Breaking into the world of hip hop is no easy task, but senior composition major Elizabeth Elie, better known as Lizzie G, is up for the challenge.

“I want to work extra hard to please everyone,” emphasizing that her main goal is to get her music out to as many people as possible.

Lizzie G started playing music when she was 11 years old. She realized when she was 12 that she had a knack for hip hop.

“I knew how to play drums and piano, so I started rapping over my beats,” she said. “I did one song, and people loved it, and it just went from there.”

The young female rapper finished recording her first album, Tha Queen Lizzie G, in May 2007 when she was just 16.

“Basically, I just wanted to get a little intro of who Lizzie G was,” she said. “You can tell in my voice I was really young

and innocent.”

The innocence wore off with her sophomore album, Tha Takeova, released in January 2010. The title track holds its own next to modern club hits, with Lizzie G’s powerful lyrics flowing over a busy but not overcrowded array of electronic beats and synthesizer loops.

Everything about Tha Takeova is a step above Tha Queen Lizzie G, from the lyrics to the instrumentation to the

production quality.

“I started making things for clubs and parties,” she said. “Everyone was just going crazy about it, and I started getting more attention.”

Lizzie G obviously has talent, but her main focus at the moment is on her education.

“Right now [my music] is a hobby,” she said. “I’m just here to focus on school, but I want to get my name out there, and right now I’m just trying to please my fans.”

Her fans will be pleased to know that a third album is in the works. Music = Life should be finished by the end of October.

“I have eight more tracks I need to record,” she said. “Any free time I have, I definitely try to write a new song. Weekends and after class I spend in the studio.”