Snipah

Er rappt seit gerade mal 5 Jahren, und doch zieren bereits sieben komplette Alben die Discography von Snipah aus Minnesota. Seinen jüngsten Coup landete der Hardcore-Rapper mit “Memphis 2 Minnesota”, einem mit Chopper Girl eingespielten Song, der durch die Appearance auf Al Kapone’s “Memphis Drama Vol. 3″ erstmals auch ein landesweites Publikum auf die Musik des 22-jährigen Aufsteigers aufmerksam machte. Unser Mann Boogiezy wechselte für ugrap.de ein paar Worte…

Ok mane, introduce yourself to the people. Where are you from?

Wassup I’m Snipah, born and raised in Minnesota, Twin Cities area. Been rapping since 1999 started as a hobby but things have been getting better this last year. Grew up playing basketball, once I hit high school got involved with drugs, skipping school etc. my life is back on track now.

How long have you been into the rap-game yet? How many albums did you record so far?

Well I started freestyling in 98-99. Recorded my first written lyric song november 2000, I’ve recorded 6 solo albums, and one group album with Dosia Demon – “Loced Out Demonz”. He also lives in Minnesota, we went to high school together, and he’s the one who made me decide to start recording real songs. After seeing that he could do it, i wanted to be involved…

Who have you been working with? And what’s your favorite collaboration?

When I first started networking it was basically just unduhground rappers I met on the net or through Dosia Demon. My more unduhground collabs would include M-1 from Cali, Keepa from Texas, Warlock from Detroit; lately I been working with some different people, to name a few, Chopper Girl, 2 Black, DJ Zirk, King JC, Mr. Sche, Mizta Frozt, Project Pugs and alot more… My favorite collab I’ve ever done is “Zombies 2004″ on Chopper Girl’s album “Dirty Dollas” due to be in stores nationwide this spring around april or may.

Yeah, you had that tight song on “Memphis Drama Vol. 3″ with Chopper Girl, one of my favorite songs on this compilation…

Not one of my favorite tracks there. It was real underground when I did it, it was on my old mic and was my first song I did with Chopper Girl, but Kapone thought it had a good underground sound to it, so I woulda rather had a newer song with better quality on there but i can’t complain ha…

Can we expect some more songs like ‘Memphis 2 Minnesota’ soon? I mean songs that gon’ be on well-known compilations, just like “Memphis Drama”…

Ya, I’ll most likely be on Mr. Sche’s Compilation dropping later on this year, I’ll be on Chopper Girl’s “Dirty Dollas” due out in a few months. I network alot so expect to see me on more than just those 2 albums this year.

I’m waiting for the Mr.Sche & Al Kapone album, I’ve heard that they’ll drop an album together…

Yup, “The Showdown”. Talked to Sche about it yesterday. He still got some mixxing to do but the album is near done and will be out SOON, right now I’d say in the next few months.

For the ones who don’t know much about you and your songs – are there any websites where your music can be listened to?

www.soundclick.com/snipah – there you’ll find downloads, samples etc. I put one song from each of my albums there and the samples at the type are new tracks I’m workin’ on for my greatest hits album.

You already plan to to drop a “Greatest Hits” album?

Ya it’s a “Greatest Hits” along with new tracks. Thats what I’ve been workin’ on lately. It’s gonna be a full 80 min CD. I have alot of songs after makin’ 7 albums total plus collabs I’ve done for other peoples albums etc…

What do you think about beefs in rap? Especially in Memphis where practically everybody hates on 3-6?

Beefin’ is mainly bullshit that goes on to create attention to the artists dissing each other, most the time if the beef is real you won’t hear much diss tracks, you’ll hear about fights popping off, gangs wars etc. Now to adress Memphis, some people may clown me cause I’m not from Memphis and they get upset that I know alot about Memphis and am shown universal respect there – most of the rappers in Memphis are cool with each other, 36 basically isn’t in Memphis much anymore. Most of the local Memphis rappers have lost respect for 36, mainly Paul and J, cause those 2 are the ones acting like 36 is the only rap outta Memphis who are really doing anything, while they know theres other talent, you see them working with Lil Flip but no other Memphis artists. I never met any of 36 members, but from what I hear Lord Infamous is the coolest one, and back when they first started puttin’ out tapes everyone was diggin lord’s evil style. You see how all of 36’s old members left them, it just shows how they manage there personal over there. And now that they’re gone (laughs) they go and sign La Chat. That was desperate, trying to turn her into somewhat of a commercial artist when she really isn’t (laughs) Ok, enuff ’bout 36..

Are you involved in any beefs? Would you answer to a diss if someone would diss you on his record?

I don’t really have much beefs. If I do, I don’t hold them for long, I’ve made 2 diss tracks one about Flipsyde from Chicago and one about Keepa from Houston. For Flipsyde, it was basically him talkin’ down on me sayin’ I’ll never amount to nuthin’, I’m wastin’ my time etc. And Keepa was putting me on “Shelve” to much, not involving me on tracks. I would offer to help, offer to do an album for his label etc. He just didn’t ever show concern, yet he “stayed cool ” with me , so about a month ago I thought fuck Keepa, I dont need to work with him or his label. Dosia is on his label. And yeah I’ll return the favor on a diss track, only if it’s bumpin’ tho, if the track is weak I’ll just laugh at it and consider it a waste of my time and the person who made it also. Artists that put there heart, soul, time and patience into their work, for example, King JC, Mr. Sche, Al Kapone and K-Rino, along with these dudes I really appreciate the underground rappers & producers that keep workin on things even tho their product isn’t selling, and when they get bad feedback on a song it just motivates them to do better on there next song. I have respect for anyone who’s hungry yet willing to wait their turn and just keep working on improving while they make there own paths. People will recognize that the artist put all they had into it – not for the fame, not for the money, but for the respect, that includes self respect.

