Sam Adams – The Come Up

"Still I Rise" feat. G. Curtis

Whether you've noticed or not, Sam Adams has a buzz that's growing by the day. And maybe you haven't noticed, which is understandable, because the Boston-area native is making much of his noise outside of hip-hop circles, as he's been garnered an especially fanatical following among college and high school kids. But now's the time to get caught up.

The recent college grad first created a stir with his "I Hate College," a remix to Asher Roth's "I Love College," which currently has five million hits on YouTube. He then made more noise last March when his Boston's Boy debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap Albums chart. No Sam is getting ready to perform in Cancun with Wiz Khalifa for college spring break in the coming weeks. He's also prepping his debut album, which he says will be released on a major (he's been fielding offers since Boston's Boy), likely in late summer/early fall. —Adam Fleischer

Age: 23
Reppin’: Boston, MA
Notable Releases: Boston's Boy 2010; Party Records (Hosted by DJ Whoo Kid), 2010
Label: 1st Round Records

Check out some live performances below, then hit the next page to read more about Sam Adams.

"Driving Me Crazy" Live in New Jersey

"I Hate College" Live in Providence


"Just Sayin'"

On why he started rapping: I’ve been rapping since I was a tiny little dude, you know like nine, ten years old. It was just the neighborhood we grew up in, it was a pretty diverse area. We were always just freestyling and shit fucking around.

On his eclectic influences: Hip-hop wise, I remember probably the first shit I bumped was Clockwork and old Mr. Lif vinyl that my brother used to bring home. Company Flow, too. And then I started fucking with a bunch of other shit. I was in love with Illmatic and Reasonable Doubt. I was a big Big L fan. Before that, I was listening to Grateful Dead, The Band, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin—just because my parents would always have that shit on blast. And then when rap started getting more commercial, I listened to Mase and obviously Puffy, all the popular trends. My musical lens had a vast majority.

On who he’d like to work with: So many people. We want to work with some big electronic dudes—I take their production very seriously. Among artists, Kanye, Cudi—their outlook on music is pretty dope. I had the pleasure of meeting both of them the other day and listening to all of Ye’s new shit with Hov. It was fucking crazy. Also, Jared Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars; maybe Travis Barker. In terms of singers, I’d like to get Lady Gaga on a hook.

On his non-traditional hip-hop sound: I went to a DJ show [and] I thought electronic music was fucking G. Ever since, I’ve been obsessed. Like an ill scientist I’ve been trying to fuse ill electronic [beats] into hip-hop beats. [It helps] to just make our shit hit harder at our shows.

I think dubstep is going to big. I think there’s probably an avenue for it. The overall thing is just to make good popular music.

On his goals: To sort of just be comfortably consistent with the music, not only for the fans, but for myself. Just keep coming out with stuff that is consistent or better than the stuff before. To do well and have a great turnout on the album, possibly win some shit—who knows? A lot of opportunities have the chance to present themselves at this point, and we’re all just really excited to record the album and do shit again.