An MM Exclusive With Samara Cyn

Samara Cyn is one of the most exciting emerging talents in rap and hip hop today. Blessed with a sharp pen and effortless vocal ability, Cyn is a Swiss Army Knife who can adapt to any soundscape and make it her own. There is a soulfulness to her delivery that is validated by her vulnerable, inward looking lyricism.

I sat down with Samara to talk about her unconventional upbringing in a military family, learning from legends, the XXL Freshman class, and her most recent projects:

Growing up in a military family must have involved a lot of moving around. How did that affect your upbringing and your musical inspirations?

I think it just opened me up to a lot of different types of sound. All throughout my life, we listened to all different types of music. We lived in predominantly Hispanic spaces, we lived in predominantly African American spaces, predominantly white spaces. We saw Hawaiian culture, Asian culture, and Pacific Islander culture.  I could go from Hawaiian music to The Fray to Slick Rick all the way to Florence and the Machine.

The versatility of my music comes from listening to everything growing up. A lot of times, your household predominantly listens to one genre of music, and I think with me getting a dose of everything, that really helped me just want to make good music in general. I don’t think I’m always going to be making rap, hip hop music, you know?

And just as a person, how do you think that kind of constant transitional lifestyle has affected you?

At first I saw it as a negative thing. I had to grow up to realize that it was actually a really great thing for me. I always say that three things raise you, and it’s your guardians, it’s your friends, and it’s your environment. A lot of people who are born in cities like New York, LA, London, that culture is ingrained in them and it’s a part of their personality. 

I was raised in a southern household, but outside of it, it was confusing as a kid, because survival mode kicks in, and you try to assimilate into the cultures that you’re in. And so I struggled, I think, with identity growing up a little bit. It took me longer to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be and how I was, and what the truth about that really was.

I think in positive ways, it made me super open minded. I’m really grateful to have seen and experienced all different types of people and all different types of environments, because it made me very open minded, and it has really molded my delivery.  I feel like I can read people really well and understand pretty quickly how to communicate with them in a way that is easy to hear what I’m saying.

You obviously had an eclectic music taste growing up but at what point did you start to experiment with music yourself?

I guess technically when I was in high school. I remember Chance the Rapper had a ‘So Gone Challenge’ that he put up on Twitter, and it was a thing where people were writing verses about their significant other. I was in high school, so I wrote one about my mom, and I made a video about it and put it out, so I guess that technically is it. I’ve always been an avid listener of music. I was always making playlists in high school, but like SoundCloud, underground playlists, and my goal was to have music that nobody else had, but it was still really incredible music. 

I wrote my first song in 2019. I was a sophomore in college already, and I kind of had poetry in my bag already. It wasn’t great poetry. It was trying to be good poetry, but I rapped it to all of my friends one night and their reaction was enough to make me want to write an actual song.  It was really quickly after that, being in college, I had friends that I knew that would go to the studio, and I was able to just, like, tag along with them, and I got to figure out that world pretty quickly.

From starting out back in 2019 to the present day, how do you think you’ve changed as an artist?

There’s been so much change, even from now to two years ago. There’s been a lot of growth, just as a human being, but as an artist, I find when you first start something, you have to kind of find your swagger, I guess. At first you’re kind of mimicking to try to figure out what it is until you can say, okay, I got the fundamentals down. Then you can start to enjoy it and your style shines through. You kind of mold it into your own thing, and then add yourself into it.

I really had to find my sound, and it took me a long time to do that because I was treating music like a hobby for a long time. It was kind of like a side quest. I think taking it seriously, right when I found the voice that I had and the style that I wanted to get into. I got the foundation of where I felt most comfortable making music and most authentic making music. At the beginning I couldn’t perform in front of people and I wouldn’t want to record with other people in the studio. Eventually I got a home set up in my apartment and it became a really personal thing for me. Right now though I don’t take things as seriously or personally and my sound and writing has got better. It’s a little bit more fun, just because I’m not thinking too hard about it anymore. 

