Snap Capone, South London’s rugged wordsmith returns with the highly anticipated sequel to his 2014 mixtape on Return of the Shooter 2. Boasting collaborations with Stardom, Rimzee and of course long-time collaborator and friend Corleone. Snaps flow and legitimacy in music can’t be disputed, as we discuss his influence on the current UK Rap landscape and his highly anticipated new tape. The voice, bravado and highly publicised life away from music put Snap Capone in pole position to solidify his name in UK rap music.
Snap, what’s good man? Return of the Shooter 2 just dropped, 26 songs on the mixtape, that’s a lot of music. Any particular reason for that choice?
I just thought I want a body of work and I didn’t want to shorten it. Nowadays everyone does short albums or whatever or mixtapes, 10 tracks. I wanted it to be like a listening experience, going in as usual.
My favourite track on the mixtape is ‘Rhymez’. I really like the piano on the beat and the storytelling flow.
That’s mad because that’s a flow I haven’t done before, that’s produced by my guy I Am Truth. That tune is very, very hard. Thank you
So most of the production is done in-house?
Yeah, for sure in-house. Slay Productions or Truth, or just another one or two producers I picked up on the wing.
Right now, drill is taking over mainstream music. I saw that you were on the remix of Shots by Morrison do you see yourself making more music on drill beats.?
I’m on a couple drill beats here and there I don’t mind it, there might be one or two coming out on more drillish beats.
When you first came out a lot of music didn’t really talk about drug use, I’ve noticed a shift in UK music. Have you noticed this same shift?
100%. I just feel like they are following fashion because a lot of the American rappers do it and talk about, they just want to do it you know what I’m trying to say?
You’ve got a line on your single ‘4 Summers’ like “trips to New Zealand/chick Puerto Rican”, have you been to Australia before ?
Nah, never down and under! I would love to come though.
You’ve got a few lines speaking Somali, I’m Somali so I resonate with those lines. Can you tell me a bit about the demographics in South London where you came up?
Oh, South London’s just a place where it’s extremely multicultural. There’s a big community of, Africans, Colombians, Jamaicans and it’s real nice to grow up literally multicultural. Majority of London is like that it’s a nice place to grow up. Loads of estates, loads of different areas within the area. I’m not going to lie, growing up in our era it wasn’t too bad but couple eras before they had Brixton riots and Tottenham Farm riots but in my area, it wasn’t too bad.
I’m definitely due to come to London I hear the Somalis are in Shepherd Bush? You got to tell me about a few spots.
The Somalis are everywhere bro, everywhere. The Somalis are in any and every ends you go to. Mali land bro. Woolwich in Southeast London, not just shepherds bush. East London, Leytonstone, Acton.
Has COVID affected you in regards to music? How are you finding working in this time?
Alhamdulillah Akhi literally I can’t even complain, you know. I think with social media we can connect with fans and communicate with the world. Obviously show money is the best money, you know what I’m trying to say. I 100% want to be touring.
Growing up I used to listen to you walking to school, you were one of the first to come with your style, I remember as far back as Westwood crib session you did
Wow, that is sick. You listen to me in Australia. Listening to you say that now is making me feel like people appreciate my music. Sometimes doing music, you feel like it is long or you feel like giving up but hearing you say this now I know my music is getting out there
I noticed you frequently collaborate with the same people, is there any particular reason for that?
Yeah so, the people I collab with is the people I naturally gel with, you get it?
Like it’s got to be authentic. If I listen to your music or talk to you, then we can make something work. I’m not really into this ‘do a song with my man because it will look good or sound good’, it has to be authentic. When you’re in the studio you have to have that chemistry. You know what I rap about innit, my ting is real rap so I can’t just be doing tunes with anybody because they have 100 million followers or whatever. It’s got to be authentic, and I wouldn’t want nobody to be on a track with me and they spit like me when that ain’t them.
I see a lot of your influence in a lot of UK music. Do you hear that often?
A lot of people tell me they hear my influence. Like you can hear a certain sound in them and it makes you think ‘that sounds like something Snap would say’, or that sounds like Snap. I already know that, but it’s nice to hear that because in your age group a lot of people show homage.
Follow Snap Capone here for more and stream ‘Return of the Shooter 2’ below.