Sam The Kid @ Frank’s Chop Shop
Lately there’s been a debate over hip-hop’s vital signs: dead for years, alive and well, comatose…. While the state of hip-hop in the US all depends on who’s taking its pulse, it looks to be in good health elsewhere in the world.
From graffiti to breaking to beats, from the UK to Germany to Russia, like it or not, all things hip-hop have exploded in Europe. And anyone who says they’re not doing it well isn’t paying close enough attention.
Take for example rapper and producer Sam The Kid. Born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, Sam has built upon the foundation of a traditionally American art form to create something that is at once uniquely Portuguese and universally enjoyable.
Frank151 recently had the opportunity to speak with Sam The Kid at Frank’s Chop Shop (where else do you go on your first visit to NYC?).
Interview after the jump…
Frank151: Sam The Kid, what brings you to the States?
Sam The Kid: I had a show in Connecticut, a hip-hop festival, at Trinity college. It was a worldwide thing, emcees from all over the world. Most of them, they represent other countries but they live here. But I think I was the only one that came overseas. And I came with a band. Right now I play with a live band.
F151: What do you think of the City?
STK: It’s Beautiful.
F151: Have you been here before?
STK: No, no. It’s my first time. I don’t travel a lot. I’m like, really close to my neighborhood. I’m just starting to go overseas right now.
F151: You’re from Lisbon?
STK: I’m from Lisbon. Two weeks ago I went to France, it was my first time over there as well, to do a track, like a European all-star kind of track, because we are going to have a show in Austria.
F151: Who else was there?
STK: From Marseille, from France, we got IAM, from Sweden we got Promoe from Looptroop, from Germany we had Curse, a great rapper as well. From Spain, Mucho Muchacho, from a group called 7 Notas, 7 Colores, from Norway, Noora Noor, she’s a singer. A lot of rappers, man.
F151: Spain, France, Germany… hip-hop is big in most of Europe now. Is it any different in Portugal?
STK: No, it’s no different. Nowadays it’s really expanded worldwide and I can see the difference. In the 80s, when I was in school, rock was the most predominant music. But back then I already listened to hip-hop, and I was like a minority. Nowadays it’s a lot different. My neighbors wake me up with hip-hop. The secret of the success, I think 100%, is that we rap in our language, Portuguese. There’s no Portuguese cats that rhyme in English. So they connect with that a lot more. There’s much more rock bands that sing in English than in Portuguese. So I think that’s one of the secrets of our success. Then we have another small market, some others rappers, that rhyme in Creole. Because Portugal has a lot of people from Angola, Mozambique, Cape Vert…. So it’s nice.
F151: What hip-hop did you grow up listening to?
STK: In Europe, in like ‘89, ‘90, we listened to the mainstream stuff, that people thought was rap. We didn’t actually use the word ‘hip-hop.’ The word ‘rap’ is more like dancing, like, “Do you know how to dance rap?” It was crazy! And it was like European [music] projects, that people were calling rap. I thought that was rap back then, like Technotronic, that kind of song… “Pump Up the Jam” and Snap, “The Power” (laughs). Those are European projects and people thought that that was rap.
So a friend of mine sent me a tape of Yo! MTV Raps. I had a conversation with the European rappers in France and we realized that Yo! MTV Raps was real important for all of us… to reach a wider audience. And for me it was that. The song that enlightened my life was Souls of Mischief, “93 Till Infinity”. “Oh man. This is it.” And then after that, it was everything. Back then, I would like everything. Nowadays I’m a little more picky.
F151: Portugal has a rich musical history. Does that come out in the music you make?
STK: When you start to sample you go to your father’s records, or your sister’s records, and some of them are Portuguese. I mix with fado. Fado is like traditional music from Portugal. Sometimes people connote that with a sad song but, it can be happy as well. I messed with it, and then people really liked it. I stood out because of that. You know, it’s different. But then I kinda stopped doing it. Because, “Oh this is the guy of hip-hop fado…” No. I always do it with Portuguese stuff but you don’t have to know it. I don’t have to put Portuguese words on it, like singing.
F151: That’s the beautiful thing about music.
STK: You don’t have to know where it’s at. And I sample Portuguese music as well. I go to my video archives and put some phrases in there, I put my family in there, it’s really personal.
F151: You sample from a lot of different media.
STK: When I started, it was like, if I listened to some American movies and they said, “Oh, Sam” then I’d pick it up, but then I said, “No, I have to get some Portuguese stuff. From TV from Portugal. From Portuguese movies.” Then I’d put it on my music. For me to be like nobody else, I’m going to my archives, my video archives. That’s how I do it, to get more and more personal.
F151: You touched on the fact that you rap in Portuguese. Someone in America, for example, who doesn’t speak Portuguese, they can hear you’re a good producer, they can like the beat, they can like your voice and your flow, but they can’t understand you. What is your lyrical content like?
STK: I rap about everything. I see music as an art, and art for me fits all emotions. I don’t like to be in a box. Like hip-hop fado or revolutionary rap or party rap or club rap. But I think I can be all of that, if it is me. I have a lot of emotions. If I’m sad I make a sad song, if I’m glad I make a glad song, if I’m in love… I think I’m all of that. The whole spectrum. That’s me. My favorite word is balance, man.
F151: Who else do you work with in Portugal?
STK: A lot, but I can say a few names… Valete, it means like, the jack, of the cards… Valete. He’s like, one of the greatest as well. Regula, he’s a great emcee as well. Boss AC. He was there as well. He’s finishing an album right now, and he’s going to master it here with Troy Hightower. A lot of cats… Tekilla, Kilu… go to myspace and see my friends!
F151: So what’s next?
STK: I have four albums. Three are as an emcee and a producer, and one is instrumental. I have a parallel side of me that does instrumentals, not rap. And now I’m preparing my next one. Actually, I’m doing two instrumental albums. One is the continuation of Beats, Volume One: Amor. And I want to make Beats, Volume Two. I’m almost finished with that. And I’m working on another project. You know Madlib and the project he did with Blue Note? Shades of Blue? In Portugal we have two big labels. They have the greatest old Portuguese records. They let me go there to dig in the crates, with the permission to do that legal stuff. But I have to do it on their label, the record has to be released on their label.
But my next album as an emcee… I don’t know. I’m not that kind of rapper that has to release an album a year or two, no. It’s like, when I have something to say, I will say it. I don’t feel the pressure to do nothing. If I become a father… “Oh, it’s a new experience, I’m gonna write a song about it,” but I’m not going to make a kid just for the sake of writing a song, you know? It’s natural.
