All of you, chew on this. Here’s a treat for all of you hip hop and rap fans out there; an EXCLUSIVE interview with the Amalgam Digital signee and rapper, Chuuwee, on his forthcoming project Economics.
Meet Chuuwee, Dionte Hunter by birth, who hails from Sacramento, California. He’s not only known for crushing the rap battle scene back home, but he’s also known for creating his revolutionary music. He now resides in San Diego, CA, where he continues to create tracks constantly for his many adoring fans. This artist has come a long way since the start of his underground passion for the hip-hop scene which started at age 12. He has been featured on popular hip hop blogs, sites, and publications, such as 2DopeBoyz, HipHopDX, DJBooth, AllHipHop, Complex Magazine, XXL, and he was interviewed by Forbes at SXSW, circa 2012, as a rising artist.
The now 25-year old is known for being very unique and more avant-garde with his sound compared to his Northern Californian counter-parts. He executes his music with charisma, power, and purpose and his tone is smooth, yet impactful. He focuses his music on the topics that are most relatable to his crowd and they respond with appreciation. He’s world-conscious and street-smart, charging his lyrics with controversy and challenges to make the world stop and ponder about the issues we face today. Previous albums of his include The Chuuwee Channel and Dystopia, and now he’s preparing for the epic release of his upcoming compilation Economics, which is due to release in August of this summer! But this list does not also include the myriad of mixtapes the individual has also produced along the way. Songwriting comes easily to Chuuwee, now, who has claimed to come to learn the mastery of the art as he has grown and experimented with the sound. He developed a style all of his own that based off the structure of rap / hip hop, but could bend back into aspects of punk rock and R&B.
After signing on with the hip hop label, Amalgam Digital, (home to artists like Curren$y and Lil B), he began producing his mixtapes and videos. He has also collaborated with notable artists like Max B. On August 12th of 2015, the oddball (his Snapchat name) released an project titled The South Sac Mack. It was one of the Top 20 hip hop Albums of 2015, according to Complex Magazine.
Now, I had the amazing opportunity to speak with this innovative and progressive artist to hear more about him as a person and his life, about his upcoming album, and so much more. At the end of this interview is also an exclusive mp3 clip of a track off his new album, so be sure to listen to it below!
Here is our interview went:
Hi, thank you so much for having this interview with me. I am really excited to hear about your new album release!
Aw, I appreciate it, I’m lucky to be here, thank you so much.
Are you excited for the release of the album?
Ya, I’m really excited to share what I have with people.
So, let’s just jump straight into these questions. What do you think about your album and how do you think it’s different from what you’ve done in the past or maybe have you followed the same path to give people that familiar feel of you as an artist?
I guess it has elements of familiar feelings, but not necessarily lyrically, but just the overall tone or theme. I’m calling it an experience, a lot of my career, I personally feel like, I’m trying to create vibes or a tone, so I finally feel like I am successful in creating a vibe, so the entire theme of the album is an experience. It’s kind of just like when you’re listening to it, it’s really in depth, like a full story. You can’t really just throw the album on shuffle because the whole album is trying to give you an insight into what I’m trying to say.
What influenced the idea behind Economics? It’s an interesting title, could you elaborate on that?
Uh, when I started working on it. I think it was like the, I don’t want to say narcissism, because then that sounds super malicious, but that was when like the self-glory started getting really big on the internet, so I wanted to do something different. People are always talking about how much money they have, what they’re buying and all that, and in my life in my career also, I’ve always gone against the norm, so I was like, You know what? I’m gonna make an album that’s about money: not about buying stuff, not about being flashy, not about buying cars and stuff like that, but I’m actually gonna make an album that’s about money. So I guess the best place to start was the idea of our current economy ‘cuz at the time too it was a surplus of merlots and the job rate was really really low in the city where I’m from in Sacramento. I live in San Diego now, but the job rate was really really low. Just stuff that really like affects more people than the things on the internet. Then somebody else told me, we were just talking about music, and he was like “ you know, the rest of world isn’t really trapped, they’re just not into that, that’s just the internet or that’s just the younger generation but the overall world as whole, they still wanna hear something different. And from there that just sparked something I’m like “ya, I’m gonna make an album about what people do to get money, like why we need money from every perspective, from a rich man’s perspective, from a poor man’s perspective even from a child’s perspective in a sense. That was the spark right there.
