By Carlos Cureno
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
Often, Chicago is in the headlines for all of the violence and many people in mass media criticize the violent lyrics from rappers. Those from the city state that they are just speaking on what they see. In this regard, they are similar to NWA, one of Seany-Doo’s favorite groups.
Seany-Doo is rising from Chicago and is fresh off the release of his latest project, Other Side of Me. There is a lot of momentum for this new project and Seany-Doo is making his rounds. His music is currently gaining plenty of traction.
Speaking to Hip Hop Vibe for the latest On The Rise interview, Seany-Doo touched on a lot of topics. All centered around his music, Seany-Doo explained his journey. He also briefly spoke on his admiration of NWA and the Straight Outta Compton movie.
Read the entire interview below:
Growing up as a fan of NWA, how accurate would you say Straight Outta Compton was? I’d say the movie was pretty accurate as far as portraying NWA’s struggles and triumphs of getting their music out. For those of us who weren’t directly there with them to experience their come up, Straight Outta Compton definitely gave fans an idea of what the NWA members had to go through to accomplish their goals. The movie as a whole was amazing and was much needed for those of us who grew up in the 90s listening to them.
How did their music influence the way you make your own music? NWA’s music and publicity showed their disregard for certain people’s opinions and it showed everyone how motivated they were to succeed and that’s what pushed me as an artist to make good music and forget the haters. NWA taught me that as an artist you are a brand and your brand is your business and if you want to continue to do business, you don’t let anyone destroy your brand. Hard work pays off and if you want to be successful bad enough, you’ll weed out the bad vibes and influences and chase your dreams. That’s what encouraged me to put in countless hours of blood, sweat and tears into this album and any song I make.
You recently released your new project, Other Side of Me, what inspired this composition of music?
Growing up in Englewood (which is Chicago’s most notorious high-crime neighborhood) encouraged me to tell my story and experiences through the best way I know how…Music! Other Side of Me gives listeners a taste of how I feel living in Chicago. Some songs have a club-scene feel to them, some have a chill-type feel and some are more hard hitting. The various music styles reflect the fun times and the tragic times in my life. In these recent years, Chicago’s been known as “the home of drill music.” Some may disagree with that, but if you’re from Chicago, you’d probably agree as well, and the reason for that is because a lot of drill songs clearly illustrate what’s going on in some of the roughest parts of Chicago. In fact, I have two drill songs on the album, (“GTFO” & “Chicago”). Both represent my feelings and experiences growing up in Englewood.
Can you explain how this project differs from the other music you have made? Other Side of Me differs from the other music I’ve made because the songs in this composition are hard hitting and the lyrics are more impactful. This album has been in the works for about 2 years total, since I wanted to make sure that every song I was putting out, met the “high-quality” standard. For those who’ve listened to my earlier music, they know that I’ve done a lot of Pop songs with a few Hip Hop tracks here and there. I originally started my music career making remixes to popular Hip Hop songs, and then once I found my “image”, I converted to making original Pop songs. Because I’m promoting Other Side of Me, I had to take a few steps back, and overall, stick to Hip-Hop to show everyone the real Seany-Doo. I wanted my listeners get a taste of my deepest, darkest thoughts & feelings, and that’s what’s being delivered in this album. This album allows the deeper, darker side of me to come to light.
What is your favorite part of making music and entertaining fans? My favorite part of making music is getting in the studio and throwing down on the track. A couple of studio engineers I’ve worked with will agree that I am a perfectionist. I go through multiple takes (even if one of the takes sounds good to them) and I keep going until I personally feel deep down that I have the right take. I want my fans to enjoy nothing but the best because, if they’re taking moments out of their day to listen to my music, why not give them the best of me? And that’s the most satisfying part about making music. From the moment I step into the studio and spit my verses, to the final stages of mixing & mastering, my fans are the first thing on my mind and it drives me to do this for them.
Do you have any fond moments with fans that stick out to you? There are definitely fond moments with fans that stick out to me and one of the most memorable moments I’ll never forget was when I released my first hit single “Work” on Soundcloud (there’s two versions of the song on my Soundcloud page. The newer version is featured on Other Side of Me). At the time I released the original track, it wasn’t available on any online store. I received a couple of direct messages from fans, asking how can they can get a copy of the song since they couldn’t find it on iTunes. Without hesitation, I immediately gave them what they wanted and made the song available through iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3, etc. They were happy to pay the 99 cents to download the song because it was easier than me sending a free MP3 download link, and then having them go home to download the song and copy it into their iTunes to put it on their phone. I’m known to release free singles/albums making them available for free download, via a download link, so the fact that they paid to download the song from iTunes, shows their dedication. They felt their purchase was well worth it, especially since iTunes was the only way for fans, with iPhones, to download MP3s directly to their phone.
Where can the fans find you on social media? My fans can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud, YouTube & SeanyDoo.com. Below are the links to my social sites.
http://www.facebook.com/SeanyDooMusic
Tweets by seanydoo
http://www.instagram.com/seanydoo
http://www.youtube.com/SeanyDooTV
http://www.seanydoo.com
Follow Carlos Cureno on Twitter @DjayyCharliee.
