WHO: A Miami rapper with a full back tattoo of Jesus holding a pistol to the Devil’s head, Gunplay is the standout member of Rick Ross’ Triple C’s crew. “That’s the boss!” Gunplay says of his working relationship with Ross. “Everything gotta pass him first. I don’t give a fuck what anybody else say. If he say, ‘I like it,’ boy, fuck you! That’s my gauge to see if it works or not. If it work for him, then boom, we good money.”
SOUNDS LIKE: Someone capable of titling a mixtape 106 & Snort: Freestyle Highdayz Vol. 1. Though the rapper’s unabashed drug use is well documented within the annals of World Star Hip-Hop, he has not let it detract from his ambitions. “I feel like I’m in a good position to take off,” Morales says. “All the time spent in the studio and on the road, learning how to build an empire and how to be a great MC, everything done paid off — it’s not in vain.” Gunplay’s gravelly, ferocious delivery is like the guy rapping for his life at the end of the plank and the guy on the other end, waving a cutlass, laughing maniacally.
I’M FINE, JUPITER JACK, HOW ARE YOU? Currently working on an as-yet-untitled solo album for Def Jam, Morales has been able to make the most noise rapping alongside others, as he did with Waka Flocka Flame on 2010’s “Rollin’,” and Black Hippy’s Kendrick Lamar for this year’s “Cartoon & Cereal.” “It’s cool,” says Morales of collaborating. “They be wanting to work with me ’cause once you talk to me, you know I’m regular-degular. I get wild or whatever, but you know that’s when I’m on that Tanqueray and I turn into ‘Jupiter Jack.’ That’s when I fly outta this universe. This is my universe. My name is Jupiter Jack. Hi, how are you?”
MIAMI VICE: Though Miami, in all its narcotics-steeped glory, has been Gunplay’s inspiration, it’s also a city rife with distractions, even for a hometown hero. “It’s a lot of shit that just trails you from when you was in the streets, that people think you owe them something and all that,” he says. “And I don’t owe a muthafucka nothin’. We got here on our muthafuckin’ own.”
