Rapper and producer Frosty the Gloman talks the past, his sound, the Long Beach scene, and more.
Long Beach native Frosty the Gloman is part of an emerging underground scene of artists and producers coming from Southern California embodying a vibrant, raw energy. His music is hard to fit into one category or mood. He plays a lot with his sound- embodying a range of feelings using both soft swelling sounds and bright energetic deliveries. His music is both emotionally vulnerable and unapologetically confident as he raps about his life and experiences. He currently creates everything from the corner of his bedroom- fitted with an eclectic setup of recording equipment, midi keyboard, drum machine, lamps, air conditioners, space heaters, and television screens all next to his dresser. He embodies a true grass roots artist.
Frosty is proud to be born and raised in Long Beach, but he first started perfecting his craft in Arizona, where he spent most of his highschool years living with his dad. "My dad and my brother are the two main [people] that really got me into making music." Frosty says. "My dad was a DJ and a producer and shit. Him and my uncles rapped as well because they were in a Christian hip hop group together." Growing up watching the main figures in his life make music and having ample access to production equipment put Frosty in a unique position to begin experimenting. "I always knew that [music] was something I wanted to do, but I didn't know if I wanted to be a gospel rapper or make something else." He actually started out making gospel rap, but eventually strayed away after becoming entranced with the boom of artists who came up during Soundcloud's rising popularity.
Frosty fondly remembers when he started listening to Xavier Wulf, and his group Sesh Hollow Waterboyz. He also recalls listening to a lot of Three 6 Mafia, Raider Klan, BKTherula, and especially Chief Keef. "Those are the people that really shaped my sound," Frosty says. His eclectic influences from when he was starting out is very reminiscent in his older work. His 2018 mixtape 3 is filled with Memphis flows, back of the throat monotone deliveries, and sweeping synths. He’s still excited by the Soundclound scene today. "I love listening to whatever I can find on Soundcloud" he says, always searching for new artists. "I try to listen to a lot of different music." Some of his current Soundcloud favorites are Amber London, Duwap Kaine, and TisaKorean. In fact, Tisa's song SillyDude is his alarm tone. "Yeah, I use that song whenever I set an alarm. I love that song, it's fire as fuck."
Like his influences who always experiment with new sounds and techniques, he too wants to push the envelope for his own production. "I love techno shit," he says. "I'll sample European techno songs, and that shit comes out crazy." He loves electronic sounds because he feels that there is more room to experiment and really create something unique. He also likes Indian pop as well. "I like a lot of that Bollywood stuff too. I grew up listening to a lot of Bollywood because my brother would play it a lot. They have some really tight shit that you can sample." Needless to say, he experiments a lot with his production and the genres that he draws from, all going into his ethereal yet raw sound. "It's all just a melting pot. I know songs I heard back in the day growing up that I'll just find ways to sample."
Emerging on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, Frosty has been able to fully get back into live shows, one of his main strong suits as an artist. Frosty is generally soft spoken in person, but on the stage, he's a whole different person. "I'm super quiet whenever I'm out and shit, so people don't ever expect me to be the one performing unless they saw me on the flyer," he says. "It's always funny seeing people's faces when I'm the one up there rapping and jumping around and going crazy and shit." Frosty doesn't fuck around when it comes to shows, always bringing an unmistakable energy, breathing new life into his music. As everyone readjusts to night life and being outside, he's been performing and DJing more and more, even hosting a couple shows of his own. "I feel like it's one of the places where I can really just be myself and let loose." Frosty says. "All I have to worry about is putting on a good performance and making sure I sound right and making sure everybody's having fun." One of the most fun shows he's done was a house show for a group called Club Oro in Glendale, where he performed with his brother HDDN JMMZ and another up and coming rapper called Red Bag. He also excitedly mentions a show he performed at on Halloween called For the Homies, and a show he threw called Frosty's Friends. At its core, he loves connecting with people most.
When discussing where Frosty wants to take his music into the future, he made it very clear that he wants to do things differently than a lot of other big names in the industry. Frosty told me that he "[doesn't] wanna be one of those rappers that starts a record label or anything. I feel like that's just the quintessential rapper thing to do." Instead, he wants to push in the direction of artist development, working with an already established label to help others who dream of having a career in music. "I've always wanted to help people and shit. So I'll start groups for kids that want to learn music. Workshops at local libraries and shit like that" says Frosty. "I just like being able to help other people through my music. I've had people hit me up and tell me that some songs have helped them through certain shit." Being a small artist, Frosty is amazed that he's already making an impact on his listeners. I noticed that he's very humble in the way that he talks, enthusing about gratitude towards his listeners more than anything.
Frosty also dreams of performing at stadium shows in the future. He's very inspired by artists that have come before him which have made their shows a unique experience, focusing on elaborate stage design and visuals that make the performance more of a piece of art. "I want to be able to have my own little world at these concerts type shit," Frosty says.
He also has high hopes for the new scene of Long Beach rappers. "Everybody works together," Frosty says. "Everybody recently did this big ass show for ComplexCon downtown where a lot of my homies are DJing. It was a really big thing for the city because we brought out a couple big ass DJs and artists and shit." The most recent ComplexCon 2022 saw a huge turnout from around the world, and featured countless renowned designers and artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Ski Mask The Slump God. Frosty tells me that "Nowadays a lot more places are opening their doors to let us do shit there, so that's been pretty cool." He's excited to see some of his homies from Long Beach come up as well, mentioning Seafood Sam, Huey Briss, and frequent collaborator Red Bag. He also mentions Meyer, who produces some of his songs. "There's too many people I know, like, to name. Everybody I've met out here has been cool, it's all respect."
In 2023, Frosty plans on staying consistent and perfecting his sound further. He's releasing the latest edition to his Frozen Tapes series, Frozen Tapes 6 on January 31st, and currently working on a larger project, set to release sometime this coming spring. "I really want to make it something other than just a body of music. Like, I want it to be a living, breathing thing. It's not really going to sound like my most recent shit." Needless to say, there's a lot to be excited about in the future.
You can find Frosty's Soundcloud here, and his instagram here. His music is also available on streaming services.
