House of the Super Helpful

Brooklynnn !

colorthefuture:

COLORS: Super Helpful Kwame is a 23 year old rapper/producer from Brooklyn

what inspired you to begin rapping and producing?

I began writing raps hearing Lil Romeo and Lil Bow Wow in elementary. I’m not a traditional beatmaker. I work with a small group of producers and we’d build the song up after finding a sample. and add things like live instrumentation and drums for example. I’d say the first artist whose style I tried to emulate was probably Snoop Dogg and later Eminem and Nas. Production wise - just not liking the sounds in hip-hop around 2007-2008 led to me being forced to listen to more alternative instrumental producers like Nujabes, RJd2, Afta-1, Flying Lotus. Overtime I began writing to those style of beats almost exclusively.  

Explain what being a rapper and producer means to your creative process? do you primarily allow your lyrical ideas to inspire production, or is it vice versa? 

My love of hip-hop comes from the more lyrical side. The Lupe Fiascos, Eminems and the Nasir Joneses of the world. So I started writing and pushing myself on the technical side over industry beats like most emcees. But as an artist I always go by what vibe the music gives me. The bars are never premeditated. It’s just what I think organized a bit for peoples entertainment.

what hardware/software do you produce with?

I work with producers far more experienced than I am with the software to get the music out as envisioned. But I’ve used everything from Logic to Fruity Loops to Guitars to the Saxophone creating nothing is off limits.

would you consider signing to a major label?

Yes but only in the right situation. I understand what I can offer to a label because of what I’ve created with no backing. A label thats could understand my vision musically and provide a platform to give people something new may not necessarily be a traditional rap label. But every case is different. I could see myself on a XL or Young Turks. But I also feel I could make something great with G.O.O.D music as well.

what do you think is your best song to date?

It’s not out yet lol. I feel my style is diverse enough that people would enjoy different aspects of my music depending on mood or what they are looking for. Sometimes my personal favorite song is Cute Is The Most Condescending Compliment, sometimes it’s Dopamine, sometimes it’s It’s Aliive, or Wait For Me, and they all sound different.

what artists do you want to work with?

There’s a list that I never really wrote out but I’d say first off Eminem and Nas they are the main reasons I do this. I also really wanna work with The Weeknd, Lupe Fiasco, Ab-Soul, Joe Budden. Earl & Tyler , Charles Hamilton, Flylo, Kirk Knight, Devin The Dude, Bone Thugz, Hudson MoHawke, Freddie Gibbs, Obie Trice, SZA, RJD2, Melo-X, Dessy Hinds, Kendrick, Mike Shinoda, Dirty Sanchez, Janelle Monae, Snoop, A$AP Rocky, and DJ Dahi.

your profile on soundcloud states, “this discontent with the current state of hip hop led to kwame creating his own sounds.”  what specifically creates discontent?

I was always a computer savy person so I looked for underground or older music from a young age on forums, but it wasnt that needed because rap was still pretty good. But around the snap music era, music was on a serious downturn. Aside from pre- Lasers Lupe and Janelle Monae, nobody was really pushing the envelope. Even in rock music Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance run of quality was over and there was a handful of new music too enjoy period. I started to listen to what then to me sounded like weird instrumental shit and it was early Flying Lotus & Hudson Mohawke mixes. After that I couldn’t listen to rap there was no hunger in the legends or innovation and the next generation was cranking that. I gotta give credit to when Charles Hamilton, J. Cole, Wale, Drake, Gibbs and Big Sean came out for getting me back into rapping by making original stuff. I mean freestyling after school type shit. They were just a few years older and I felt I could hang with them all and I wanted to be ready when my time came.

why is your sound what hip hop needs right now?

Because I’m nice and my music is original there are people that feel like me about things and like the same sounds I do. I think the support I’ve gotten from rap media and people established in this industry which is often viewed as cynical despite not having even a manager shows that I don’t know anyone that sounds like me. I got the bars. I got the beats. And it’s diverse enough to appeal to a wide variety of people. I’m not for everyone, I know that, but many that get the chance to hear it will love it. I kinda feel like now there’s also a renaissance of lyricism and artistry going on where people care more about that than the fluff.

how has BK molded your sound?

Brooklyn is the most diverse place in the world culturally. You can walk down a block and see Thai, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Spanish, Italian restaurants. So to not be familiar with a variety of things says more about the person if you’re from here. I grew up in East Flatbush on Church Avenue which if you don’t know is named “Bob Marley Blvd” so Reggae, Calypso, and Soca music from the Islands was the first music I heard. My parents are older and cleaned the crib to songs that Kanye would later sample and being born in 1991, I was born into the golden age of hip-hop. My older cousins from Cali was playing The Chronic and Me Against The World and my cousins from here was playing iLLmatic and Ready To Die. My first purchased albums was E99 and TLC’s album at the same time so sonically my taste was always diverse and I owe a lot of that too Brooklyn making you embrace diversity.

what do you love about hip hop?

I love it being self expression in it’s rawest most hungry form. People from the worst areas in the world doing poetry expressing themselves to feed their families and change their lives to people that otherwise may not have given a fuck about their struggle. It gives a voice to the voiceless and I know for me creating and even listening to some songs have shaped my life how I see the world and how I empathize with my fellow man and I think that’s what I love most. I could say I love the multi syllable rhyme schemes and beats that make women twerk, but that’s what I love most.

have you ever produced under intoxicants? if so how do you think that’s affected your creative process?

I’ve rarely written music sober and I’ve never actually produced or recorded sober. I’m not that fond of liquor in the studio but I drink socially. I believe cannabis can help clear your head and give you a refresher and peace of mind which helps with creating music. Most artist I listen too do more than just bud but I’m a herbalist.

what is your mission statement?

My goal is too make people think deeper. Look at things differently question life question yourself. Feel more. Push yourself. I don’t wanna sound preachy in my music though I feel people tune out often when they feel spoken down to. So I like to present my positive messages in a more relatable way kinda like Black Dynamite or Black Jesus. My music is self expression of the journey I’m on myself so maybe I dont have the final answer for that but I just want people to be ok feeling what they feel. Be real with others and yourself don’t become a stereotype or a stepford wife its easy to try to play a role in this society and people become lost that way.

what’s in store for kwame in 2015?

I’m going to deliver great music for the people already paying attention and more great music to wake up those unaware. A lot of people simply haven’t been exposed. Every day I see people still quoting Lawns from late 2012 and discovering for the first time the SoBeR album from late 2013. So I just wanna continue to get better and grow the brand and audience and deliver as much quality as I can.

Follow Super Helpful Kwame on Souncloud 

Went to @scarlxrd show it was Dope I ain’t wanna get emo white teen bottle sweat on me (niggas almost 30 can’t be moshing no more) but Dope seeing this kid starting out doing his first NYC show keep it up and welcome to my city (at Williamsburg, Brooklyn)