The Break Presents: Supa BWE
Chicago has a plethora of talent emerging from its street corners. Drill music went from a local sound to a national movement with artists like Lil Durk, King Louie and Chief Keef. The other half of Chi-town feature artists with a wide array of sounds like Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper and Saba.
Nonetheless, Supa BWE brings something different. The 26-year-old has been steadily dropping quality tunes as a solo artists and with his band, Hurt Everybody, for the last couple of years. After releasing his tape Dead Again 3 last month and forming a new band called Fight Me, Supa is having a heck of a year.
"Honestly, I’m just trying to work as hard as I can. I do everything from my house, I’m trying to stay focus and not let stuff go to my head," Supa BWE said to XXL while in New York. "All I can do is work until every song hits. I’m supposed to possibly do a tour, [I'm just] working out the kinks. I have a new band that’s called Fight Me. I’m really excited about it. It’s made up of UG Vavy, Shepard Hues and myself. We’re just experimenting. We got a day to do a years amount of work and we’re going to do it."
With momentum behind him, Supa BWE is someone to pay attention to if you haven't been doing so already.
Name: Supa BWE
Age: 26
Hometown: Chicago
I grew up listening to: "I grew up listening to a wide array of music. My mom is from the United Kingdom and my dad is from the projects. I got a lot of punk influences and alternative rock, a lot of things from the 1990s. My pop, all that hood shit. He loves Master P, Busta Rhymes, shit like that. I got an introduction to both worlds.
"I started making music probably back in 2007, I was like 17. I always wrote raps in class. I never took it seriously. I would just write raps. I started to believe in music in 2007 but I started to love music in 2014 when I quit all my jobs. I used to work, go to school, I was hustlin', just trying to get it. I was also interning at the studio. I just wasn’t happy.
"One of the things in life that I’m trying to chase is happiness. Not momentary happiness or opportunistic happiness but happiness in a sense that I’m okay when I wake up. Not dreading or wanting to cry because I got to go to work. That’s one of the reason I love music. I’m able to talk about that. Through music I am able to connect with people and they connect back. My life is changing through that connection"
Most people don’t know: "Most people don’t understand that I produce, I engineer, I do everything myself. I do it all in my bedroom. Another thing people don’t understand is that I’m in a sense a warrior. I’m very into combat, I’m very into physical altercation. I used to wrestle, I used to play rugby, I like to fight. I’m from Chicago, a lot of niggas love to test you. I also love showing them you’re mistaken my intelligence for genius and I will fuck your collarbone up because of it."
My style’s been compared to: "That always shift depends on what light skin articulate nigga is popular. I remember a long time ago when Drake released ‘Brand New,’ it was, ‘Oh you Drake.’ Then when Chance The Rapper came out and it was, ‘Oh you sound like Chance.’ [Laughs]
I would call my sound a conglomerate of english fuck you dystopian punk and Rick James’ cold blooded, I’m going to do my cocaine and smack you about it and Prince’s ambiguous individuality. I pull champion traits from champions."
My standout records or moments to date have been: "Standout song is probably 'Gang' or '2K47,' no matter what you feel, the masses feel that energy.
"I think things really took a turn at my friend Towkio's show in Chicago. We opened for him. We were really nobody. Nobody knew about my old band, Hurt Everybody, and we were kind of looked down upon because we don’t practice for shit. It’s ugly on stage but people are moshing and it’s crazy. We’re just throwing that energy at them. We got to share the stage with the Savemoney cats and once we got on there people kind of knew what we were doing. Once we got going and I did the front flip into the crowd for the first time I think that kind of cemented ourself. It was like, we can’t ignore these kids no more, open the doors before they break it, you know what I mean?"
My goal in hip-hop is: "Honestly, hip-hop is college for me. The best way I can put that is I do hip-hop and I love it. I can make a living doing something that I love. I think I can do something big with this. But its not something I want to do for forever. To me it's more of a means to an end because I want to be a business owner, I want to open up magnet schools. If I do well in [hip-hop] and do what I’m supposed to do, I can make a significant amount of funds and do greater things. I also want to run a label one day. Music is very important in my life but there’s a lot more to me.
"I’m terrified of pollution. We need to do more about it. I think all I can do is force awareness. I’m terrified of the judicial system. Once I have clout and the ability to speak to the masses, I will organize the million man lawsuits against the justice departments, police departments, state attorneys. I want to do food trucks in the hood. Things like that. I don’t think we need to abandon the hood, I think we need to take care of it, feed it and make it more healthy; put something into the hood. It’s about fixing where we come from and that’s what I want to do. That’s what I want to do after I get out of ‘college’."
I’m gonna be the next: "I want to be a more establish PartyNextDoor. He’s lowkey probably out here writing a lot of hits for people. A lot of Drake’s sauce comes from him. I think someone like him who’s carving hits and don’t necessarily have to be in the lime light and can still make his stuff on the side. I just want to kind of get mine and control shit from behind the scene."
Follow Supa BWE on Twitter and Soundcloud.
Standout: Dean Again 3
"Annie"
"Hurt Everybody"
2K47
"Contacts"