What do you think, since the beginning of rap: who made the biggest influence on rap-music today? Run-DMC, Sugarhill Gang, 2 Pac, Public Enemy …?

A good mix of all those, rap has become a mix of hip hop, horrorcore, gangsta-rap, comedy-rap amonst others. Each of the pioneers of rap music brought and developed their own sounds and fashions of representing themselves, they set the industry up for us, and I doubt any of them thought the rap industry would’ve grown as much as it has over the last 15 years. 2 Pac is definately the biggest name in rap, when Snopp came out he was huge, but when Pac died and settin’ that up him and Biggie beefing, that set up an enormous fan base. There’s an example of beefing, I havent read into the backstory much, but I’ll assume it’s real beef. I remember Pac was dating one of Biggie’s girls, Faith Evans I believe (laughs) Ok, off that topic I don’t know much about it to be adressing…

Yeah, 2 Pac is speaking about fucking Biggie’s wife in “Hit ‘Em Up” and also some other songs…

(laughs) Ya, funny stuff – even tho the song isn’t all that bumpin’, people love it ’cause its drama & comedy.

And what rappers had the greatest influence on you?

King JC, Mr. Sche & Dosia Demon. King JC because of his open minded, big heart and determination. And he always shows respect to the underground. Mr. Sche is real similar to JC, Sche has helped me out alot. Dosia Demon had me taking interest in rapping when he started, so he’s a major influence. We started doing tracks together and it was a new hobby for us. Far as me listening to cd’s and being influenced by the styles: Skinny Pimp’s “King Of The Playazball”, King JC’s Vol. 8 “Kingz Day” and Tre-8’s “Ghetto Stories”.

What do you listen most of the time? What’s in your cd player these days?

Lately, I been listening to my old cd-r mixxes – a lil bit of Spice 1, some E-40, Crooked Souls, Lil Mokey. Last few weeks I been bumpin’ ug-tapes while I lay down to sleep. Been bumpin’ Lil Yo, Trauma Center Killaz and Lo Key to name a few.

What do you think about screwed up rap?

It’s cool, it helps the audience get more into the lyrics, I think it sounds good on more uptempo tracks. I like chopped and screwed stuff, but am not huge into it, I don’t own any chopped and screwed cd’s really. I have a screwed ug mix cd-r that a friend screwed for me a while back.

What do you think about ‘pirats’ in the music industry? Today there’s so many cheap cd’s out on the streets, so many non-commercial web sites with alot of music to download for free – should people fight against all that or should that be allowed for exposuring new artists?

It’s worse now then it ever has been and it keeps getting worse, I think if cd manufacturers could find a way to make cd’s unburnable it would help their sales alot. In some cases those pirates help rappers, for example: underground rapper’s cd’s gettin ripped on the net, not always a bad thing, ’cause chances are most of the people who are downloading the album off the net are just downloading it ’cause it’s free not ’cause they know of this “underground artist”. So while it does open ears to underground artists, it also takes money from bigger name artists who have their cds on store shelves. Thats where hungrier artists will show more effort, keep doing shows, keep showing respect to where they came from etc. Keep your fans on your team, dont let them see you getting lazy.

What do you think about the whole over-commercialized rap-world of MTV and similar tv-channels?

Well they are appealing to the general crowd that’s why they do so good. Eminem being the controversial white rapper and 50 being the new big rapper on the scene, I think they set the standards higher for rap. I don’t pay much attention to radio and MTV, but I know they doing what it takes to stay on top. I recently heard Eminem used to make black racist jokes on his underground albums, and that will effect his sales im sure.

Hoe does your life look like besides doin’ music? Where would you like to see yourself in the next 5-10 years?

Right now I’m working at a restuarant making hot sandwiches, but what I want to do is move up the chain in this restuarant im workin at, either that or I have a girlfriend who’s opening a restuarant on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin, she might be interested in having me be her kitchen manager. We still have to sit down and have a meeting about it. I wasted alot of my life on drugs, but realized that nothin’ positive has came from my using them. One good thing I can say has came from it all is that it’s helped me learn about myself. I’m 22 years old.

What are you doin’ in your free time? Do you have any favorite movies or video-games?

Well, I’m BIG into horror movies, some of my favorites are ‘Aliens’, ‘Halloween’, ‘The Burning’, ‘Near Dark’, ‘The Lost Boys’ and many more. Far as video games I do play them but not as much as when I was younger, but I do own a gamecube, super nintendo and a NES. I go out with my family sometimes, drive down to the town I grew up in to visit my friends from high school. I spend alot of time on the internet, getting updates, chatting and networking on projects. Also I love playing basketball and want to get back into playing regularly again.

Do you have any last message to the people that might read this interview?

Thanks for showing interest in me, to the industry: make room for Snipah! I know it’s crowded but I’m still in here playing to win! Take time to appreciate other rap besides mainstream rap ’cause there’s alot of talent in the underground, alot of times being better than the mainstream artists. Check my music out, holla!