So your name, Chuuwee, it’s pretty awesome, how did you get that as a nickname?
It’s a nickname I got from my friend in highschool. Uh, I don’t know why, and I did not know this was radio personality at the time, but he used to call me Chuuwee Gomez, I was like what’s that mean, why are you sayin’ that? Years and years later, I found he was really famous radio personnel. And it kind of just stuck ‘cuz at the time I had just started battle rapping more frequently, so I was getting really good at it and also whenever somebody saw me getting off the bus or at school, I was eating something. So it kind of all seemed to fall in place in this weird way. ‘He’s Chuuwin everybody up,’ ‘oh yeah that’s Chuuwee.’
In an interview I watched, I saw that you were extremely close to your mom and that she raps too! Do you guys ever rap together or do you plan to rap collab in the future?
Definitely, she’s actually working on her tape right now. We have one song together up on the internet called “Stoner’s Oath” and that kind of set everybody on her. She kind of has her own fan base just from that verse alone, so a lot of people who know her were really excited to see her in that interview, but she’s working on a tape right now. She’s been in the lab and I know ‘cuz she calls frequently and I’m super stoked about it. She is getting her tape together, and we have been collectively trying to get something together for a long time, but it just takes a while.
Are you influenced by her style or do you have a different one?
Definitely, mine is birthed by her style, obviously. But now I feel like I’ve kind of mastered the art of song writing, like any kind of song about any kind of thing, but ya my style was definitely birthed by my mama. She has this real aggressive, in-your-face, old school hip hop type style, and so that’s why I’m aggressive, and just really really in-your-face type lyrics. And she’s got a very neat delivery.
So feeding off of that, obviously your mom is an inspiration, but do you have any other figures in your life who are inspirational to you or actual artists who influence you?
My dad, for as long as I can remember, has always had a job and worked as many hours as possible to provide for the family and at the same time he was always there for us, so my dad was a really strong example of the work ethic to me. I always aspire to work as hard as my dad because I have never seen him stop working, even on his off days he’ll be doing something around the house or preparing to do something. He’s always productive even on his off days. And Jay Z is just another super super big artist who is an idol to me because I Just feel like that’s the way to go in terms of how to make music and how to progress off of music. His life’s been successful, he’s successful, he has tons of business ventures. To some he may not seem like the greatest person character wise, but as far as his career, he’s definitely somebody people can learn how to become successful from. And I guess my third biggest influence would be David Bowie, I kind of like to feel like I’m the rap-version of David Bowie. There’s pretty much nothing he couldn’t do as far as music, except rap, but I’m sure if he had tried that, he probably wouldn’t be bad at that either. David bowie is extremely ridiculously talented far beyond his time. I saw a documentary about Ziggy Stardust and Spacefighters, I’ve seen that like maybe 5-6 years ago, and I was like ‘oh wow, I knew about him, but that movie right there,’ I was like wow. And that inspired me to start writing.
So another figure I heard you’re influenced by and its concept that you’re into is Buddhism. Is that right? Tell me more about that?
Ya, I had a very awkward experience, like this weird encounter, it was very scary and had this really really negative energy, kind of unexplainable, and the next day after that, my mom went to san Francisco and brought me a pendant. And she was like, “hey I went to F’risco, and this lady said this pendant brings you good luck, it’s supposed to help you make money. And it was a little wood pendant, and it had a mantra for prosperity on it. I actually ended up getting a tattoo of it because it started scaring me, but as soon as I got it, my career started propelling, like sky high. Three days after I just started pushing forward, like super progressive. I continued to read about it and my dad was kind of sketched out at first because he is super super Baptist. He went to Catholic school and his parents are really religious and everything, he said, “dude, well if that’s what you wanna do, you’re grown, but I don’t understand it.” But once he got a further understanding of it like he’s seen how devotedI was to it, he was all for it, my mom’s supportive of it and everything. But ya, it’s changed my life for the better I think. I can control my temper a lot better now, stuff does irritate me, so it helps me control my temper. It actually gave me patience with people because I didn’t really have a lot of patience with people before and now I just do my part and hope people will do theirs.
