Chuuwee has spent the recent weeks hard at work. This comes as no surprise to those of us who have followed his career to find that he is always improving and expanding his discography. The Sacramento emcee has long been known for incorporating his old school flow into modern styles of rap. He has done work with everyone from New York producing legend Large Professor to his mom, Redd. Since his start eight years ago, his sound has progressed and his fanbase has grown exponentially. He is currently working on a number of projects, with the biggest being his five part album. The first part in this series, called Paradiso, is being planned for a late January release. EARMILK got to catch up with the skilled emcee while he talked about working with Large Professor and The Alchemist, his favorite artists, what he has in store for the fans, and much more. Check it out below:
EARMILK: You’ve done work with big name producers such as The Alchemist, Statik Selektah, and Large Professor, who are some other producers you’d want to work with?
Chuuwee: I want to work with Metro Boomin, Pharrell, Kanye, FKI, and I guess I want to get something with [DJ] Mustard too. I want Mustard to make me a hip hop beat.
E: How’d you get linked up with Statik Selektah, The Alchemist, and Large Professor?
C: I got linked up with Statik through a bidding war with iHipHop and Amalgam Digital. I went to meet with Amalgam and they had me doing all kinds of stuff, going out to XXL, The Source, and playing shows. At the same time, I had Dan Green who was working at iHipHop Distribution, he was trying to get me to sign there, and he was like “come over here and do this”. One day I was in New York, I had just came from BET, and I got a text and he was like “Statik wants you on his album go to his house”. The Alchemist emailed me and I thought that shit was fake so that almost got spammed. He just emailed me one day like “Yo what’s going on man I heard your shit, I’m working on this album, I’m doing all these Russian samples, I want to get you on some shit” and I was like “word, hell yea!”. So a week later he sends this beat over and is like “do whatever you want with this”. I fucking gassed that shit the same hour he sent it. Large Pro, I went to New York and an A&R lined that up. We talked to him 2 or 3 weeks after I met him. He was like “this cat is solid he got some good shit, I’m gonna send yall something”.
E: Who are some artists who you’d want to get a verse from, or who you’d want to hop on their track?
C: Gorilla Zoe, Milf Mitch, Kanye, Most Def, MF Doom and Ludacris. Believe it or not, I need a verse from Luda. I got some shit he would kill.
E: You’ve toured all around Europe, what are your favorite cities to do shows in?
C: Berlin. It had to be Berlin, that was the funnest show. If not Berlin then Cologne. Cologne was at this little festival, it was crazy.
E: What is something that people would be surprised to hear about Chuuwee?
C: I can cook. I’m lazy as fuck so I don’t, but I’m a fantastic cook!
E: Who are you listening to right now?
C: I just found this dude from Sac named Hobo Johnson, he is fucking sick. Chris Lyric. I’ve been listening to this fool’s SoundCloud for like 2 months straight. That fool is ridiculous, he is from Connecticut and that’s the homie. Other than that I’m on some old school hype. All of Too $hort’s old shit, Outkast, UGK, [and] a shit ton of Erykah Badu again.
E: What do you think is your most underrated song?
C: I think my most underrated song is “Propose a Toast” off of Cool World. If not that one then “For Those Who Don’t Know” off of Wild Style. Because [on] “For Those Who Don’t Know” I sang like Nate Dogg and “Propose A Toast” I have just never heard a song like that before. I want to perform it one day but the mix is terrible. That’s one of my favorite songs of mine ever.
E: Your mom was on a track early in your career, are you ever going to drop another song or two with your mom[Redd]?
C: I’m at the lab right now working on an album with my mom. She just finished a compilation album and is working on a solo tape.
E: Can you describe the progression of your career or a big highlight in your career? What’s coming up?
C: The highlight of my career was going to Europe [on the South Sac Mack Tour]. I got so much shit going on. I want to talk about my five-part album. I got a five-part album coming out, it’s like a whole series. The last album in the series is Dystopia. I’m super excited about that. My next album is called Paradiso. [On this album] every song has a deeper meaning than what’s in the title. [In this five part series] you start in Paradiso, which is paradise. Then through the five part series it’s talking about how obviously right now the world is going to shit. Some people might think this is the best time to be alive, so that’s why it starts with Paradiso. And then it starts going to shit. I incorporating everything that is going on in everyday life into an alternate universe. I created an audio cartoon about the downfall of our race.
Check out Chuuwee's newest video from his latest song "Rare Pokemon". This track was originally planned to be on Paradiso, but the theme did not fit and thus it ended up not making the cut.
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