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!
Are you excited for the release of the album?
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?
What influenced the idea behind Economics? It’s an interesting title, could you elaborate on that?
So your name, Chuuwee, it’s pretty awesome, how did you get that as a nickname?
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?
Are you influenced by her style or do you have a different one?
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?
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?
Do you do a lot of the practices?
Ok, so now moving more into the music side of things, what’s the San Diego music scene like, the cali scene?
Sounds like Boston kind of.
So besides what we’ve discussed, do you have anything else that motivates you to keep going and writing and rapping?
What is your favorite track you’ve ever made?
Oh, something to look forward to then?
Should we expect music videos of sorts coming out for singles on the new album?
I like that it’s a different approach.
If you could collab with someone, who would you want it to be?
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?
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?
If you had one word to describe yourself, what would that be?
What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t making music like you do 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?
And that’s what you’re trying to do through your videos right? trying to give us something new to reach out to us?
As of now, what is your demographic?
Where do you think you’ll be in the next few years? Where do you want to be/see yourself?
Tell fans how we can reach you while we wait for this album release?!
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. He 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 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 Verge Campus.