Name: Glace Conway
Reppin: Chicago
Genre: Rap
Not many independent artists can say that they have recorded with multi-platinum megastar Kanye West, earned a platinum plaque as a ghostwriter for several major label artists nor spearheaded his own musical career with their own label imprint. Not many can claim these bullet points, but Chicago-born rapper Glace Conway surely can.
Over the course of his career, he has penned rhymes for Benzino, Lil Zane and Raven Symone, gained platinum accolades writing for Lil Kim’s double-platinum La Bella Mafia album and as flagship artist on ex-drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross’ label Rick Ross Music Group, he propelled the label to dominance on the independent music scene.
Now spreading his wings to other endeavors, Glace Conway teamed up with music industry veteran and co-CEO Branden “Bookie Billion$” Booker to form his own label Blood of A King Entertainment. Via the new venture, Amazing Glace has already released a string of mixtapes, including Trafficking with Memphis rap legend Project Pat and Mind of a Millionaire, hosted by “Freeway” Rick Ross, as well as full-length album Power of a Dream.
And is takes his career to new heights with the latest single “I Chase $” co-starring Uncle Beats and produced by overseas beat king Dreamchaser.
Putting down his poignant pen game atop sonic, up-tempo production, ghostwriter extraordinaire Glace Conway and highly proclaimed producer/ rapper Uncle Beats come together to release lavish new single.
Over hypnotic synths and a polyrhythmic drum track, Glace guarantees that he has been living extravagantly for a long time. In a confident flow, he boasts, “I been, been doing this s**t since I was a jit/ And I been getting money but it ain’t been legit.”
“My music is street, but it’s more than street,” Glace explains. “My music has a purpose. I want to provoke and invoke thought. Because I understand the demographics of the streets, I can give them music that they can relate to, but at the same time, I’m exposing these lost minds to other elements of life and survival.”
Most notably known for his prowess behind the scenes, Uncle Beats also flexes his stacks of stacks and demonstrates his hustler-player style. On the track, he raps, “I rock a Rolex. I can’t do nothing less. I keep some diamonds in my charm hanging from my chest.”
Born and raised on the South side of Chicago in an area known as the “Wild Hundreds,” Glace came up during the height of the crack epidemic. His parents were hard-working people who migrated to the inner city during the Great Southern Migration between the early 1900s and the 1970s in search of a better life. Instead of Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan and voter suppression down South, the family faced gang violence, drug infestation and institutional racism up North.
“Around my neighborhood, either you’re going to be with the Gangster Disciples, Four Corner Hustler Stone or Vice Lords,” Glace recalls.
In an attempt to show him an alternative to the streets, Glace’s father, who owned his own construction company, would frequently take the youngster to work with him to earn some legal money.
“The first time I ever seen $50,000 was with my father. He showed me how to be my own boss,” says Glace. “My dad would take me on a job, and I’ll hold the flashlight. He would be knee-deep in some plumbing or renovating a house. But he may give me $300 at the end of the day just for holding a flashlight. He said ‘son, you don’t deserve this but I wanted to show you what being a boss can do. If can give you $300 for holding a light, imagine what I’m making.’”
Although his parents showed him how to beat the streets, Glace eventually fell for the allure of breaking the law. When Glace was only 15, his mother found an arsenal guns and enough dope to open a pharmacy in his room. She knew she had to do something if she wanted to save her son’s life. So she tricked Glace’s dad into taking out a loan and moving into a house in the suburbs.
Although he had been dabbling in music previously, Glace didn’t take it seriously until moving to this new environment. There, he befriended other then-aspiring rappers such as Shawnna, Cap 1, Yung Berg and “a real wierdo by the name of Kanye West,” Glace explains.
Shawnna signed a deal with now-defunct Relativity Records as one-half of duo Infamous Syndicate and later to Def Jam South through Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace Records. Cap 1 became the first rapper signed to Motown, and Yung Berg went on to music and reality show fame.
“I was around all of these people when I moved,” he explains. “I went from being around people in the city selling dope, extorting people. But when we moved, I was around people who were doing what I was doing. That made me want to push even more.”
That push allowed him the opportunity to visit New York to assist in the production of Yung Berg’s (then known as Iceberg) album on DMX’s Bloodline Records label. While in the Big Apple, he auditioned at several labels in hopes of getting his own deal. One of the meetings was with Lil Kim’s Beehive Records, then-distributed by Atlantic Records.
After performing for the A&Rs and label executives, “Lil Kim walked from behind a door, looked up at the sky and said ‘Thank you, Biggie, for bringing them to me. Oh my God, y’all are so dope!’” he thinks back.
He stayed with the label until Kim’s legal trouble and prison sentence. So he packed his bags and headed down South to Atlanta, where he wound up ghostwriting for Benzino, Lil Zane and Raven Symone’s “Eviction Letter” and “Thinking About You.”
Eventually, he befriended former drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross and joined Ross’ label Rick Ross Music Group, where he appeared on projects alongside former Cash Money Records artists Boo & Gotti, 2 Chainz, the Ying Yang Twins and Waka Flocka Flame.
With the blessing of Ross, Glace released his highly praised 2016 collaborative mixtape Better Than You with Rx and Bay Area rap legend San Quinn, featuring Project Pat, Twista, Spice-1 and Ras Kass on his own label Blood of A King Entertainment. With hit singles “Glace Conway’s Hopeless Heart,” “What’s It Gone Be” and “Streets Where I Come From,” Glace has proved time and time again that he brings the fundamentals of hip-hop that few artists can rival.
Check out some of Glace’s music below.
