Earlier this year A.M. Sniper and his 3fifty7 crew flew us out to Aiya Napa to show us how they roll. We spent the weekend learning about everything Sniper has done for the scene out there, hearing his upcoming tracks and getting to know the man himself. He’s currently hot off the release of his brand new single “4What” featuring Wiley, so here are five things we learnt about one of the pioneers of Grime in Napa.
He’s got two platinum singles under his belt already
Sniper was signed to Sony at the age of 15, and before he’d hit 17 the MC had already had a Platinum single from DJing with So Solid Crew. More recently he was involved with Kent Jones’ infectious banger “Don’t Mind” which brought him his first platinum in America.
His album isn’t a combination of genres, it’s his own sound
“I don’t have songs from different genres, in my opinion. I don’t think I have different sounds, it’s my sound. I just think if you listen to the album you won’t get bored. I’m always gonna be me, and every person that is on my album, they work to fit my sound and I’m proud of that. I don’t know what a genre is in that sense – I can do what I want how I want to, no-one can stop me or tell me, ‘yo, you can’t drop on that or that or that’, so yeah. ‘I do what I want’ music. That’s my genre.”
He’s not about money or platinum records, he’s about the music
“I just wanna release music and be happy doing it and to keep doing it, and that’s my main motivation. it’s cliché to say it’s about the music, but it is about the fucking music. And you know what, it’s not even about the bars, it’s about the music. There’s so many spitters out there, maybe better bar spitters than me, but when it comes to putting a song together it’s about the song. It’s not about you trying to prove you can rap. Like, what are you artistically? So I believe our scene has lost track of the music and have got into only caring about bars recently, like we go ham on dropping bars, which is amazing, I rate it as a skill, but to me that’s like doing keepy ups… GRM: it’s talent but it doesn’t work on the field. – yeah exactly, you’ve gotta put the bangers out and I know I’ve got the bangers.”
He’s got his foot in the fashion door too
While out in Napa we visited a clothing store Sniper is involved with, First Boutique. His mantra is to take influence from designers while influencing others, but the rapper is also working on his own pieces. He started with quad bike bandanas, and is working on caps next. “I’m going to have a nice Velcro patch at the front [of the cap], where you can change the image so you can keep changing the look,” he told us.
He’s not looking to just be making money though, Snipes wants to offer his fans longevity.
“I thought to myself, ‘why not just give people something that they can constantly refresh and just go back to?’ I’m not trying to take people’s money; I’m trying to build with people. I want to look out for you, so if you’re buying something from me, I want you to buy it and say ‘he hooked me up.'”
He’s a very genuine guy
One of the most notable things about Sniper was his honesty. He didn’t put on a show for us out there, preferring to simply integrate us into his energetic lifestyle.
“This is how we are… this is what’s crazy, like we didn’t prepare anything out of the ordinary. This place is where I come to eat after I check the store and see what’s new, whether or not you guys are here. That’s where I go and jetski if I wanna jetski, whether or not you’re there. I was nervous about you all coming, but ultimately I’m trying to build with people and my audience, with my fans, and being as honest with them as possible and trying to look out for them – that’s what I want to do.”
Sniper’s album is set for release next year – don’t sleep on him.