Tyler might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of a vibrant live music scene, and the same could be said for much of East Texas. However, beneath the radar, is a community of local artists. One standout is a rapper who goes by the name of “Westside Ultra.”
Gabe Hupf has the charisma and drive to make it big. Hupf moved here from Oregon and is looking to start over and regain his musical clout in Texas.
He stands out in the Tyler music scene because he does not believe in using plugins in his tracks; instead, he manually creates them himself. Using plugins is almost like driving an automatic car, the car shifts the gears for you, whereas not using a plug-in is to drive a manual car.
Hupf planned on dropping his album titled “The Iron Man” on Aug. 28, but on the day of he felt, “Like putting a date on the album made me change my mentality, I need to get this done,” Hupf said. “But then I realized as I was forcing it, that everything was getting sucky, everything felt super rushed because I feel like this album isn’t a summer album in general. I seriously think it’s kind of a darker tone, more of a winter vibe.”
Drawing inspiration is the hardest part of the creative process when it comes to anything, but Hupf has a method to his madness.
“As you can see the Rocky Poster, Call of Duty, Black Sabbath, and The Iron Man helmet are all the things that help me artistically and lyrically when it comes to the album,” Hupf said.
When he refers to Iron Man, he specifically said, “Iron Man isn’t like the Tony Stark way. It’s more like the Black Sabbath Iron Man, which is like a shell of a person to like an Iron Man, so he has no soul, or Tetsuo from Akira how he turns into like a giant blob.”
The Iron Man Hupf is referring to is Tetsuo the Iron Man a 1989 Japanese film about a witch.
“I like the visuals on it, and It’s like being inside a dark amusement park ride with giant screens and rumbling seats. You don’t watch it as much as experience it,” Hupf said. The movie is intensely horrifying and fast-paced, viewer discretion is advised.
Black Sabbath also has a song called Iron Man, which is a story of a self-fulfilling prophecy in which a man travels into the future and witnesses the apocalypse, Hupf also drew inspiration from this, as well.
Hupf explained how he handles writer’s block and creative slumps.
“I remember I would write five songs a day, like, just nonstop,” Hupf said. “I feel like me putting a concept on the album, strained my thinking on writing, because Southside freestyle, I made that in a day. Some of your best music happens on a whim, the beat just inspires me.”
Hupf has a manager and is coincidently his DJ for all his gigs. His music flows are extremely satisfying, and they all connect and make sense. He plans on releasing the album sometime this winter. “Southside Freestyle” and “On Me” are already out on his SoundCloud, Apple Music, Spotify, and Instagram at WESTSIDE ULTRA.
