By: Neil DePlume
“Sorry,” S7GMA’s latest release, is a driving, piano-centric “conscious hip-hop” anthem about pain, loss and the complex reality of recovery.
The piano in it is like a hammer driving in spikes to mark out the hard times.
“I wanted it to be a half-and-half song,” he said, “an aggressive progression — healing through anger. It was soft and somber, but those three keys just drill the ‘get off your ass and do it’ feeling, you know? Time don’t wait for no one.”
He believes that music saved him over the last couple of years when his father passed and his best friend was killed. At first, he shut down, he said and picked up some bad habits, but his brother “was real with me.”
“So, at the beginning of this year, I locked myself in my room for three months and got to work. I created the best music I’ve ever made. I believe music saved me.”
The conscious part comes out in the lyrics, but he wants his music to be “an audio experience.”
“If you aren’t listening to my lyrics on the first listen, then my production is definitely speaking to you.”
He creates his own beats and does his own writing and engineering. If pressed to name a genre, “I’d say alternative, conscious hip-hop. I usually say it’s a cinematic experience through audio.”
He is a heavy piano user who tries to bring the feel of an orchestra into hip-hop or “the whole vibe into space, but dreamy space, not ‘spacey’ stuff with reverb.”
He values the creation process most. If a song takes months to perfect, then months it is.
He got his start in music when one of his friends who was making parody tracks sent him “a real song.” It was a revelation to him that serious music could come from a bunch of kids goofing around with cheap equipment.
“I asked my Mom for her credit card so I could buy something for $10 at Best Buy. I ended up buying a hundred-dollar mic, and the rest is history.”
He was inspired to do music by Logic’s “I can do this” and Tupac’s “I may not change the world, but I will spark the fire that will.”
“That really hit me as a teen. I was all in from there.”
S7GMA had what he called a “tough, stressful” upbringing. He was born in North Philly, “not the place to be at all,” and moved to Texas with his brother when he was 12. Life was better there, but “being the oldest out of my brother and sister, there’s always been a weight on my shoulders.”
For him, the most challenging part of being a musician is being something other than his appearance.
“I’m a Puerto Rican with long hair who makes conscious music. But I stand by my decision. The world’s gonna love me real soon.”
His music, he says, is mood-based: “I got depression, so it’s wherever I’m at in life.”
As far as influences go, “You won’t ever hear someone say, ‘This guy S7GMA sounds like —.’” He strives to keep his sound “100-percent me.”
Where influence does exist, it is in the feeling “by how it made me feel.”
The most complex challenge of his career so far is talking about his history, his experiences and his trauma. Plus, he says he is not naturally talkative.
He says that criticism or negative feedback doesn’t faze him.
“I charge it to the game. Plus, not in a cocky way, I make my music from writing, beats, engineering and cover art, so nobody can’t tell me I’m not hard. Your favorite rapper will never be me. An opinion can never be fact.”
S7GMA concentrates on the artistic side of music, not the commercial side.
“I know I’ll get back into it, but maybe when I have more fun in life. If I ever want to do commercial stuff or take it into consideration, it’s because something inspired me, but I’ll still find a way to make it me.”
His music comes from experience as well as mood. If he writes a fictional song, he said, it is because he is putting out a message.
He believes the way to get with listeners is to be genuine “because I’m a firm believer in ‘I’m not the only one feeling this way,’ especially when going through things.”
Still, there is the quest for catchy melodies and meaningful lyrics.
“Everything is so watered down or over-saturated that I feel like the melodies have to be vibe — the ear catcher — and the lyrics have to be black and white, or explained so simple that it will get across to everyone.”
Together, “Sorry” and his previous release “Now,” along with his upcoming single “Welcome,” will be on the seven-track EP Mind of Me, coming out this fall. These three go together as a part of his story.
“‘Now’ comes first because it’s where I am. ‘Sorry’ and ‘Welcome’ are more like reflections together. ‘Sorry’ is the pivot between the now and the then. ‘Now’ is like a wrap-up of it all.”
The song that became “Now,” with a driving, suspenseful piano beat, was originally going to be pop.
“But after I laid the keys down, I was like, ‘Damn. This is it,’ and I started filling everything in around it and made it cinematic to the ears. I usually let the beat speak to me, and that’s what this was.”
The song made him feel like “it” was coming, with “it” being “my future.”
And in his future, he said, is “success.”
“Everything I’ve ever wanted and more. World tours. Buying my family houses and whatnot. Everything I’ve wanted and dreamt of. It’s right around the corner.”
Be part of “it” and connect to S7GMA on all channels for music and video:
- “Sorry” pre-save
- “Sorry” official music video on YouTube
Published by: Khy Talara
