Ask anyone on Twitter, and Sy Ari The Kid is quite “popular”. If you ask Sy himself, he would still feel he has more work to do. With that, I was given the opportunity to learn about the Atlanta based artist that has both feet straddled between the more “radio friendly” fare and the lyrical side of things. Yet, he would be hard pressed to see the difference between the two sides. In this interview, we talk about that and a lot of other topics such as his love for live performances, his love for his parents, and the effect that Slim Dunkin had on his life. He even drops jewels about being an independent artist. Thus, it would behoove anyone that plans on doing music to take this interview seriously. He may call himself a kid, but in all reality he is a man about his business. So, I first got to see you at the Spoiled Milk concert series. How did you enjoy that session? I like doing Spoiled Milk. Spoiled Milk, to me, is like the biggest independent/indie showcase for artists, you know what I mean? I think it’s a good platform. The thing that they do with the indie artists is that they involve a lot of the major DJ’s. There is always a good turnout. There are always artists that aren’t as big as me and some that are bigger than me. So, I’ll always be down to do it. At one point, you even threw on a dread locked wig and started performing. As far as live performances, what is it that you like the best? Well, you know, it’s multiple things. For me, when I always do a show, I don’t do it just for them. I do it for those that have never seen or heard of me before. I look at it like Emimen: he said “you only have one shot; lose yourself/It’s your moment/you own it”. When I hear that, I apply that line every time before I go on stage. In my normal character, I’m funny and cool. But, when I say “lose yourself”, I go on stage I kinda aim for that. If you peep my set, I start off with a hip hop record that’s kinda more laid back so you can listen to me. Then the next record, I may cut the beat off because I want the crowd to hear what I am saying. Then, of course, I want to go full energy. I want the crowd to get into what I’m doing. I always want to turn into this whole other character where you either hate my shit or you love it. The “dread wig” idea came from Waka (Flocka Flame). When he started to take off in Atlanta, people like Waka, Dae Dae, Chad, they all had long dreads. When they would get on stage, they would shake their heads so wildly. When you have dreads, you look way more hyper than the person with the Ceasar. So, I always wanted to do it. In one of my videos, I used the wig. At one of my shows, I put on the wig. I tried it somewhere and people loved it. The next day, everybody tweeted me like “Yo, you came out in the dread wig! It was crazy!” So, I been doing it ever since and it will always be in my show set. As I watched your documentary, I noticed that your parents were interviewed. How supportive has your parents been with your musical goals? It’s the most important thing to me because they (my parents) are everything. Everything for me is about grabbing new listeners. I’m never too satisfied with what I have. I’ll always want more. The good thing now is that everything is viral. These artists will show guns or they show money while talking about how much they did in the streets. No matter what you are talking about you want the people to believe what you are saying. For me, what’s realer than your parents? If you see an artist, and I don’t care what they are talking about, if you see their parents tell you their story then you are going to believe it. I don’t give a damn what the situation is. If you see a person’s parents tell a story about what they did, then you are going to believe it. That’s home for me. So, I really wanted people see my whole process on The Birth. With a lot of artists, you don’t see their parents until their E-True Hollywood Story or later down the line. Plus, tomorrow is not promised so I wanted to get that story out. So far, you have worked with K. Camp on the single “Popular”. I noticed a lot of people giving it a lot of love on Twitter. How big of a single is this for you? And how big can it actually become? Well, for one, it is the first of my actual songs that has been on major radio stations. So, I am already accomplishing more than before. My song is at a lot of the main clubs. DJ’s are breaking it (the song) and I’m not even there. Usually, I gotta go service the record. I gotta put it on their heads or sit in the booth for hours. But, this is not the case. Mansion, on a Friday night, is the club that has broken 90% of the artists in Atlanta is the last few years. So now, I’m hearing my song get play at that club and I’m not even there. And it was a simple record; it didn’t take me no more than 15 minutes record it. K-Camp emailed his verse, so we build around it. It is helping me learn more about how to work the people. I’m more of a lyrical artist. But, I still want to understand all aspects of the game so I can get into that market. I want to financially help build my career to where I really want to be. As I noticed in your performance, your freestyle skills are impeccable. How important is it to be an able lyricist rather than an artist that makes “dope radio jingles” with no lyrical ability? I mean, it’s important. I became a lyricist because I grew up listening to the people that they consider lyricists. I always explain this: even with “Popular”, people think I dumbed it down for that record. But even to me, I didn’t. If you listen to one of my hip hop records and you listen to “Popular”, it is still me being myself. I’m not talking about some shit I ain’t doing. The record is still honest. I always explain that the word “lyricist” that people use it but don’t understand what it is. You can go for somebody like Eminem or you could go for Snoop Dogg. Now, of course, Eminem