Do you do a lot of the practices?
Meditation and the belief in deities. I have a talisman and a hamsa tattooed on both of my forearms. I try to incorporate it in all parts of my life. It’s almost muscle memory to me now.
Ok, so now moving more into the music side of things, what’s the San Diego music scene like, the Cali scene?
It’s very similar to Sacramento in that they’re extremely segregated. And it’s kind of awkward too because there are so many different sounds down here, like you’ll ask one person like do you know Joe Shmo, and they’ll say nah who’s that, and because there are so many communities and sub-cities in San Diego, it’s a vast untapped land. Because it’s a tourist town too, I feel like there should be more unity because it’s just weird to me that a town like this doesn’t have more butting head stars. There’s a grit of people down here making music, but there’s not too many forefronters; there should be so many more famous people down here because there’s just so many different talents.
Sounds like Boston kind of.
See and I stayed in Boston for 2 months in 2012 I think, and I was out there for my first ever tour, when I first signed on to Amalgam Digital, the label that I was signed to. The scene there, there were just so many different people out there who were rappin, but now there are a couple people out there now who are bigger named. The stuff that they’re putting out compared to the scene then, I wouldn’t have known people were doing that kind of music then because most of the people there would either be the Max B flashy style or they were like Guns & Glory. I didn’t know there could be any other kind of hip hop out there.
So besides what we’ve discussed, do you have anything else that motivates you to keep going and writing and rapping?
Other than my family, I’m always thinking about my family and I always want to be able to provide for them, but other than that I think it’s just honestly sheer defiance. Like anytime I get down or discouraged, I just think ‘nah nah nah’ I just refuse to go out like that. Or if it’s like pitching a song for a premiere on a blog and they won’t take it, it’s like ‘you know what? I’m just gonna premier it myself.’ Any type of obstacle that’s in my way that’s too big to just not think about, that’s when I start to work up the defiance.
What is your favorite track you’ve ever made?
Actually, I think my favorite track right now, I’ve never had one before, is this song called “Slave Gig” and it’s going to be on the new album release.
Oh, something to look forward to then?
Haha yea it’s crazy I really really like it. I feel like it’s the song I’ve played the most of mine for sure.
Should we expect music videos of sorts coming out for singles on the new album?
Definitely, I’m actually in the process of shooting commercials to promote the album and all of the commercials and all of the videos, well I’m going to try to have them continue on from each other. I put together a small storyline and plot somewhat. What we aimed for was there will be 6 videos, and all 6 videos + the commercials will all equal one big movie, so you’ll have to watch them all together. It will be all one giant film. They’ll be split a part. One video will end, then it will be continued. Or one video will start and it will be like Scene 2. Starting from this album Economics going to the last album Dystopia, it’s a 6 part saga. The entire surplus of content on there, even including the videos and the music, it’s all one giant story, which ultimately equals our world today as I see it.
I like that it’s a different approach.
Ya I’m really trying to show people a super super different type of creativity in music. I’m basically trying to turn this into more so of an audio cartoon, like an audio movie.
If you could collab with someone, who would you want it to be?
As of right now, highest on my list is Gorilla Zoe. I have two songs right now that I could hear no one else’s voice beside Gorilla Zoe.
What do you think of the music industry now and the giants that are out there, like Chance The Rapper, Drake, Jay Z, Kanye, etc. Do you think hip hop is going through an all time high, an all time low, or maybe a transformation?
