Can I live? - An Interview With Samo

We’re all still too young to know who we are yet. Samo knows that and he’s not in a rush to get to that endpoint. Through the music he has been making for over a year now, he’s discovered a lot about himself and the world around him and is eager to see what the future will hold for his talents.

“I want my music to be easy to smoke to” chuckles Samo after thinking for a second. He sits on the zoom call with a cheerful expression covering his face, reveling in the opportunity to talk about a topic he holds so close to his heart. “I wouldn’t say it’s easy to listen to because I think a lot of what I talk about is hard to hear. But I would say sonically it’s quite easy on the ear.”

It’s just past 2pm on a Tuesday in late September. Emerging soundcloud rapper Samo is reflecting on his early life growing up in Islington, North London before moving to Oxford and trying to get used to a new life. “I had to move in with my stepbrothers and stepfather and stuff. My whole two families combining was just sort of non-compatible and there was a lot of friction from the beginning. That was very hard for me.” And when tensions got high, it was music that Samo would always find solace in. “Rap and making music was a bit of an escape. It felt like I had a home there when home for me was hard to find. It was all just a bit ropey at times.”

Samo has had an infatuation with music for as long as he can remember. Growing up, like most kids around the country, he had dreams of being a footballer but those evaporated at a very early age. “I was just like not getting better at all, so I kind of gave up with that. I still love football but yeah that wasn’t going anywhere.” Since then, he has juggled his somewhat unrequited love for the beautiful game with his love for music. 

He recalls the bliss he felt during that one hour a week he would have music class at school and the distaste he had for the more traditional subjects like maths and science. He cites his friends as his biggest inspirations to start thinking about making music. “They used to make raps but they were all awful. But they were kind of funny, so I guess it started from there.” Quickly it would become apparent to Samo, and to his friends, that he had a natural gift for lyrical prowess.

After winning a music competition for performing a rap to his class that had no instruments and purposefully didn’t rhyme, and after seeing what his friends were able to muster up with their freestyles, he knew had a knack for this. There were always hints of a future in music for the 21 year old. He used to tell his sister he wanted to be a rockstar when he was young and remembers being gripped by the idea of living the life of a touring drum player just like a friend of his dad’s. Eventually, after getting exposed to the sounds of 80s British rock, with bands like Madness being the key sonic background to his early life, Samo settled on hip-hop.

“Ah this is taking me back,” he says after being asked who his earliest musical influences were in the rap world. He points to initially being heavily into emo rap with the likes of Lil Peep, XXXTentacion and lesser known artists such as Lil Tracey and Lil Raven being heavily in his rotation. He blames his big sister’s passion for such artists as the main reason for this. “She had a lot of influence on the TV I was watching and everything else. Older sisters tend to do that. It’s weird like siblings tend to shape you in a certain type of way.”

Samo gradually climbed out of this sub genre and began immersing himself in the sounds of J.Cole, an artist he admits to have taken a lot of inspiration from. Samo began writing music around the time he was 16 and by the age of 18, he was releasing it on soundcloud, almost anonymously. “Someone like me is not the archetype of a person who’s going to be making rap music.” 

He explains having to deal with a lot of self doubt in the early iterations of his music career and being constantly unsure of himself. “Definitely when you’re starting out, you question whether you belong to this sub-culture, but as you make more music you have to just make your own wave.” But the belief he had in his ability and his craft increased substantially after he spent the last 12 months of his life on a year abroad in Prague and had time to brood on his life away from all the noise.

“I knew my life was becoming a bit monotonous and I was very directionless,” he recalls.That was what prompted the decision to pack up his bags over 12 months ago now and venture into the unknown. He explains how important that period of his life was, saying it came at exactly the right time. “It really rejuvenated everything that needed to be rejuvenated. I became more sociable and outgoing and willing to do random shit.” 

And it was in Prague where Samo would carve together and release his debut album ‘Visions For Alice’. Named after Alice Coltrane, the famous jazz musician and wife of the legendary John Coltrane. “I thought her life was really inspirational. She went into religion and had to do a lot of growing after her husband died. It really affected her music. It was all very spiritual.” In his time away from the UK, he realised that the necessity of ‘patience and gradual change is the only way to progress’. He saw Alice Coltrane’s instant emotional struggles which preceded something more beautiful in the end, as the perfect story to express this.

