When Will Albury raps, he doesn’t talk about having loads of cash or driving lavish cars — he represents the orange and blue.
Albury, known as Gemini Soundz, found a lyrical niche writing songs about the Gators. The former UF student is releasing a new version of “Gator Bait,” his 2007 summer hit, with a more original rap called “I’m a Gator.”
Albury, 21, was reluctant to make another Gators song at first.
“We didn’t want to make a corny song again like ‘Gator Bait,’” Albury said. “If we did this again, we wanted to make a legitimate song.”
“Gator Bait” relied on one-dimensional lyrics and a beat that was ripped from the song “Ay Bay Bay” by rapper Hurricane Chris. The song jump-started Albury’s career, giving him the opportunity to go on a west coast tour, performing with Snoop Dogg and Redman. But he said it didn’t properly reflect him as an artist and instead became a joke among his friends.
So when he was approached by Aditya Pamidi, 20, UF student and hip-hop producer, about making a new track for The Gator Nation, Albury made sure he got right to work with Steven Woodburn, known as B. Nyce, a fellow member of local hip-hop group Carmel Labs.
“We were trying to keep it in a way that a kid who is at his first Gator game could relate to it as well as a college student,” Pamidi said.
“I’m a Gator” starts with “Kernkraft 400,” a song by Zombie Nation that is commonly played during football games, and continues for 4 1/2 minutes, delving into trash talk and Game-Day experiences at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The group admitted that one benefit of making a Gators-themed song is the instant buzz it gets at the end of the football season when fans are out to soak up every ounce of orange-and-blue-inspired material.
After 12 days, the YouTube version of the track has just under 3,000 hits, leading the group to believe that local radio play is only weeks away.
“I’m a Gator” is available for free download on carmellabs.net.
