Supreeme, Supreeme

Atlanta-based Hip Hop trio, Supreeme, consists of Negashi (pronounced Neh-Gah-See), King Self and Dope Pope aka Tom Cruz, and they are from the future. No really, they’re from the future. While you’re scratching your head wondering what to make of that, listen to their debut Supremacy, and you can see how it’s almost plausible. Their music sounds like something that could very well be a taste of what Hip Hop will sound like in the near-future. Heavy synths, yet organic samples flipped in familiar, yet fresh ways gelled together by some fly ass rapping. There’s little talk of dope, but plenty of passport stamp-braggadoccio, and they don’t want to teach you about self-love or burn some nag champa, they’d rather fuck your girl. When I asked Negashi to describe Supreeme a little, he informed me they’re “basically like the male pussycat dolls, except we don’t sing.” Bouncing humor and ideas off one another, it’s easy to see the chemistry that unifies the group.

interview originally published here

How did you guys meet?

Negashi – I used to play futbol (note: not football) with King Self and I was in this nerdy ass school club with Dope Pope aka Tom Cruz’s brother since I was 11. King Self and Tom Cruz have been in school together since kindergarden.

When did the group Supreeme start?

Negashi –We started this roughly before April 2003. We were all skipping class, I was like 15, and we were in King Self’s bonneville.

King Self –It was a purple bonneville. The car is named after the salf flats in Utah.

Negashi –So we took the car down to Deston, Florida for spring break, and 3 year late, we got into Supreme Clientele, the Ghostface album. We always liked Wu Tang, Raekwon and all them, but we got into Ghostface at the same time.

One thing I want to talk to you guys about is the internationality in your music. You guys mention and incorporate many cultures outside of the States which is kind of rare.

Negashi—Well, that comes from our parents really. King Self’s mother is Brittish, read hair and freckles and all that

Tom Cruz –My dad’s a Jamaican musician, and he’s taken me on tours since I was little, so I’ve always travelled alot and been around different places.

Negashi –My stepfather is Nigerian, so we’ve all had alot of excuses to travel during our childhood and young adulthood. It’s definetly an important part of us and the group.

What do you get out of being exposed to different places, people and cultures?

Negashi—It’s one thing to read about a place, or see pictures of it, but to travel to a different lace and live there; you’re living different culture, you’re seeing it, you’re feeling it –

Tom Cruz – you’re licking it.

King Self –Exposing yourself to more cultures makes you a more interesting individual period. And as an artist, it makes you more creative, it gives you a bigger palatte to work with.

Tom Cruz – It’s like all the exposure builds you into something special, more than a normal person, something different like a government secret weapon—

Kind of like Captain America? With the whole super-soldier serum shit?

Tom Cruz –Yeah, a super-government MC weapon, Captain Americana

Negashi –Rap is so regionalized now anyways, it’s west coast, down south, new york. We citizens of the world rappers, I don’t care where your girl is from.

Tom Cruz—We represent everywhere, every city-state. Some dudes represent their block, or their couch. We represent everywhere, except Antartica

Negashi –Or a frat house, I ain’t fucking with that.

Tom Cruz –It’s like this: I have a Jamaican father and a Jamaican stepmother, and growing up with my father, i grew up IN reggae, there was always reggae playing in the house. My grandfather, he was a diplomat for Africa and South America, so he lived all over the place and brought all that music into the house. I mean everything, brazillian, caribbean, all kinds, from all four corners of the world. So coming up, I was built like a robot, with all those different elements making up different parts. So when it came to making up my shit, it was like I’m enterpreting my generation’s steez through the means of how I was raised. I can’t lose because, all those other producers out now, even your Kanye’s and all them, they might kick a little latin influence or whatever, but they do it in a very corny and obvious way. I’m attempting to take all those things I heard and make it very now, not throwback, not retro. I’m weaving a beautiful tapestry in the noew, for the next generation. I’m not revival anything, i’m trying to revive the future.

Supreeme, reviving the future. That’s going to have to be the title of the interview now!

Tom Cruz – We’re actually from the future, we came back and we’re just playing oldies from the future. We know what’s gonna be a hit, so we can’t lose, we know what’s good.

Heading back to what you were saying about your sound, what equipment do you use to produce?

Tom Cruz –I use Cool Edit Pro and Fruity Loops. I’m respected though, I’ll tell you why. My dad’s musician friend, back in 98 or 97, had the first prototype of Fruity Loops, so I had that shit at like 11 or 12 and, no lie, I was tight from the first beat I made on that, dead serious.

