In a small town in the panhandle of Oklahoma, a rap artist is making waves with his music. Braden Sandborn or “Gwedo Ratz,” has been creating and making his own rap music since he was 13 years old. Growing up in Turpin, Oklahoma, there wasn’t a whole lot going on. To fill in the time, Gwedo Ratz started rapping to beats and posting it to Youtube.
Gwedo Ratz Performs Live for the First Time
Hitmakers Empire recognizes Gwedo Ratz’s talents when he was 16. Their DJ had messaged him on Instagram and wanted him to perform at their event in Houston, Texas. After driving 12 hours, Ratz took to the stage as the youngest person in the building. When asked about how well he thinks he did, he reflected on how he loved involving the crowd and felt like he was the best act they’ve seen that night.
I want to give people feelings from my music.
Gwedo Ratz
Plans and Goals
Gwedo Ratz is now 18 years old and plans on moving to Oklahoma City after graduation. Currently working a job as well as going to school, he realized that making music is what he wants to do for the rest of his life. His goals include mixing up his daily schedule, and ensuring he’s gets out of his small town, where he enjoyed performing for his prom last year.
Gwedo Ratz wants to empower listeners to feel like they are on top of the world. His songs are meant to provoke feeling and attitudes. Ratz said as a rap artist, he is focused on giving the fans something that they can feel for themselves.
Prominent Projects
“Backwoods” took off on Soundcloud, back when Ratz had an account. This song was created with longtime friend, Julian Marino. “It’s about us thinking we were more gangster than were were at the time,” Ratz said, “it’s really corny.” It’s a song about smoking weed, and they were only 14 at the time. He said they were just talking about the same thing bigger artists were talking about because they thought it was ‘cool.’
“This is Our Time,” is another song featuring Marino on Gwedo Ratz’s album DTA. DTA was released on March 1st of 2023. “This is Our Time is just us talking like we normally talk.” Ratz said. He was inspired to make this song about the dark and dirty jokes that his friend group makes on a daily get together. “This is us. This is our time. Our humor.”
This rap artist is a ‘one man army,’ where he promotes his own music, mixes and masters each recording. The only thing he doesn’t do is make the beats. When asked about how he writes his music he said, “I find the beats first, and fit my lyrics around that.” Ratz builds around the beat because it is easier to match up. If the beat is lower or lower pitched, it turns to be a calmer, even sad, song.
Gwedo Ratz’s Advice for Future Small-town Artists
“It’s cliché, but don’t care what people say.” Ratz wants future artists from small towns to ignore the talkers. People in a small-town talk and it’s not always positive. With more than 600 followers on Spotify, Ratz is an inspiration for future artists. He knows what he wants, and he’s going for it.
Every artist faces their challenges in the industry, and Gwedo Ratz is no exception. Besides being from a small town in the middle of nowhere, he is also young. When reflecting about what challenges he is currently facing, he says he gets discrimination for being white. Not by the bigger artists, but the smaller independent artists like himself. He just wants to see more unity and support in the industry, because at the end of the day they all just want to create music.
I see great things in the future for Gwedo Ratz, and I wish him all the best on his career. Be sure to stay tapped in with all things Oklahoma and music via RespectMyRegion.com.
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