Visions For Alice, a 9 track, 30 minute long project, is all about letting go and growth. Most of the songs were recorded whilst Samo was residing in Eastern Europe and it offers a soulful and laconic glimpse into the whirlwind of adolescence, love and finding purpose in a world which everyday just makes us more confused. The rapper cites the easygoing and vulnerable style of Loyle Carner which plays an obvious part in his sound. But he’s steadfast on making sure he stands on his own as an MC. “Obviously it’s a compliment when my friends say I sound like him but I’m like chill out because it’s me,” he explains with a smile. 

“Another one is Earl Sweatshirt. In terms of lyrical substance.” What does that mean? “Just the way he’s very open about talking about  things and also like his cadence. I’ve been trying really hard to study that and also how he forms his lyrics and songs together. When you really listen to him, you can tell how meticulous and put together it is.” An obviously diligent student of the rap game, Samo also calls on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr Morale And The Big Steppers’ and Saba as big motivators for the album. “It’s almost like therapy rap in a way. It’s very self confessional.”

And the result of all of these influences being pulled from so many different artists and albums and places, is a wonderfully introspective and remarkably well put together album which has no right being the debut piece of an artist who’s only been taking his craft seriously for a few months. Across the album, Samo touches on subjects extremely close to home. He weaves through thoughts and experiences that have all affected us at one point or another, such as his constant battle with self-worth on ‘Air’ and trying to come to terms with the passing of his loved ones on ‘Legacy.’ 

Themes of love and past relationships are particularly prominent. Samo, like many people in the early stages of adulthood, is realising that love is hardly what it's made out to be on TV and romcoms. He reflects on missed chances and past mistakes but now feels little pressure to jump back into that world. “I kind of feel like things will just come naturally. In the past I think I was trying to force things too much.” 

When asked which of the songs on the album he’d say were his best, Samo hesitates for a moment. “This is such a tough question. I’m someone who doesn’t like to compliment myself so it’s good that I feel that every song is so brilliant.” Eventually he settles on two: ‘Letting Go,’ a brilliantly produced and soul-lifting track which reminds you of a beat that a young Joey Bada$$ would’ve thrived on, and ‘Slow Bullets’, a thoughtful and melodic ballad where Samo flirts with some singing and crowns it his best song so far.

One obvious thing about the album is how well picked out all the instrumentals are. Samo has connected with an array of producers from different corners of the globe since in the past year and describes spending hours trying to find the right beat. “It’s almost like the biggest motivation is the beat. When I hear a good one I’m like I have to smash this now, there’s no excuses.”

“It sort of just happened that way,” he says after being asked whether it was a conscious choice to be so vulnerable with his music. “From very early I was very mindful about not capping in my raps and always trying to be true to myself.” When asked if he’ll keep the same vulnerability when his music begins to touch on more ears, he pauses to think. “Even for me to listen to it, I don’t want it to be too much. Sometimes you wanna listen to your music to get away from your problems and not be reminded of them.” He mentions not being able to release some of his favourite songs because they were too personal, but making them still helped him heal.

Samo seems to be someone very open to whatever the world throws at him. He takes inspiration from all forms of life and media and tries to immerse it in his music. The name ‘Samo’ is derived from his love for Basquiat and how he’d sign off his graffiti pieces. “When I was like 11 or 12, my dad took me to an expedition of his and I was so awe-struck of how incredible it was. There was a part where they spoke about his street art in New York and that’s when alarm bells started ringing because I’ve always loved that stuff.”

Before the music, there was a passion for art and poetry which gripped Samo as a kid and it’s something he’s been longing to get back to. “I’ve realised that I’ve always been a very creative person,” he says and he tries to make it a habit to be open to anything that might arrest his attention. When asked about what he’ll miss the most about Prague, his instant answer is very on brand: ‘the walks’.

