A Chat With One Of The UK’s Finest Rapper’s – Snap Capone

Snap Capone, one of the UK’s highly respected rappers in the game. Primarily known for his intricate use of wordplay and ability to captivate any listener, Capone has been in the game for a hot minute. With a boast-worthy slew of projects and tracks behind him including ‘The Memoir’, ‘Return Of The Shooter’, ‘Nothing Personal’, ‘The Gift & The Curse’, ‘The Purge’ and more recently with ‘Return Of The Shooter 2’. With a catalogue as extensive as Snap Capone’s, he’s secured an OG position in the UK Rap game; inspired by the likes of Jay-Z and Nas, you can tell he’s studied music rightfully.

Having recently returned with his latest mixtape ‘Return Of The Shooter 2’; a follow up from the 2014 release of ‘Return Of The Shooter’ – this mixtape takes you on a journey. Consisting of 25 tracks, just like the first release, with features from Stardom, Rimzee, Dae Digs, Corleone, 1st Born, I Am Truth, S Wavey, Dexman and GANGSTA RE, ‘Return Of The Shooter’ is a quality body of work.

I caught up with Snap Capone to talk all about ‘Return Of The Shooter 2’…

You’ve recently released ‘Return of the Shooter 2’ which followed up from the 2014 release. Why did you think this was the right time for that follow up?

Yes! *laughs* wow! The 2014 release was me coming out of jail as well, so I thought, I’m coming out of jail now, so I’ll follow up with the sequence. It would be a lot easier for me to come out and release ‘Return Of The Shooter 2’ because the theme is already there. It’s like watching Bad Boy and 3 or 4 years later they’ll come out with Bad Boy 2, so it makes sense! For those who haven’t listened to ‘Return Of The Shooter’, obviously, if you listen to number 2, it’ll make you go back to number 1 – so yeah, that was my angle!

How many songs did you make for this? Because it’s a lengthy project with 25 tracks, I’m presuming you had to cut down which ones were going to make it?

So, how me and Money Mike processed it was that, we agreed I was going to do a mixtape; I went to the studio and recorded loads – I’ve got 70-80 tracks. When I came out of prison, I said to Mike “Lets pick what I feel would suit ‘Return Of The Shooter 2’”; in line with that theme. So we picked a few, we were deliberating for a while as to whether we should’ve put less tracks out. We really wanted ‘Return Of The Shooter 2’ to be a follow up of the journey, I have a lot of friends in jail and I wanted them to sit down and go through loads of tracks. Sometimes when you listen to people’s albums or mixtapes and they only have 8 tracks, there’s usually only 1 that I really like and it finishes so quick. I really wanted to put out a nice body of work and that’s what I’m used to doing as well, so yeah!

One of the things your primarily known for is your ability to story tell and captivate your listener, which you could argue is becoming less frequent in the current landscape. How important is it for you to retain this element in your artistry?

Oh it’s very true! I grew up listening to artists like myself who spit that certain way so Jay-Z, Nas and Biggie. I’ve always got to keep it true to what I grew up with but at the same time move with the times. So, I want to be that bridge for the older and younger heads; you might hear Snap Capone in a Drill song to keep up with the kids and what’s current but I’ll still do a normal rap song and rap proper bars with proper flows and that.

When curating the project, were there any songs or features that tested you musically?

Naahh!!

It’s all lightwork for Snap Capone! *laughs*

Literally! It’s bad because sometimes I don’t want to do features because they won’t be able to go as hard as me. Obviously, ‘Return Of The Shooter’ is a lot more personal to me so I can’t put just anyone on it, that’s not what we were going for. I put a lot of guys in the industry that I know but with this one (Return Of The Shooter 2) I wanted to keep it with my close friends that I know can come just as hard as me without forcing it by keeping it original and keeping it real. There was no song that was really challenging, it was all just fun! I would go in there and flex with it; I did something different with the auto-tune, which I’ve never done before, so yeah, I was just having fun with it on tracks like “Buy The Whole Stock” and another one called “Pick A Sick / Talk Cash” – it was calm!

The album sonically explores various avenues, what was your vision when picking out or curating these beats?

If I get a beat, I think about how I’m gonna attack it and how I’m going to approach it.

I guess it comes in line with the theme that you mentioned earlier with ‘Return Of The Shooter’…

Yeah 100%! It had to be with the theme, I recorded loads of tracks, I’ve still got enough to put out at least 3 mixtapes or albums this year. These tracks are different, I made it when I came out and the sound is completely different with the new album; it’s like the 2020 sound so I can’t really release it right now! So, get ‘Return Of The Shooter’ out the way and then slowly bring out my new sound, experimenting and all that!

Shake the streets up! Exciting stuff!

Literally!

So now you have recorded and put ‘Return of the Shooter 2’ out. Listening back, which track or tracks resonate with you the most and why?

I don’t know you know! I f*ck with all of them hard! Probably the “The Shooter” because that’s proper deep, I like that one. Then, me and Corleone on “Life We Living” that’s kinda smooth and summery, the intro obviously and the outro, I f*ck with them hard as well! I’m not gonna lie, I’m a fan of my work! *laughs* I’ll be listening to it in my car and be like “yeah this is lit!” *laughs*. A song that people are really listening to called “In The Spot” and it goes like “I’m in the spot! You see me n*gga!” that’s a proper bounce, I really like that one as well! There are a few tracks I’m not going to lie to you!

One thing I’ve really noticed about you is that you put the quality of work before the quantity. A lot more artists now put the quantity first, is this something you have always believed in?

Oh yeah 100%! Yeah it is quality, it’s so mad because I can make music so fast though! For example, let’s say I’m in the studio for a day, I can make 7-8 tracks and most artists aren’t generally like that. For me, from what I believe, what I know and what everyone tells me it’s still quality! My work ethic is “bam, bam, bam!”, do you know what I mean? I can write my bars quick, I can lay it quick and I want to go to the next beat – that’s how I work and at the same time, keep that essence of quality!

It’s always lightwork for you haha!

Nah I swear down though! I have been doing this for time though! *laughs*

The UK scene has been making some serious moves recently. What are your overall thoughts on the scene as it currently stands? Do you like the way it’s heading?

I think it is healthy! I think it is heading in the right direction, I’m respecting what most people are doing in the UK at the moment!

What more can we expect to hear or see from you this 2020?

More music, more visuals and more of everything!

Keep up to date with Snap Capone via his Instagram here. You can also listen to Return Of The Shooter 2 below and on Apple Music here.