You’ve just been announced as an XXL Freshman. Is that something you have always aspired to be?

To be honest, no. I paid attention to it in high school and even college but there’s not too many things that are aspirational to me as an artist. I know that sounds bad, because it sounds like I don’t have any goals. I do have goals, but I feel like I stumbled into music as being my primary source of income. I did it for therapy at first, and then I did it for fun, and then when it became my main thing, I’m just doing it for fulfillment. Being on XXL, the Smino tour, performing on stage with Nas, Lauryn Hill – these are all just really cool surprises that I didn’t think were going to happen because I don’t think too far ahead.

What can you take from those interactions with legends such as Nas or Lauryn Hill?

Both of those experiences were so surreal. It exposed me to bigger crowds but in a low pressure environment because it wasn’t my own thing. With Lauryn Hill though I was shaking in my boots.  Not only am I performing in front of the biggest crowd that I’ve ever done, because this is the biggest stage I’ve ever been on, but you’re also performing in front of somebody that I’ve cried listening to their music. She was just standing right behind me, like, watching me do my thing. I was literally like, oh my gosh, this is the most nerve wracking thing ever.

Just having conversations with them as people, it was more so like, confirmation that I was doing the right thing. Talking to Nas and understanding even how he’s able to write music. He’s been writing music for such a long time, like years and years decades, and he still finds things to talk about in a profound way. It was just soaking up really cool game from people that, again, I’d never thought that I would meet or have the honor of having a conversation with them about stuff. It was really validating.

You dropped ‘The Drive Home’ last year, and you dropped ‘Backroads’ this year. Are those titles interlinked with intention?

Yeah, like we were talking about earlier I come from a military family and we moved round a lot.  I don’t want to shy away from the sounds that I gravitate towards, despite what’s popular or what I feel like people expect from me. That has been the journey, after moving around a lot and struggling with like those identity issues, I tell myself to do it how you want to do it.  As an artist, that’s my base message. The Drive Home and this car theme, or this traveling theme, just kind of symbolizes my journey. The home aspect is like my truest self. A lot of the songs were about my struggles with confidence and feeling like I wasn’t going to make it at all. 

Backroads kind of sees me confronting my own delusion. We often as a society and as people will take the back roads instead of facing the issue head on. Why do I feel like I have to conform? Why do I feel like this? I think the the car theme has just kind of been my thing. I think I’m going to keep rolling with it. Come up with those, those metaphors for as long as it stays symbolic. It’s just an ingrained obsession with travelling and the journey.

I was struck by your vulnerability on Backroads as well as your ability to switch between melody and rapping. What do you think is your best asset as an artist?

I’ve always wanted to answer that question with my songwriting ability. I think my pen is really nice. Now that I’m working with producers, and it’s more intentional, like you said, me switching from singing to rapping and like that type of stuff, I feels like the pockets are really what I’m best at. Finding the right pocket for that moment of production and being intentional with every pocket I think is my greatest asset right now. I think at this point my writing can get even better – I’ve always said that I write great songs but I think the pockets are outshining that even more.

Just finally, what are your ambitions for the near future and going forward?

A headline tour in the next year or so would be really cool. That would feel really great. I think I used to be almost scared to perform which is why I did it so much. Even when I was in college I did a lot of open mic performances because it was terrifying, and then afterwards I felt really cool. I was terrified at the start of the Smino tour but after 31 shows I was able to have fun and enjoy myself.  That wasn’t something that happened often when I performed, because I was riddled with anxiety.  Now that I’ve done that tour, I’ve done the festivals, I feel a lot more comfortable. I feel like I know what I want my show to look like. I learned so much not only from just the experience, but I learned a lot from watching Smino and his team as well, from watching my own team kind of figure out how we would get something like that done.  It makes me really excited for what my own show is gonna look like. A headline tour would be really incredible. I love intimate spaces, and I know that those early shows for me are gonna be the fun shows ■

Samara Cyn’s project Backroads, is available on all streaming platforms.