THREE YEARS AGO, Giveon landed a 15-minute tour slot opening for Baby Rose and Snoh Aalegra. There was only one problem: At the time, he had released just two original songs. Needing new tunes in a hurry, the R&B singer decided to write something quickly based on each city the tour landed in. One of these, the spare, chilling “Chicago Freestyle,” proved particularly popular when he posted a snippet to Instagram — until Giveon got a message from his manager, Simon Gebrelul, telling him to delete the clip.
“That was his most engaged post on Insta,” says Gebrelul, who also manages A-list producers like Boi-1da, Jahaan Sweet, and Sevn Thomas, and considers Drake a “good friend.” “I felt bad telling him to delete it,” Gebrelul continues, “but I’m like,…
