Born Kendall Tolbert, Gulf Coast Balla has been a force to be reckoned with for quite some time! The Pensacola native, who’s now living and grinding in Tallahassee, FL, has been putting in work for more than ten years and shows no signs of slowing down his hustle. Can you blame him? Growing up in a family of music lovers (Mama Balla being the most prominent one) can be considered the “seed” that started Gulf Coast Balla’s interest in music. That seed was then nurtured throughout the years by such musical influences as the West Coast’s Snoop Dog, R&B’s Faith Evans, and even more recently, the South’s B.G., just to name a few. After polishing his skills by doing talent shows here and there in Pensacola, Gulf Coast Balla then took his musical experience in a different direction when he moved to Tallahassee. That is where he reunited with Pensacola Woodham High School chum, Vito G, whom he contributes “officially moving forward into the business side of music” to. GCB also met and started working with Thrill Da Playa (of 69 Boyz) on Ghetto Fabulous Live, 100.7 The Beat in Tallahassee. That was the summer of ’03. The radio station had closed in the summer of ‘06, but a determined GCB did not stop there. You can still hear him and Thrill on the syndicated version of Ghetto Fabulous Live in Valdosta and Tampa. GCB has worked with such musical greats, as Field Mob, T Pain, and Rick Ross and when asked who he would like to work with in the future, a very confident GCB responds with, “Who wants to work with me? If you want to work with me, then I will work with you. Straight up.” Does this make him arrogant? Not hardly! Anybody that has crossed paths with GCB can vouch for just how humble he really is. In between working on his own projects, The Panhandle Professional WordofSouth.com Mixtape (with Mastermind of the Untamed Gitz), the Pyrex Panhandle Mixtape (with Da Hawg), and in between pushing his own singles, “Pop Da Tag Off It,” “Victoria’s Secrets,” and “Bungee Jump,” you can also find GCB promoting for Grand Hustle, DTP, CTE, and BodyHead, and cutting hair at Clippers Barbershop in Tallahassee. The term “jack of all trades” barely scratches the surface when it comes to all the things that GCB does. He has a fairly small “inner circle,” so when it comes to pushing cds, passing out flyers, and even posting bulletins on his Myspace page, you can bet your bottom dollar that GCB is doing the work himself. That’s the definition of a “hustler.” When asked about his “niche,” GCB responds passionately about “police brutality, unifying us as a black people, and inspiring the youth,” and says that in his time, he even plans to conduct motivational speeches and write children’s books. If the phrase “you reap what you sow” is at all credible, then we expect the rewards from GCB’s harvest to be beyond measure! After all, GCB did tell us that “It’s A Balla Balla World.” Perhaps, when this hustler finally sits down to rest….it will be!
