George Virden Watsky (born September 15, 1986) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, poet, author, and illustrator.

Watsky broke out as a rapper with his viral video "Pale kid raps fast" in 2011, which featured his trademark chopping style.

In 2006, in the midst of a lively performance to a sold-out crowd, Watsky likened politicians' behavior to a common bar pick-up line, and won the night's top score.

"[20] Reviewing a 2008 performance at Brandeis University, Sarah Bayer wrote, "Skinny, quirky George Watsky was next, with the night's most innovative piece.

Watsky, a sophomore at Emerson College and a member of the grand prize-winning team from San Francisco at the National Youth Poetry Slam in 2006, adjusted the microphone to different parts of his body, imitated the sound of rewinding tape and recited binary code (a trope that caught the eye of headliner Saul Williams) in an altogether amusing performance.

"[21] In 2009, he was also profiled in The Boston Globe; the Arts section reviewed his one-man show "Where the Magic Happens" favorably, and called him a "poetry-slam star.

"[22] Watsky continues to implement spoken word into his current career as a musician with songs like "Tiny Glowing Screens Pt.

Produced by Procrastination (San Francisco musician Tobias Butler), Guilty Pleasures contains mashups between popular songs and those from his first album.

[27] Being able to match the speed of the song's rapping was viewed as an Internet challenge, spawning covers by fellow rappers such as Mac Lethal,[28] and YouTube celebrities such as Hank Green[29] and Bry.

Tour dates for Europe (including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands) were released shortly after.

The album was released on March 12, 2013, through Welk Music Group, topping the iTunes Hip Hop Charts in the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom due in part to a Twitter campaign.

In November 2013 the Vans Warped Tour was briefly shut down after Watsky made a stage jump from the 35 ft high rigging during the band's performance in London.

It included collaborations with Anderson .Paak, Dia Frampton and Stephen Stills among others, and is Watsky's highest-charting album to date, reaching number 33 on the Billboard 200.

His live band Créme Fraîche consists of Max Miller-Loran (keys/trumpet), Kush Mody (keys, bass) Pat Dimitri (guitar), Chukwudi Hodge (drums) and others.

[42] On July 8, 2016, Watsky announced a new album titled x Infinity, as well as an upcoming tour (in America and Europe) on Twitter and Facebook.

The album's bonus track "Exquisite Corpse", referencing the poetry game, features seven guest verses rapped by Dumbfoundead, Grieves, Adam Vida, Wax, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, and Chinaka Hodge.

[54] The tour traveled most of North America as well as Europe and the United Kingdom with support from Grieves, Beau Young Prince, and Feed the Biirds.

On April 27, 2019, Watsky co-hosted The Get Lit Grand Slam Finals at The Theater at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles.

Shortly after on May 11, 2019, Watsky performed poetry at the Arcosanti, Arizona based music and arts festival FORM.

Watsky also released a free VR concert of his Welcome to the Family tour's show in Boulder Colorado which was featured by NextVR.

The tour included support acts from Travis Thompson, Feed the Biirds, Nikki Jean, G Yamazawa, Hollis, Ed Balloon, Grieves, Suppose, A-1, Danny J, Garth, Wax, Chukwudi Hodge, Mikos Da Gawd and a co-headline date in Denver, CO with Hobo Johnson.

He appeared on Dumbfoundead's podcast Fun with Dumb on February 20, where he discussed the significance of the album and how it was the second of a three-album series.

It entered the top ten in The New York Times Best Seller list,[3] and received public praise from Lin-Manuel Miranda, John Green, Russell Simmons, Hasan Minhaj, Jeff Chang, Adam Mansbach, Rhys Darby, Myq Kaplan, and Chinaka Hodge.