “I don’t have a religion. I ain’t nothing wrong with church as long as they selling chicken. ‘Cause I read the Quran, I read the Kabalah, I read the Bible. They all got the same three basic principles: Love God, love your neighbor as yourself, and…As far as me being, I live by those principles.” – Kevin Gates
- “The ones that hate you most tend to be the people you know.” – Kevin Gates
- “Never break or fold, that’s what it takes to be major.” – Kevin Gates