At a young age $wipe moved to the uptown section of the city. His family is deeply rooted in the music industry. I asked him, “Who are your musical influences?” $wipe partially accredits his grandmother for his knack for music, she wrote for Motown and worked closely with Kenny Gamble. He explained what his grandmother taught him”…music is supposed to make people feel good and contain substance at the same time.”
$wipe, Lil Blanco, and Uri Divers headed the ‘So Gone Challenge,’ before it was just that. The trio released “Gone Before The Winter.” A remix to Monica’s 2003 summer anthem. Swipe notes, “One thing that separates me from rappers is that I am an artist that delivers product.” He then continues, “…One thing that separates me from artists is that, I am my product. Everything I present to the public is organic and exactly what me and the Cougars live.”
He has a wide range of favorite producers, $wipe mentions: Mike Dean, Rick Rubin, Pharrell, Quincy Jones, Kanye West, The Internet, Beau Jackson X Cherrelle Champagne, AOA (MarsBlackman X Don The God) just to name a few. That’s a nice melting pot of producers to be influenced by. This shows in his creative process and entire brand as a whole. Swipe’s focus is to push the envelope as a creator, not just a rapper. He explained in detail the process of making a song.
” It may be a very rigid step-by-step approach or it might be a loose progression of stages I go through, or it could be anything in between.” He continues, “A good process will allow you enough flexibility to work with varying levels of creative freedom and varying expectations of “creative muscle.” And in closing “You should also be able to modify your approach slightly to function in almost any medium, with any style, and within a myriad of other constraints. There is no specific process I go with, I keep an open mind and open heart and remain myself no matter what the job goal is.”
Here’s $wipe’s latest collaborative effort featuring Lil Blanco and Uri Divers, Safe Summer.