I think it’s definitely at its most progressive period ever. Although I’m not too fond of how easy it is for people to start careers, I definitely have to admit that it’s better to see people doing that than anything else. That’s like a double-ended sword, I prefer that there be people in their room making hip-hop music just because so many people can relate to it now rather than somebody in their room making neo-soul or punk rock. You know, I don’t think I would want to hear home-made punk rock on the scale of like home-made hip hop, because there’s a lot of good people who they call “SoundCloud Rappers,” which I think is disrespectful, haha, but there’s a lot of good people at rapping there, and I don’t think there can be any SoundCloud punk band. I don’t think any other genre could adapt to such a progressive mannerism right now, and I also feel like that it’s good the way that people are becoming celebrities, like the opportunities people are being granted by making mixtapes in their mom’s kitchen or something like that. I mean like the opportunities they’re receiving in exchange for that, I think that’s amazing. Like Chance the Rapper, he started off his career when he made a mixtape because he got suspended from school and look where it got him now. People are really given a chance to do something with their lives and become somebody just from what they think they are destined to do and or just being determined. And I think that’s dope. And for Drake too, I guess I could say I kind of watched his career. When I tried to show people his stuff people were like ‘nahhh he’s on Degrassi,’ but now he’s not only the highest selling artist but also at the same time, he is the highest illegally downloaded artist, and the fact that people wouldn’t want to take him seriously because he was on Degrassi (which I don’t understand either, ‘cuz that was a dope show). But ya, I think it’s dope where music is going; I think it’s the most progressive that it’s ever been, and I’m super super happy that it’s hip hop and not anything else. And that just goes to show you how individual and how important hip hop is.
So, do you think that, going off of that, that is what drew you to hip hop and rap music in the first place, beside the support and experience, was it the creativity behind it?
I think it’s out of my hands, I think it was something that I was destined for, and I think ultimately I am supposed to use it for good. Two years ago I had lost two of my best friends ‘cuz it was too violent, especially gun violence, and even before that though, someone always told me to go try to do this rap differently and then when I first started making music, even before seriously, I mean like age 12, when I first told my mom “hey, I’m gonna start rapping,” she kind of chuckled and then told me “if you’re gonna rap, then you better say something with purpose. Don’t just be saying some weird stuff, don’t just be out here rapping rap, if you gonna rap, use it, because it’s really vital and you want to be honest. You don’t just want to be out here just pretending to be perpetrating someone else. If you wanna rap, make sure you rap with a purpose.” So yeah, I’m constantly finding myself in my artistry and it’s a learning experience more than it is a profession for me, but I don’t know, something told me that this is what I’m supposed to do, and I’m supposed to use it to compel people to do better.
If you had one word to describe yourself, what would that be?
Odd, I’ve always been weird. People are always telling me that. One of my rap names was alien. Ive always been different.
What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t making music like you do now?
I honestly think I would still be doing some form of entertainment. I like to think I’m kind of funny, so if I wasn’t doing rap, I think I would actually be more of an internet personality dude, I’d probably be like YouTube famous or something right now.
What do you think about the college demographic- our millennial generation and how we are taking in music? Do you think the collegiate crowd is important to how we perceive and receive information?
Definitely even the internet itself, it’s hard to pinpoint, but you just know somewhere along in the internet it’s extremely influential. You know you’ll just jump online one day and everyone is talking about something. So I think the colleges and even the high schools and the middle schools are extremely influential in what people like because that’s what the mainstream and the corporations study and cater to. They all work for “the consumer” or the general public. Colleges are especially important, because I kind of look at it like well who are the college kids looking too, they’re looking to the celebrities or the people they may know of know of to whatever profession it is that they’re trying to do. It might not even be rap. Like a rich photographer went to the same college as me, so that might inspire a whole collective of kids, ‘cuz they all hang out together and all their friends are into that and they find that the kid went to BU too. Not only photography, it could be sports, or music, but especially for music, yes, because they look to the celebrities that they’re inspired by and then who looks to them? Any of the underclassmen who looks up to them, and who looks at them? Any of the high schoolers who look up to them, and you know it’s a chain from the bigger kids, aka the adults, all the way down to the babies. So ya, I feel like the college kids are extremely important in what is new and hip.
And that’s what you’re trying to do through your videos right? trying to give us something new to reach out to us?
