Brian Fresco released his "Casanova" mixtape in July. Recently, the Chicago rapper revealed that Marshall Bruce Mathers III, who is professionally known as Eminem, and Curtis James Jackson III, who is professionally known as 50 Cent, are among his music influences.
"I remember Eminem when he dropped 'The Eminem Show,'" Fresco told XXL magazine. "That made me start writing songs. Eminem was like the greatest rapper alive to me at one point in time."
Fresco told the magazine that when he was young, he would listen to a whole bunch of stuff including gospel music and soul music, which was what his parents played. The rapper added that his father's rap music included songs by the late Tupac Shakur, who was professionally known as 2Pac, and Brad Terrence Jordan, who was professionally known as Scarface.
2Pac and Scarface are still Fresco's favorite rappers. According to Fresco, he eventually ventured out of his own to listen to rappers like Eminem's protégé 50 Cent.
In 2014, Fresco released an extended play titled "SoulMoney." One of the tracks from the EP was "Bae," which inspired his mixtape titled "Casanova."
In an interview with Hip Hop DX, Fresco said "Bae" is the most fun and the easiest song he created. He said once he had seen how big a response he got from that, he felt like he was going to take his whole album in this direction.
In the same interview, Fresco referred to Chance the Rapper as the biggest rapper in the world. The two rappers are both from Chicago, Illinois.
On the other hand, Eminem is from Detroit, Michigan while 50 Cent is from Queens, New York. 2Pac was from New York City, New York, and Scarface is from Houston, Texas.
Listen to Fresco's song titled "Higher" featuring Chance the Rapper and Blue Hawaii here: