SAREEM
- What inspired you to pursue a career in music, and when did you first realize you wanted to be a musician?
I grew up playing the piano and the drums and started writing poems when I was in early high school. I knew I wanted to be a rapper but didn’t know what the hell I wanted to rap about until I was around 19 and went through heartbreak. In the span of a few months, I went from rapping to help keep myself alive to realizing that I can be good in some months if I keep at it. All of a sudden I found myself with an album under my belt, and once I discovered the high of doing live shows, there was no turning back.
- What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an emerging artist, and how have you overcome them?
Making the most out of what you have. I’m thankful for the relationships I have with my engineers and the studios I go to now, but when I started out I was recording in my closet on a pirated version of Logic Pro (that I still use today! Shoutout my boy Rik). Those days happened to be the times I was the most productive and got to experiment with what I was good at when it came to rapping. It helps you build the blocks into what your sound can be and it teaches you how to have a relentless work ethic if you choose to stick with it. Another big challenge I faced and still face is trying to tune out the noise of others. At the end of the day, whether it’s your friends or family, they haven’t been through what you’ve been through. Only you can interpret you. Advice is one thing and when my close friends tell me advice that is easily correctable I listen and am very coachable. But when it comes to talking about ideas with friends and family, I go at it from a stance of trying to push an idea forward. Unless you’re a rapper or a producer in my lane that’s already done what I’m tryna do, personally I don’t give advice to fields that I’m not in.
- Who are some of your biggest musical influences, and how have they shaped your sound and style?
My biggest influences range from ScHoolboy Q, K-Dot, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, JID, Denzel Curry and Redman. All of those rappers have crazy deliveries on bouncy ass beats and can make songs that turn you the fuck up, or they can have you smokin and wondering about what the fucks actually goin on. 50 especially influenced me wit his hooks, he’s very melodic and knows how to make shit memorable. And then some of them are just insane lyrically if you pay attention to what they’re actually saying. I think I’m a healthy mix of that, or at least growing into a healthy mix of it.
- How do you approach the songwriting process, and where do you draw inspiration from for your lyrics and melodies?
In my everyday life I move around pretty fast, so I start writing when I sit down to think about what’s gone down in the past week or so. Most of the time when I’m sitting down is either in my car or when I’m on the toilet. You’d be surprised how many bangers I’ve made from just having my headphones in on the dooker lol. As for lyrics and melodies, if it can be delivered in a convincing way and slaps, then we run with it. I don’t think twice about them, the less words the better
- What can listeners expect from your upcoming album or project, and how does it differ from your previous work?
From A. Anonymous, you can expect more bangers than on my usual projects. This thing was 2 years in the making people!!! Alex pushed me to get out of my comfort zone for a couple of the songs and we bounced off each other like fuckin crazy. It’s pretty trap heavy - you can play most of the album at a function. The tracks I lead on have my bounce you can find in my earlier music, but Alex influenced the direction of the sound on the album. Going forward, I’ll carry the style from some of those tracks into my future music.
- How has your background or life experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Well Sareem is my family name, just an extra E added. Being mixed, you’re kind of forced to take influence from everything you’re around, and it gives you an advantage. One life experience that has recently impacted me was my trip to Africa this past summer. My family and I went to a church house to meet a choir, we chopped it up with everybody and some of the kids said they practiced rap themselves. I got to freestyle back and forth with one of the African kids with an entire choir humming in the background, the only drum being a bongo. I felt a fucking pit in my stomach while rapping. The more I rapped the more it turned into passion. Ever since then, you can hear that same hunger in the delivery of my voice. I would say off this album, Good Problems and Brass Knuckles show that the most.
- Can you talk about a particularly memorable or inspiring performance you've had, and what made it special?
I’ll talk about 2 because they’re very connected to each other. The first and last times I played for my college town, San Luis Obispo. The first time was when I opened up for Blueface at the Fremont hall during my junior year. Seeing 70 of your friends take up a section of the crowd and straight up merk high school kids in a moshpit is something you remember forever. That was the first time a good amount of my friends had seen me perform live as well. Every time I think about it I get a fat ass grin on my face. Blueface and his crew were cool too. The last time I played in SLO was last year 2 years to the day Kobe had passed away. Our family had gotten news about a personal thing that happened that night too. Something overcame me when I went onstage and I went from almost about to breakdown into tears into what I think was my most fierce, intimate and hype set I’ve ever done. A ton of my friends were in the crowd and we ended up moshing to my song Relaxed, and I was rapping while moshing a La Denzel Curry. I got to bring out my dawg Hakeem out for our song Victory Marathon that night too, it was a very special night for me and was a fitting way to go out of that town if that’s how it ends.
- What do you hope listeners take away from your music, and what message do you want to convey through your art?
Through all the bullshit that the world has to offer, find a way to have a good time, find a way to lock in and make it your bitch. But be aware of what’s around you and be empathetic to those who are going through/have gone through it. Do some dope fucking shit, get out ya comfort zone.
- How has the music industry changed since you first started, and how have you adapted to those changes as an artist?
Pre Covid and Post Covid are 2 different worlds that have started to come back into one. I’ve had to make more singles that appeal to the masses on top of still doing albums, and have met videographers to try and break into the tiktok market. As long as you have a work ethic and are willing to change, changing with the industry isn’t too hard. It’s a matter of breaking into it at this point. I love that live shows are back in action.
- What advice would you give to other emerging artists who are just starting out in the industry?
Make sure you wanna do this shit. They only show the artists that make it happen, but they don’t tell you that you gotta be a crazy motherfucker to think you can make it in the music industry. Network as much as possible and make sure your head never meets the inside of your ass. Own your music, figuratively and literally.
Alexander the Great
- What inspired you to pursue a career in music, and when did you first realize you wanted to be a musician?
I’ve always had a love for music since I was a kid but the time I really thought about starting up a career in music was Senior year of high school. That year a kid from my high school made music and I thought I could make something better so I tried it out. It wasn’t better at the time so then I just started grinding out songs with my homie and it turned into something I love doing.
- What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an emerging artist, and how have you overcome them?
Trying to show people how serious I am about my music through my actions and the music I release. I feel like some people hear you make music and just go “oh word” and that’s it. Getting people to genuinely be curious about each single I drop can be difficult as an upcoming artist.
- Who are some of your biggest musical influences, and how have they shaped your sound and style?
My biggest musical influences are probably Juice Wrld, Lil Uzi Vert, Nav, Future, Lil Wayne and Eminem. While I may not sound like these people in my own music, they are definitely the artists who either started my love for rap or are the artists I listen to daily. The thing I love about all of these guys is at one point or another I looked up to the fact that they are authentic and 100% themselves. It’s easy to chase trends so I think there is more value in being yourself.
- How do you approach the songwriting process, and where do you draw inspiration from for your lyrics and melodies?
When I first started writing I would use any spare times after school or sports to try and write to any beats I could get to play on a speaker. This helped me find my sound but that’s about it. But slowly I started to learn that I am someone who can’t be forced to write on a dime. It’s kind of like a build up. I gotta live life to see and hear things that get me thinking or give me ideas before I write, otherwise I’m not going to get the quality I’m looking for in my lyrics or Melodies.
- What can listeners expect from your upcoming album or project, and how does it differ from your previous work?
They can expect a project that shows versatility throughout the entire body of work. This tape that’s dropping 2/24 has been one Sareem and I have worked on for almost 2 years. We’ve each come a long way since the beginning and I think our fans can expect us to produce not only songs with replay value, but lyrics that can’t be forgotten. All of my other bodies of work have been singles up to this point so I am also excited to see how people receive an entire tape from me for the first time. It’s the first of many but I’m really excited.
- How has your background or life experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Id say being from San Diego, I am very blessed because of the beautiful city I’m from. The people are my people and it’s home. I’ve also had the privilege to have lived in Milwaukee and Los Angeles (which I both love as well) and that has definitely helped shape my music from what it was originally. The person I am today is because of all of my experiences and where Ive been. I want to give music everything I have to get San Diego the recognition it deserves. I want to bring a unique sound/ vibe to properly showcase where I grew up and how I live.
- Can you talk about a particularly memorable or inspiring performance you've had, and what made it special?
I have only performed one time and it was at Queen Bee’s down in North Park. Sareem actually brought me out during his set and we performed a song called Yessir. This was my first taste of performing and I can confidently say it was one of the best feelings you can have. Watching Sareem perform a couple times has also set a good example for me with not only the performing aspect, but also the preparation and relentlessness it takes to be an artist.
- What do you hope listeners take away from your music, and what message do you want to convey through your art?
I just want people to enjoy what I put out because they enjoy the music. At the end of the day that’s all I’m trying to do. I’m making my contribution to hip hop because of the influence it’s played in my life and I just want to make that connection for someone else down the road. That to me is leaving behind a legacy and making a difference.
- How has the music industry changed since you first started, and how have you adapted to those changes as an artist?
I would say the music industry has changed a lot since I’ve started making music. The biggest change being that the tik tok era is upon us and it seems like everything nowadays is social media driven. At first I was stubborn and just gonna do things my way and thought that I could still blow up organically. That’s just so unlikely in todays day and age. So instead of shying away from it ,we gotta run towards it as artists. Because of that I’ve been embracing social media and learning as I go.
- What advice would you give to other emerging artists who are just starting out in the industry?
The only advice I feel like I could give to any other artists out there is to just keep perfecting your craft and don’t change who you are for views and streams. You’ll see people rebranding themselves online and deleting all their old stuff to make a new persona. They’ll even buy followers to make it seem like they’re poppin. That’s cool and all , (it could possibly help gain a little traction in the short term) but in the long run you’ll be so much more thankful you did it your own way without changing up on yourself. Keep pushing through and don’t get discouraged because one day you’ll be at a point you never thought could be reached and guess what! There’s still more to come after that.