FSD: Word, this is kind of in the same vein, but what artists have influenced you? You talked about Rick James already, anyone else?
Supa Bwe: I don’t really wanna say Prince. I’ma exclude that automatically because everybody’s lame ass is gonna say that. But actually… No, I’ma put him in there. Prince, I won’t dickride, he’s a wonderful artist, he’s a genius, but he taught me individuality. He taught me it’s okay for a motherfucker to perceive you this way, and to tell the motherfuckers that see you this way, and for a whole group of people to yell that you are this way, and still just be yourself and ignore them because they aren’t right.
Prince, throughout his whole career — I know, shit, growing up on the west side, every time I’ll play Prince or some shit, motherfuckers will be like, “oh, he gay, why you playing that, blah blah blah,” and all this shit. And I don’t know if he was or wasn’t, I don’t think he was, but the way he presented himself, that was just him. He was always fluid, always comfortable, and very pragmatic with the way he presented himself to the world. I think figures like him are very important, especially being a young black man, because we not allowed to be shit. We can’t be anything. We’re allowed to be either the thug, the token, an athlete or a rapper. Like there’s four things we can be, but people like Prince are good for young black men because he shows you that you can be whatever you are growing up in this new America.
FSD: Anyone else?
Supa Bwe: Hmm, I don’t really draw a lot of influence from other people. I really like… I like things about people, and it helps me try and amplify those aspects in myself, but like there’s no one who it’s just like, “damn, I really wanna be like this person.” Actually, no, that’s not true. Will Smith’s sick as fuck. I love Will Smith. His rapping shit’s not that dope, but he’s got a couple good songs, and I like the way he raises his kids, and the way he does his marriage and all that. He’s just a very forward thinking, excellent black man. And people like him, who again is the person who I’m sure people said all types of crazy things about Will Smith, that he was too this, and too that, and not enough this, and not enough that, but look at where he is now. Following his own path, his own will, his own moral compass.
FSD: Anyone that influenced you, maybe not music-wise, but influenced you as a person?
Supa Bwe: As a person, very influenced by the men in my family. And, again, I guess certain artists, because the way Prince influences me, that directly touches my life. That allows me to dress how I wanna dress, and speak how I wanna speak, and do what I wanna do. People hear stories about me like, “oh, someone tried to shoot him and he took the gun from him and beat that kid unconscious,” and shit, and they expect me to be this terrible thug, or they’ll hear me yelling in one of my songs and expect me to be this crazy, psycho, emo kid.
They expect all these crazy things from me, but it doesn’t matter what someone expects of me, when I meet someone, I’ma speak this way regardless, and it’ll be professional, and cohesive and normal regardless. I meet motherfuckers who expect a lot from me, and don’t like me afterwards because I don’t fit that genre box, or that mental box that they had me in, but it doesn’t bother me. Prince taught me that. Shit, Rick James taught me that. Thom Yorke taught me that.