Formed by Ohgeesy, Fenix Rob Vicious and Master Kato, L.A.'s Shoreline Mafia collective is here to tell the story of childhood friends who truly discovered the power in creating music. Coming from all walks of life, it was the friendship and loyalty deeply rooted within them that drove them to success.

This isn’t just rap — this is a movement. Shoreline make music for people to have fun to — to turn up and enjoy life. Now, they celebrate a newly inked deal with Atlantic Records and a rerelease of their debut mixtape, ShorelineDoThatShit. With songs like “Musty” and “Wuss Yo Deal” going viral almost effortlessly, it’s only right for Shoreline Mafia to take their efforts to the road. Welcome to the Still OTX Tour.

After a sold-out show at SOB’s in New York City, we caught up with the group’s lead rapper, Ohgeesy, at the crib where all the magic takes place.

L.A. Weekly: For those who don’t know, who are Shoreline Mafia?
Ohgeesy: I feel like I always change my answer. We are a group of young, reckless, wavy, good-looking and -dressing group of individuals!

Where do you fit in the realm of hip-hop?
Shit, we fit in perfectly! All of our influences are from all types of hip-hop. Every corner of hip-hop. We just bring it all together.

Being from L.A., how has the city impacted your lives and career?
This is where I'm from and where I grew up. Even though all my influences are from all over the world, from the south, to the east and everywhere. We bring all these different cultures to 'em on this West Coast shit.

Who were the people you were listening to growing up?
Three 6 Mafia, UGK, Lil Boosie … I grew up listening to everything.

Talk about your journey coming up in the city. How did you get on?
I feel like we just put ourselves on. We’ve never had a co-sign. Even until today, I’ve never seen no rapper co-sign us. None of that shit. We put ourselves on. We just kept doing what we were doing, and having fun with it. We were just living life and making money. It seemed like we were big rappers before we started any of this.

Can you talk about the moment that you felt you got on?
The moment that I knew we was on was when we did our first sold-out show. It was our first headlining show. It was at the Observatory. We did our first headlining show and that sold out within a few hours. It sold out at least a month in advance. And that was pretty much our first show, and it was sold out. This was only a few months ago, so I was like, “This shit crazy.”

You claim Shoreline Mafia are a family, not a group. Can you expand on this?
It’s just a bunch of us. It’s four of us that rap, but there's like 30 of us and we’re all like brothers. We’re all one big-ass family. We share each other's clothes, all types of shit. These are really my fucking brothers, like I’d give them my last.

What’s the criteria to be a part of the fam?
We grew up with each other, you can't just come in. [laughs] You see everyone, Everyone look good. Everyone dresses good. All the girls love us.


What’s the dynamic like in the studio?
Everything is cool. The way the beats and music-making works, it’s just random. If you’re there, you’re there. You like a beat, you get on it. There’s no order to anything ’cause there’s 30 of us in the studio, smoking, drinking, lean, everything. If I want in on this and Kato don’t, then he’s not going to get on it.

ShorelineDoThatShit is your debut mixtape. Can you tell us about the making of the project?
We made it in four to five days. We hit the studio one day a week for a month, and then we got it done in those four to five days. That shit crazy. It was just a big ass-vibe. We would hit the studio and Ron would play beats, and everything sounded amazing. We had the Stink Team with us pretty much for every session. That’s Drakeo’s group. Everyone was in there smoking and vibing, and we just came out with magic.

What do you want fans to get from your story?
I want them to make money. [laughs] You see the way we do it. I want them to be inspired to get some paper!

Congrats on signing to Atlantic! What is your take on the music industry?
 I don’t even know. We’re still new. I don’t know what to say about the music industry. [laughs]

Have you seen any of the negative aspects of it that people talk about?
Not yet. I’ve just seen the tiring part. Doing all types of press and shit, that shit tiring. But that’s pretty much it. I honestly don't see anything negative right now. We’re making bread and doing our shit.

What did you do with your first advance?
I haven't touched my advance! I’ve got street money, come on. I haven’t had to touch my advance yet. [claps] I’ve had my chains before my deal. I haven’t even touched shit.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing music?
Selling drugs. [laughs]

What’s a normal day in the life? Walk us through.
We wake up. Someone eventually wakes up. Everyone texts each other. Then by the end of the night, we have about 50 people in this house right here, just smoking, drinking, sippin’ lean, popping bills, whatever anyone wants to do.  And then on the weekends, we obviously go out and go crazy. I feel like that's been our shit for years. That’s why it never felt we were working toward anything. To the outside world, we were gradually moving up, but to us, we were just doing what we do. That’s why when we dropped “Musty” and “Bottle Service,” it wasn't anything special to us. It was just something else we did.

Do you feel like the party and turn-up lifestyle will last forever?
Yeah, people are always going to want to party and turn up! Every weekend, kids want to party and turn up.

What advice do you have for an up-and-coming Shoreline Mafia group?
Just do you. Be you. We us, that’s what we do. That’s what we always do.

What’s the best encounter you had with a fan?
All my fans always give me free weed and lean. [laughs]

Who’s the most played artist on your phone?
Young Dolph. Shout out Young Dolph.

I love Dolph! Favorite song?
“Get Paid.” I play it every day! We seen him at the last Rolling Loud we performed in San Bernardino, but haven’t seen him again.

You recently sold out your show in NYC. What can fans expect from one of your performances?
Just craziness. That shit’s insane! We going up. It’s like a big party, not really a concert. It’s just a big-ass vibe. Everyone's having the time of their life.

Anything special planned for this Saturday?
We’re going all the way up! This is my hometown. This is basically my first L.A. show, besides Santa Ana, but that’s off the way. This is my homecoming show. This is my hometown show. We about to go up. We about to stupid. It’s going to be special!

Shoreline Mafia perform at the Novo in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, May 19, at 8:30 p.m.

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