INTERVIEW | KING SHAMPZ DISCUSSES HIS NEW MUSIC ‘HUSTLER’S RENAISSANCE’

By SKANDOUZ . • On Interviews
The title Hustler’s Renais­sance is power­ful. What does that phrase mean to you per­son­ally, and how does it reflect where you are in your life and career right now?
Shampz ‑That’s a great ques­tion! To me, I was not only look­ing for a power­ful title but a title with mean­ing, some­thing that would get people ask­ing what you’re ask­ing now! Hust­ler­’s Renais­sance to me is just that a Renais­sance for the Hust­lers! It’s a time whe  entre­pren­eur­ship is at a all time high and your see­ing every­one shake the fear of being in the rat race of soci­ety, and I feel that group of people, who­ever they may be, should be cel­eb­rated! In my career, it’s a step­ping stone from A dope Lyr­i­cist to an incred­ible artist I feel like I’m craft­ing Élite music and the music reflects that!
Janu­ary 27th marks a new chapter for you. What mind­set were you in while cre­at­ing this EP, and how is it dif­fer­ent from your pre­vi­ous work?
Shampz —  It’s truly my evol­u­tion of becom­ing a com­plete artist! This too me is my best work and I feel that when people hear this pro­ject, they will be amazed at the hun­ger and ver­sat­il­ity that this Ep pro­jects. My mind­set right now is to show pure dom­in­ance as a Emcee.  It dif­fers From my last pro­jects simply by me tak­ing a lot more chances music­ally but still keep­ing my integ­rity with­in the realm of hip-hop!
Many artists talk about “hustle,” but not every­one lives it authen­tic­ally. How has your real-life hustle shaped the sound and stor­ies on this EP? 
Shampz — Every word that I Write and record are from dir­ect exper­i­ences in my Life! Wheth­er I’m writ­ing from things that happened to me personally,or telling the stor­ies for my Hom­ies who passed that can­’t share they stor­ies authen­ti­city is huge in my every­day life not just music. It’s extremely unfor­tu­nate that you have guys writ­ing lyr­ics about things they nev­er have exper­i­enced but I can con­trol what I can which is to be a voice for the voice­less a dir­ect orator for the Hustler’s.
What themes can listen­ers expect to hear on Hustler’s Renais­sance? Is this more about sur­viv­al, growth, cel­eb­ra­tion, or reinvention?
Shampz — Truly I believe all 4 It surely doc­u­ments my life in the streets so that cov­ers sur­viv­al, It def­in­itely cel­eb­rates me start­ing to evolve from where I came from where things got dark and now light is in my life that def­in­itely is growth, And def­in­itely a rein­ven­tion of my style! How I rap how I’m attack­ing pro­duc­tion and shred­ding off that old me to Show A young Legend!
Was there a spe­cif­ic moment or exper­i­ence that inspired you to cre­ate this EP, or did it come togeth­er gradu­ally over time? 
Shampz — I would say it came togeth­er over time. My broth­er Azzan who pro­duced and did every hook on the pro­ject star­ted craft­ing this mas­ter­piece months ago and then I star­ted my writ­ing pro­cess. From there we start­ing chip­ping away and cre­at­ing this incred­ible pro­ject that your listen­ing to!
How would you describe the evol­u­tion of King Shampz on this project—both lyr­ic­ally and sonically? 
Shampz — I believe it’s my best work yet son­ic­ally and lyr­ic­ally! I feel like A prime Michael Jordan at the peak of my powers and I believe I can do any­thing when I’m in the booth. I’m tak­ing chances with flows and bridges and I’m finally com­fort­able in the artist that I am. Some­times you have people go their whole career without know­ing who they are or what their sig­na­ture sound I feel like when me and Azzan put togeth­er Dawn of the Dead a couple of years ago, we put down the soil, now you’re see­ing a garden full of creativity.
Are there any tracks on the EP that feel espe­cially per­son­al or vul­ner­able to you? If so, why? 
Shampz — Struggle and tears! It’s the most vul­ner­able track. When I was writ­ing that record, I was deal­ing with some health battles that I had to over­come and when you’re fight­ing your just pray­ing, and you’re at your most vul­ner­able. I decided to write some of my thoughts about street life, fake friends, betray­al in rela­tion­ships, and life as a Black man in Amer­ica and came out with that record. I know the people will con­nect to it!
Hip hop is con­stantly evolving. Where do you see your­self fit­ting into today’s hip-hop land­scape with Hustler’s Renaissance? 
Shampz — At the very top Alot of this music sounds the same in the main­stream and the under­ground, so I feel that this pro­ject will elev­ate hip-hop back to the days where being dope and cre­at­ive mat­ters. I expect this Ep to be one of those pro­jects in my career that music­al his­tor­i­ans will talk about for decades.
For fans who’ve been rock­ing with you since the begin­ning, what do you want them to hear or feel when they press play on Janu­ary 27th? 
Shampz — Art in its purest form, Street art drawn from the blocks of West Phil­adelphia, the dan­ger­ous vibes of the streets, but also growth and maturity.
Finally, what does suc­cess look like for King Shampz after the release of Hustler’s Renaissance—and how does this EP set the tone for what’s next?
Shampz — Suc­cess is for the whole world to hear this Shit! This sets the tone for Dead Wrong Enter­tain­ment for the rest of this dec­ade! We about to change the hip-hop and music world forever, and Hust­ler­’s Renais­sance is the Tip of the iceberg!
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SKANDOUZ .

Hip Hop Artist / Act­iv­ist / Journ­al­ist / Fun lov­ing indi­vidu­al @SKANDOUZ (On Errr’thang )

About SKANDOUZ .

Hip Hop Artist / Activist / Journalist / Fun loving individual @SKANDOUZ (On Errr’thang )