San Francisco rapper Lucky Lucci talks new album & growing up in the Bay Area.

The question I'm frequently asked is, are you from San Francisco? And what part of San Francisco did you grow up in? These once naive questions have now turned into the norm to confirm you're nativeness. Furthermore, it wasn't until I had the opportunity to interview local rappers Lucky Lucci and his close friend Sammy Koto where we talked in-depth about his growth as an artist and growing up in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood.  

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?

I've been doing great. Lately, I just started doing some performances. Also, I just dropped my first album on all music platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube. Furthermore, I have just been trying to solidify my name out here in the streets of San Francisco. Lastly, and spread my music and make an impact much as possible.   

WHERE ARE YOU FROM? 

I'm from San Francisco, CA, Bay Area, west side the best side. I grew up in the Glen Park neighborhood and went to school in the Mission district. In addition, I graduated high school from Civic Center Secondary School long as I can remember. I've always been from the city. Moreover, I moved out of the city a couple of times. I lived in the valley and Modesto, CA, and I have folks out there as well. Importantly, I've always come back to San Francisco, and I'm happy to be from the city and born at Kaiser Permanente hospital downtown.     

DO YOU MIND GIVING US A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO WHO LUCKY LUCCI IS?

I was given my rap name Lucky Luciano. My first rap name was Young Mac. Unfortunately, it never fit my legal name is Luciano, due to my Sicilian and Latino cultural background. It should be noted, Luciano was a name given to me by my family after the Italian music performer Luciano Pavarotti. Therefore, whenever a person heard me rap, they would state," you're Lucky Lucci," and so it began to stick with me.   

HOW DID YOU START MAKING MUSIC?

In particular, I come from a musical family. My grandmother is a professional violinist. Unquestionably, everyone in my immediate family plays a musical instrument, along with my dad. He exposed me to Hip-Hop and being around music producers, rappers, and a variety of artists. On the other hand, I never wanted to rap until my peers challenged me to freestyle alongside them at school. Once I thought I was good enough, I began going to recording studios.     

SECONDLY, HOW DID YOU GET INTO RAPPING?

I would freestyle all the time, and I developed a passion for writing. In addition, while in school, I would attempt to get out of English assignments to express how I felt. Nonetheless, during one of my many freestyles at school, a classmate of mine heard me rap. Mainly, I happened to be interning at a Non-Profit recording studio on 46th and Judah called Sunset Youth Services. Additionally, I decided to go with him, where I got the opportunity to meet music producers and lay down a rap verse. Subsequently, it was there I took off with my passion for music and ran with it.         

WE SEE A LOT OF PEOPLE WORKING AND CREATING THROUGH COVID-19. AS FAR AS HEALTH AND WORKING, HOW ARE YOU DOING?  

I've been super blessed to have not gone down with COVID-19. Unfortunately, my mom went down with COVID-19 everybody in my family is vaccinated; I'm currently vaccinated it affected our whole lives. We dropped our first piece of music right before the pandemic, so it slowed us down a whole lot. It's been hard to navigate through this whole new thing were go

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR RAP INFLUENCES?

Without a doubt, I’m from the Bay Area, so I have to say, Mac Dre, Too $hort, E-40, Rappin’ 4-tay, San Quinn, and RBL Posse. The first album I ever bought was The Game, his Jesus Piece deluxe album, along with my primary influence. It was there I heard Kendrick Lamar for the very first time. In which immediately fell in love with Kendrick Lamar. On the other hand, when I think of my favorite artist of all time, what comes to my mind is Tupac Shakur. Notably, because Tupac stood for something, he didn’t stop even when he went down fighting. Importantly, Tupac spoke about how he felt, and the whole world hated him for that very reason.   

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Above all, my son inspires me. He recently turned two years old, and I recently celebrated my twenty-second birthday. Moreover, my son has been my inspiration to live and do my best and focus on my purpose. Why am I making this music? Why do I want to create something the whole world will love?. I want to show my son if he wants to grow up to be an Astronaut or a Cowboy, he can be whatever he wants. 

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC-MAKING PROCESS OR THE WAY IT MAKES YOU FEEL?

 I start writing down some lyrics; I don’t always write down songs to a specific beat. Sometimes I write down lyrics to anything, and when I hear a beat that speaks to me, I work on it. It’s kind of like a puzzle. When I know the direction I’m going, it makes the puzzle fun. It makes me wanna get into it. It’s like making a jump shot. When you make one jump shot, you want to keep making more jump shots. When I wrote a couple of sick-ass bars, it made me wanna keep going and going and tell the story. I can write a story that doesn’t go to a specific beat; I might get the beat way later. Since I was seventeen, I’ve been recording the recording process; I usually go up there and read my lyrics and write them down. Lastly, I do the chorus.   

DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT OR FUTURE RELEASES IN MIND NOW THAT THOSE PIECES ARE FLOATING? 

I got a unique project that I’m working on that will be the best of the best. That’s going to be a hundred times greater than anything I ever put out. And it’s going to be recorded in professional studios with the best top-of-the-notch equipment. It’s currently untitled. I don’t have the name yet that usually comes when I get all the songs together. But I do have a significant drop in 2022. I can’t tell you when it’s going to be a full-length album. It’s going to be what puts us on the chart and gets us to start being heard. 

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE SOUND YOU’RE CULTIVATING NOW FOR SOMEONE WHO HASN’T HEARD IT? 

Many people tell me I have a Bay Area sound, but I try to keep it original, and I don’t want to sound like anybody. I just go into it. I try to sound different and stand out on every track. I’m Gemini. I was born on June 5th. Another side of me comes out on every track. Once someone hears me, they can listen to a track that sounds super real, sad, or dark. Then another track can sound super hyphy and Bay Area. Above all, right now, I’m making a bunch of fun music, and if someone heard me from the other side of the world, they would say that’s that west coast shit. I have west coast sound, but I’m going for international sound. All the music my producer Sammy Koto and I have made has been our sound. We don’t even know what to call it yet. We think it will be the first sound that’s never been done before in this new era of music.