If it’s the serenity of the walks through the crisp air of Czechia which gave him so much joy, it’s quite surprising when he says he makes his best songs when ‘deeply hungover.’ Still enjoying the perks of a University lifestyle, Samo doesn’t shy away from going out and making mistakes, citing a direct correlation between the two mediums. “Everything I do in my life is sort of seeping into my music. So when I was really struggling to write last summer, I realised it’s because I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t exploring things or being curious.”

One thing I’ve come to realise about Samo is that his taste in pop culture is extremely niche. If it wasn’t obvious when he said his first experiences of hip-hop came through the sounds of ‘Lil Tracey’ and ‘Lil Raven’, it quickly became clear after I asked him if there’s any movies he’s drawn a lot of inspiration from. “I’m really into foreign films because they’re very philosophical and psychological and reflect a lot of the thoughts I’ve had. There’s this film called ‘Solaris’ which I really love.” Obviously not knowing what film that was, I searched it up and came to find it was a Russian movie made in 1972. He’s very unapologetic about who he is and what he likes but he doesn’t impose that on you. I think this is the sort of person that anyone should like to have in their life. 

Turning his attention to the future, Samo hints at a new album called ‘Stopping Places’ which he’s in the very early stages of working on. He’s in his 4th and final year of Uni and although he doesn’t know what life will exactly look like in a year's time, he realises that this is natural. 

“It’s so hard for young people to find themselves in such a weird world we’ve grown up in. We’ve been brought up in a world where we’re being taught to grab the next thing and the next thing. That’s unsustainable to me. We can’t keep chasing and chasing like a hamster wheel.” But at the same time he questions what happened to all the dreams we had when we were kids, not knowing when or why they all died. “We all had some crazy dreams when we were younger, like being an astronaut or something. But at some point those went away. Like why did we lose that ambition?”

The conflict that comes with being taught to strive for the best grades and results without actually having a clear idea of what these are meant to be for can leave people lost when they leave the education system. It becomes easy to question what it is they worked so hard for to now sit there either with a job they hate or a job they don’t have. 

“A good part of me figuring things out is me turning to music,” Samo announces when talking on the subject. Through his passion, he’s been able to come to terms with the fact that he doesn’t need to know exactly what life has in store for him and to just enjoy the journey, embracing the change when it comes and being open to whatever life wants to fire his way.

Samo hasn’t given much thought to making money from his music but definitely wants to get the word out a bit. “Some of my mates have had to make accounts just to listen to my music which is great cos it shows how committed they are. But to get that wider reach, it makes sense to get it onto more available streaming services.” Spotify was talked about as the next step for Samo, who’s been looking at how to go about setting it up, now not caring what others might think of him. “Watch this space.” He says.

There’s still an element of self-doubt that Samo struggles with, don’t we all? He’s an artist that represents the masses. He doesn’t have all the answers but he doesn’t need them all to know that everything’s going to be okay. Yes there’s parts of life that don’t make sense, but learning how to address those issues head on is much better than shying away from change. Listening to Samo’s journey through life which music has played such a pivotal part in, is inspiring. 

Now having a sense of purpose which eluded him for so long, he acknowledges that the road to complete fulfillment is still long and bumpy, “I know it’s going to be a hard journey, but I need to make it and I need to record it.”

Quick Fire Questions

Q: One realistic artist and one dream artist you’d love to work with?

A: Realistic, Benaddict. Unrealistic... Am I a sell out if I say Drake? You know what... I’m going to say Mick Jenkins. I would love to pick his brain.

Q: What’s your screen time?

A: It used to be great but now I’m fumbling. Let’s say 4 hours. I’m tryna get it back down though

Q: If you had a superpower, what would it be?

A: When I choose, I can see what people are thinking. Only when I choose

Q: 3 artists you have on repeat?

A: MIKE, Sade and this band called Tiger’s Jaw

Q: Favourite movie?

A: For a few dollars more

Q: What gives you happiness away from making music?

A: Films and chatting with people late at night

Q: Do you think everyone should be more or less open with their thoughts and emotions?

A: Depends how interesting you are. 

Q: Does money buy happiness?

A: It’s complex. Obviously the answers no but money can bring things that give you happiness

Q: And finally, you have to pick 3 celebrities to be stuck on a dessert island with. Who do you pick?

A: Alex O'Conner, Coco Gauff and Zohran Mamdani