is way more “skilled” than Snoop Dogg. But who is the say that Snoop Dogg is not a lyricist? Who’s to say Too Short is not a lyricist? Who’s to say Future is not a lyricist? I think that if you find a way for your lyrics to impact people beyond just getting drunk and high. I would like for it to make people happy. A lot of people talk about “hip hop is dead” and some people don’t even know what the fuck it is. They don’t even know the definition from the guy who created hip hop meant by it. Peace, positivity, happiness, unity over a beat. That’s hip hop. When hip hop first started, people weren’t that skilled. They rhymed one syllable, so who is to say that those dudes weren’t lyrical. They rhymed more simpler than artists do today. I don’t ever want to get into the mix of all of that. At the end of the day, I’m aiming to be the best at what I do. So that’s why I go for the lyrics. You ended up in ISS (in school suspension) for five days back in high school. Care to retell that story? Man, I had problems in school. I couldn’t sit down for two long. I always had to do something stupid. If I was on the school bus, I always had to throw paper at somebody. If we were standing in line at lunch, I would always have to cut the line. During fire drills, I had to tap someone shoulder to make them look one way when I was on the other side. So, I always had to do something stupid. Now, I had this thing that I would draw perverted things on the board or on paper. I put something about a teacher. She was cool about it. But she still reported me. Slim Dunkin was your homie (may he rest in peace). Do you care to share anything about him that you will always hold onto? The main thing is that Dunk (Slim Dunkin) was hot or cold. There was no in-between for him. If he didn’t fuck with you, he would pretty much just punch you in the face. And if he fucked with you, he would give you his last piece of food. He was consistently that dude. That was one thing I respected about him. He was also a go getter. He didn’t make any excuses for someone not doing something for him. It was one of the main reasons why we even started working. I remember when Waka started to pop off, Dunk wanted to start doing is music full throttle. He felt that he couldn’t rely on people. So, he went out there and he went and got it. If you ever listen to Dunk’s first shit, you know that shit was horrible. He wouldn’t count bars. He would adlib over his bars. He didn’t even realize how dope his words were. So, his growth from when he started rapping to last year was scary. It would have been so crazy to hear from him 5 years from now. It is almost like when you heard that Pac died and did not reach 30. Yet, you would hear the shit he was talking about and you would think he was an OG. You hear Pac’s album and then you find he died at less than 30 years old. It was no way he was 25-26 rapping about shit like this. Not to compare Slim Dunkin to 2Pac, but I am talking about the growth to what he could have accomplished before he past. Being that you are making things happen with your own (independent), how hard has the grind been thus far? Pretty much, every myth and story you hear about “teams” and “labels” is gonna happen. I don’t give a damn how perfect or dope you think your artists, these things are going to happen. Ups and downs, other artists being jealous of the other artists, drugs, bad habits: they are going to happen. So, it has been tough. So now, it is not as many people. Like Jay-Z said: less is more, and there are plenty of us. I’m getting down to the point where my team is a lot smaller. We used to go to the club and there were 50 people at the door. I don’t do that anymore. Now, it might be me and my nigga at the club. It is definitely trial and error. Right now, where we at is a good look. So, I’m going to build from here with everything that I learned. When I explain myself, I want people to learn from the mistakes that a lot of people do make. Don’t ever think that you are that good that you won’t make the same mistakes. They say “Me and my niggas been good forever”. That’s because you all ain’t been making no money! Y’all ain’t ever had the spotlight on one dude and the other 9 are in the dark while 2 of them are used to having the spotlight. When tables turn, you will really see. When a nigga that dropped an album had the tables turned and now he has to pass CD’s out. Look and see if he would do it full throttle. Since you do have your own label (Arrogant Music) and do production, which one do you prefer: producing or emceeing? Emceeing. All day. First of all, I don’t have a love for producing like that. So, that is why I don’t make beats as much as I used to. I didn’t look forward to becoming a beat maker for that long. I wanted to learn what the dope producers/beatmakers were doing. I wanted to know what makes a beat wack versus what makes a beat dope. Which drums to use? How do you compress sounds? Why does the hi-hat always pan to the left on 30 and the other one on 70? I wanted to learn all of that stuff and I did. So, as far as emceeing, you can’t touch as many lives with a beat. Words can actually affect people way deeper than beats can. And I’m more toward the people. What is next for Sy Ari after this mixtape release? Honestly, yo, I’m so focused on this tape. I want the tape to drop, the single to pick up more on radio, and go on a 3-4 month tour so I can take myself to the next level. I’m talking setting myself up with labels so I can get myself a good deal and get to the next level in the industry. So, that’s what I’m working on right now. Follow him on Twitter/Instagram @SyAriDaKid !! Sy Ari Da Kid recently held a mixtape release/listening party in Atlanta to kick-off the debut of Ultrasound 2: The Rebirth. Check out a few photos from the event: Mark Harris (STACKS Mag) & K Camp Fort Knox & Sy Ari Da Kid To view the full gallery, click HERE!
