1987–2010: Early life and career beginnings Walker was born in
Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in
Bellwood and
Matteson. His father, a college professor and Air Force veteran was
African-American, while his mother, an
executive Assistant at the Proviso Leyden Council, in Maywood, Illinois, is of African-American descent. When he was five years old, Walker's parents separated; this event would have a significant effect on Walker's personality and consequently his music. Walker attended
Riverside University High School, and took classes at
Columbia College Chicago during the summer. It was the summer after his high school
graduation that Walker first began rapping, inspired by
hip-hop groups such as
Little Brother and
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony". He moved to Chicago to pursue a career in television while networking with other emerging artist within the city's music scene. In September 2009 Walker released his debut mixtape, "Evening Out With Your Girlfriend". In 2010 Gerald Walker released his second official mixtape,
I Remember When This All Meant Something.... The mixtape consist of fifteen original tracks including three hidden bonus songs featuring production from, Symbolyc One, producer of Kanye West's 2010 single Power.
2011–2012: Believers Never Die... In January 2011, Gerald Walker purchased a
leased hip-hop instrumental from
Dallas Texas, based and Taylor Gang producer, Cardo. Walker then wrote, recorded and released the song entitled, "Here's Everything I've Always Meant to Say" as free download online. After pressure from Walker's friends he reluctantly emailed the finished song to Cardo, who, to his surprise, was impressed and the two began demoing songs for amusement. In April 2011, Walker announced that he would be touring with Shady/Interscope Recording artist
Yelawolf. In May 2011, while on tour Walker released his third official
mixtape,
On Your Side, a collaboration effort with producer, Cardo. In June, Gerald Walker was featured on
MTV's RapFix Live broadcast, where he appeared with other mainstream and popular artist including
Lloyd Banks,
Maino and
Jim Jones. In September, Walker released his fourth mixtape
The Other Half of Letting Go, in collaboration with popular street-wear brand Diamond Supply. The mixtape quickly catapulted Walker as an emerging artist in the hip-hop community. Amber McKynzie of
XXL Magazine wrote: "The mixtape might be titled
The Other Half of Letting Go, but Gerald Walker is shaping up to be an artist that hip-hop shouldn't let go unnoticed." The mixtape was the only hip-hop release featured in the
Shepherd Express "2011 Essential Albums of the Year" list. In November,
The Source debuted the
track list and
cover art to Gerald Walker's second Christmas album ''
It's Christmastime Again, Gerald Walker''. Originally slated as a re-release to his debut Christmas album he re-recorded and released seven original songs. That marked Gerald Walker's third release in 2011 – all within' a six-month time period.
2013–2017: Target In May 2013, after multiple hints and hashtags with the word
Target via his Twitter Walker tweeted: "Everything's Done. New Chapter Begins. My debut album "Target" coming this Fall! Confirming his independent label debut's title. On February 3, 2014, Gerald Walker announced The Target Practice Tour, a 16 date North American tour beginning on February 8, 2014, through the end of April 2014. The tour was accompanied by a mixtape release entitled, "Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (A Prelude to TARGET)". The release featured a collection of demo's that didn't make the final TARGET release. In June 2015, Walker announced his book
Target: 52 Weeks to Completing My Album, a memoir about his life featuring stories and anecdotes simultaneously released with the album. In February 2019,
ESPN's
First Take featured Walker's "Time"
single from
People Tell Themselves Anything to Justify Everything as the show's theme song. On March 8, 2019, Walker released his fourth studio EP titled
The Little Foxes, That Spoil The Vines. On August 1, 2019, Walker debuted his single and music video " Win Streak" from his forthcoming EP "And Only a Few Ever Find It". In November 2019, Walker also embarked on Stalley's 'The Head Trip Tour', opening along with fellow label mates, LifeDutchee. == Business ventures ==