Negashi –The way the program looks, Fruity Loops, it looks like the way he thinks, he thinks in Fruity Loops.

Tom Cruz –Fruity Loops is the way I see music. I’ve spent over half my life using FL, I’m about to celebrate 10 years of doing this shit seriously. It’ll be 10 years in 2008.

Negashi –Vote Supreeme in ’08. It’s never too late, Supreeme in ’08.

The reason I was asking is because I’ve heard a lot of criticism of software use from older heads, and I wanted to get your take on it. Personally though, I feel like that just gives people who wouldn’t normally have access to making music more of a chance to do their thing. What do you think?

Tom Cruz –Yeah man, music is music. Wether you’re making it with pots out your kitchen or whatever. The thing about it is, only a certain individual can make beautiful pot music.

Negashi – only Louis Armstrong could make sounding like a frog beautiful.

How would you explain your sound?

Negashi – I read in a newspaper once, that we combined alot of audio and visual inluences. Our music is definetly visual. To me, visually, Supreeme is like chilling on a beach with red wine, and sonically, like between synth futuristic and very organic-tropical based music. Or it just sounds like three dumbass kids trying to be the best rappers possible. Not dumb though, just acting dumb.

What would you say your influences are?

Negashi—Three albums that really played a major part for me, as far as influence and sound are David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust, Marvin Gaye –What’s Going On? And Bunny Wailer—Black Heart Man. Rapping-wise, I grew up on alot of that New York super-lyrical shit, that classic stuff, and also that down south Hot Boys-type shit. My mother’s from New York, so automatically New York got lay at my house, but as I spent more time in the A, I started identifying more and more with the 36 Mafia’s and all them. King Self was already up on all that. Tom was more into Dungeon Family and Mobb Deep, alot of Mobb Deep. So it was basically like alot of lyrical stuf that didn’t necessaril have instantly memorable lines but were dope, and stuff that sounds good, but isn’t necessarily saying too much.

Who’s out now that you’re feeling?

Negashi—Right now, out of these rap cats that are doing it now? Lil Wayne and E-40. Not saying thats the best music right now, it’s like –

King Self –They’re not particularly intelligent or the most clever thing in the world, but for the most part, it’s music for the massses, and it does that well.

Tom, what about production wise. You feeling anyone one right now?

Tom Cruz –Well, I’m feeling Lil Wayne and E-40 like Negashi said, but production wise right now, I’m feeling Polow Da Don and Ryan Lesley.

Ryan Lesley? I’m not familiar with that name.

Tom Cruz – He’s Cassie’s producer. He studied music at Harvard and he makes great pop tunes. Oh and Snoop. Snoop’s new shit is crazy.

Negashi—No other rappers tho, other than Supreeme.

Tom Cruz –I’m not feeling anyone but my girlfriend.

Another thing I wanted to talk about was the live show aspect. I’m no orthodox hip hop head, but one thing I do agree with is that new emcee’s lack where the golden era shined at…which is the live show. How do you guys tackle that?

Negashi—Well, at first we used to perform really arrogant. Like, our shit and our songs are so hot that we don’t have to say shit, just perform the songs and leave. We’re Supreeme, we don’t need to address the audience. But we evolved out of that, and we’re alot better with it now.

Tom Cruz –One of the spots where this was evident was in the hip hop tent @ Warped Tour. It’s just like one tent with a bunch of acts playing, rotating in it. In it, you usually hear, ‘when I say HIP, you say HOP.’ Personally, I’ll never conduct a spelling bee at a show, so back in our days of teenage angst, we were like, ‘that shit is lame, we don’t wanna acknolowdge the audience, they came to see us perform, we didn’t come to see them.’

Negashi –Yeah, we didn’t come to do that lame ass spelling shit.

Tom Cruz –Now, we start every show with a toast, and we party like its 1999. That’s what it’s about now, I just want to party with the audience, not do no spelling, no fucking math problems. I’m not trying to see who’s the biggest head, like ‘do you remember?’ Nah, do you remember, how to show your titties? That’s what its about.

Negashi—Our show is real theatrical now, at times intimate. Definetly theatrical and entertaining though.

I’ve actually seen you guys perform. I was at that free show Murs had in L.A. last summer…

Tom Cruz –That’s like our worst show ever.

Check back to soon to read part 2 of the Supreeme interview, find out why that show was their worst, how they dissed Murs when they first met him, why they love listening to people’s demos and what’s next for the group.