Ya, and that’s why I want to give people something they can relate to because now people are forcing themselves to relate to others; it’s because it’s so flashy, it’s so materialized now that people are literally going out and imitating the stuff that they’re seeing instead of just weeding through what’s designed for them. So I want to give people something on an all natural scale, I guess this is kind of the sprouts of hip hop now. I’m trying to give you real organic information to consume. That way it puts you on a level of “you know I can ride with this dude ‘cuz I don’t have to go out of my way to understand what he’s talking about, or I don’t have to force myself to get with his content, like he’s talking about stuff that I can relate to.” I feel like every person in college can relate to this album ‘cuz it specifically caters to them in the fact that I talk about financial aid, I talk about government assistance, medical aid and stuff like that, those are the types of things that college kids are just now getting into. There’s no song, out there that talks about struggling and needing money, there’s no song out there that talks about waiting in line to get welfares. And somebody from college could definitely feel that. It puts you on a positive note and on a pedestal ‘cuz i’ts like “oh, this dude is gonna speak for the people, he’s gonna talk for the people who can’t get a chance, he’s gonna talk for the people who are way too busy to be concerned about driving cars and having new jeans and the new Jordans” and stuff like that. What about the kid who’s majoring in calculus or some crazy math like that? What about him who has no time to try and flex on Instagram, haha, you know? He’s studying 24/7! So I’m trying to make something that he can play while he’s studying or something that can make him feel good about himself and let him get his flex on ‘cuz his flex is different from everybody else. You know?
As of now, what is your demographic?
The quiet nerdy video game skaters who occasionally may have gotten into a spit or a spat because they were quiet. Haha. Like I speak for the kid who’s kind of like to himself, he may be into some things, but nobody knows that, and he listens to a wide range of stuff. My listener is like the multi-cultured quiet “nerd kid.”
Definitely the skater crowd- I have a ton of fans within the skater culture.
Where do you think you’ll be in the next few years? Where do you want to be/see yourself?
I see myself living in either Germany or in the UK and I see myself investing in things. I hope to have a successful clothing line, I hope to have a successful record label (I’m actually in the process of trying to start one). I see myself somewhere overseas constantly creating adventures and constantly trying to open opportunities for people.
Tell fans how we can reach you while we wait for this album release?!
Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. My Twitter and Insta are the same, Chuuw33. My Facebook is facebook.com/chuuweencr and then my snapchat el_ch33 (theoddball). I’m frequently on all of them. Sometimes I take a 3-4 hour break ‘cuz I’m probably writing in the studio. But yeah, just hit me up, ask me questions, and on Facebook I’ll be dropping all these exclusive freestyles on Fridays, and I’m doing this thing called Sunday Sessions. I have so much content for the album, I probably have over 80 songs that I initially recorded for it and then I chopped it down to 12. So, I have more than enough content from the album that on Sundays I’m streaming exclusive content from it. So a lot of it wont be in the final product, but all of it was intended for the album.
The Sacramento lion said it himself, this album will reveal some of his most authentic and in-depth work about the squanders of life and its challenges we face each day.
Now, we are lucky enough to get a sneak-peek into the project with this single that he has released today! The track is titled “Money (Grows On Trees)” and is a very politically and socially charged song about the difficulties of making money and working harder than playing the game. It starts with the similar phone-call sample from Drake’s “Take Care,” and then it goes into a sick instrumental with a continuous sound like higher octave machine gun shots setting off. The song is strong and possesses that element of reason behind its structure. This is the sound of a man who has the potential to be an icon. You can tell, he has a young, fresh sound, but he also has the intensity of someone who has a message to relay.
Nonetheless, criticisms have been that the track is too banal or the consistency that is actually very strong may be too much, making it anti-climactic, but it’s for that very reason that we can hear what the artist is trying to say. Chuuwee raps over a heavy-hitting beat and electric sounds with a mission to relate to his audience:
“All we do is count / We hustle don’t sleep / Work all week / No rest in between / We make money grow on trees…”
You can listen to the track “Money (Grows On Trees)” now if you sign up here to be able to have exclusive access and let us know what you think! Also, be sure to keep up with your boy, Chuuwee, as he will be promoting his album weekly for you all!
The post They Demand, He Supplies: An Interview with Chuuwee On His Release “Economics” + Track appeared first on GoodMusicAllDay.