Morgan Murphy was five when he moved to Ireland from Long Island, and 15 when he moved back. As you might imagine, this was a big move for a sensitive kid. “It was pretty much a huge culture shock,” he says. “Growing up, I was very introverted. I was very shy. I didn't say much. I was always nervous to be in social situations.” He made a few friends so as to not be completely alone, but he began to indulge his musical vision by exploring community on internet. When he discovered the internet, a feeling of freedom came over him, a sense of belonging. “It was like a secret party that I just discovered”. As a senior in high school, inspired by artists around age like Bones and Young Lean, he started making his own beats. It helped him find a sense of community he hadn’t had in either Ireland or America. He uploaded instrumentals that he produced under the name notmorgan, a name that let him be anyone but himself. After gaining notoriety as a producer, he started guccihighwaters on a lark, singing over the music he’d been making. The name was a goof, but when his music immediately connected with people, it stuck.
As a singer, Murphy was a bit of an outsider to the SoundCloud rap world he’d begun to orbit. “I was grouped in because of the time and place and platform,” he says. That allowed connection with producers interested in similar mixes of bold drums and elegiac melodies.