GORILLA NEMS – CONEY SOPRANO

There is good and bad to every situation, but it is logical to think that the world has a lot of positive possibilities. There are many redeeming qualities within our universe, one of them being redemption. Such is the case for Travis Doyle, better known as Gorilla Nems. Growing up in the gutter of Coney Island, Brooklyn the last stop on the train station showed Doyle the excruciating details of the world with crystal clarity.

He suffered many downfalls, legal issues and struggles with sobriety throughout his life. Thankfully, he has been on a tear lately which entails no legal scuffles, complete sobriety and a willingness to infiltrate the hip-hop game with an influx of quality tunes.

Nems entire brand is called, “Fuck Ya Lyfe.” As a rather disrespectful character, he is unconcerned with the opinions of others and chooses to play the role of straight shooter within his friend groups. He releases new articles of clothing every week and they incorporate his FYL brand as offshoots of various mainstream logos.

The social media era has truly helped him shift the landscape of how people perceive him. Posting online as a direct reflection of his business has allowed him to showcase his durable work ethic and the ways that he is able to provide meaning within his community. Nems is a true testament to the independent era where major labels are not as important and the middleman has been eliminated.

As a true hustler, Nems refuses to ride waves of what is popular or kiss up to others within the industry to better his stance. He always takes the path of most resistance and fights through to get to where he belongs. His approach to music includes songs that convey uncompromising lyrics that stand the test of time due to their ironclad nature. As a bold, brash artist he puts together compilations that are ferocious, comedic and malicious. He is quite the character and continues to prove himself as Coney Island’s go-to entertainer and entrepreneur.

Nems and Jazzsoon cooked up a timeless classic in the form of, “Gorilla Monsoon” which released on May 31, 2019. They worked well together due to their mutual respect of the genre and their in-depth knowledge of the process it takes to formulate quality records. Also, their real life affairs and experiences let them fully immerse within the aspects of New York City and provide contributions that are genuine.

They mesh very well together and their outgoing personalities coupled incordiable demeanors make them quite the spectacle in the streets of New York. Nems plans to release an album with Ill Bill called, “Shootout at the Cyclone” before the end of this year. His monumental brand entrance, “The Alpha” will release at a later date. It features production from Statik Selektah and The Alchemist. Stay in tune with Coney Island’s mayor as he will only continue to get better and give us special selections for quite some time.

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Growing up half Latin and half Irish always gave people the impression that Nems was caucasian. Undoubtedly so, people would question his authenticity in the rap game upon simple appearance. But, it did not take long for them to realize that his graceful presence upon the microphone would stamp permanent impact in any cypher.

Gorilla Nems started to gain significant traction with his battle rap performances on an MTV2 show called, “Fight Klub.” To this day, he still holds the record with 25 wins and only three losses as apart of this battle rap circuit.

The unfortunate part about all of his battle success is that he was unable to capitalize upon it due to incarceration at the time the show aired.

He still managed to gain some notoriety but could not leverage it properly in order to maneuver his way into different sectors of hip-hop via networking, marketing etc. 

Being from the gutter of Coney Island prepared him well for the flips and turns that life is sure to bring. Also, Gorilla Nems represents his hometown Coney Island with a strong sense of pride. It is his main priority to put Coney Island on the map and become hip-hop’s greatest talent to ever emerge from that area.

Sure, Coney Island has had numerous athletes reach stardom such as Stephon Marbury, Lance Stephenson, Sebastian Telfair but never really a true artist to give the crown to. Gorilla Nems guns for that title but remains hungry and humble.

People have reached out to him with inquiries about jumping back into the battle ring, but it appears that he will choose to fixate his focus elsewhere. It sounds like he does not find the battle circuit and its antics to be as valuable as putting time and effort into creating albums and designing clothes.

Steel Sharpens Steel

Nems is clearly a multi-purposed individual. Besides his clothing brand he also owns two barber shops within his hometown. Although, people mainly honor him for his contribution to the rap game. His name will always be credible due to his rhyme style and the people he has collaborated with.

Some legends he has spit bars with include Ghostface Killah, Sean Price, Kool G-Rap, Proof and D-12. Surrounding himself with good hearted individuals that are authentic allows him to always improve his craft.

His rhyming style is not exactly metaphorical but rather sharp, aggressive and to the point. He constantly sharpens his sword with a weekly freestyle series and keeps people in tune with his efforts via his Youtube channel, GorillaTV.

In the past, Nems struggled with substance abuse such as prescription drugs and narcotics. There’s chunks of his life that are etched from his memory due to his downward spirals. Also, these habits would lead him to reckless behavior and violent tendencies. What makes him brilliant is his ability to push past these struggles and place them onto wax as forms of expression. He did this particularly well on his most recent mixtape, “Gorilla Monsoon.” Although, he considers this to be an EP it runs much like an album in terms of length, production, skits and storytelling. 

Gorilla Monsoon’s production was handled entirely by a man named Frank Sassoon. (Jazzsoon) He comes from the cassette tape funk and groove era that represents old school New York. Full of personality and charisma Jazzsoon is a true city character that infuses life into every scenario. His personal mixtapes are instrumental based and consists of old vinyl records that blend together marvellously. He sifts through multiple albums worth of recorded material and pieces them together in amazing fashion. Besides music, he has also started a minor fashion endeavor based upon his catch phrase, “MY GUY!”

Nems plans to release an album with Ill Bill called, “Shootout at the Cyclone” before the end of this year. His monumental brand entrance, “The Alpha” will release at a later date. It features production from Statik Selektah and The Alchemist. Stay in tune with Coney Island’s mayor as he will only continue to get better and give us special selections for quite some time.