Last night, I heard an innovative, experimental hip-hop feeling track from an up-and-coming artist named Sawti Sunik. His life's story is just as out of the box and juxtaposed as his music. Sunik’s chaotic brand of hip-hop freely incorporates everything from classical to punk and metal, bringing much-needed new-wave perspectives and sounds to the genre. He also taps into his multi-cultural heritage (Egyptian, Lebanese, and Jamaican) to help create a visual and sonic style that is unlike anything I've seen on heard before. The brother is riding in his own lane on the new single, READ MY HAND, and the song could be his fast track to stardom.
Sawti’s music often deals with themes of mental health, identity, and societal issues. He explores these topics with a storyteller’s eye for detail, turning his personal experiences into deeply relatable songs with near-universal appeal. Even with the reggae flow, you still get a taste of mellow, melodic trap, and emo rap vibes on the song. "It was just recently when I went through a mental breakdown," he explained. "The new name, Sawti Sunik, is therefore a part of my rebirth... an arrangement of multiple past me’s, present and several future me’s brought SS to this world" (he was previously known as Zachariah Messiah).
His lyrics and even his social media postings show he has a way of seeing and presenting things differently. Take his avant garde look. He rocks a partially shaved head with tats and locks. There's no playbook for him--part of what makes Sawti Sunik all the more interesting as an artist.
"Cuz I was seeing in me. I had a vision..."
"After shaving my head, I’m now trying to break the normal." His merging of black metal, hip-hop, and dancehall/reggae into one song is an example of how he's choosing to break the mold.
So how did we get here? For this, we go to the artist himself.
Tell us a little about you. What was your upbringing like? When and how did you get into music? Unpack Sawti for us....
I was born 26+ years ago in Coral Springs, Florida in 1995. I was raised in a strict Muslim household of 6. Early darkness is true and once I really discovered music, it wasn’t long until I started making it. This was somewhere around the age of 13. Listening to classical, black meadow, boy bands, hip-hop, R&B and main stream pop music really intrigued me.
When I was 20 years I had already tripped all around the world. I published my first piece of hip-hop music, ‘Young and Alive’. 4 years of day in and day out psychedelics with no ease on the pedal pushed me through what I, in the moment, thought was my end. It wasn’t until I seen me now in real time recording “Y&A” that I knew this was much bigger then me.
You mentioned several different genres of music, which explains why your sound incorporates so many different style and sounds, but artist wise, who would you say has influenced you musically?
The most evident influences on my music have been Bobby Caldwell, Whitney Houston, Dokken, Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y.
What do you hope listeners come away with from your work?
Obviously I hope that people will thoroughly enjoy this. The music is aimed at creating breakthrough sound, that comfort’s the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.
Sawti Sunik is like a musical Basquiat. Like the legendary artist, he has created his own genre of art. In Sunik's case, his creative resonance comes through a rich fusion of words, sounds, and styles. His poetic lyrics and biographical content help to draw listeners closer; and his fan base is growing. He lays out his vulnerabilities even when the story isn't pretty, but in READ MY HAND, he manages to keep the mood light. "All my music aims at maximum positivity," he said. "No curse words, but stories that inspire. Even when some of the music is the result of my dark, troubled childhood."
Sawti Sunik's new single, READ MY HAND, is available on most major platforms.
SOCIAL + STREAMING
Instagram: @sawtisunik
Twitter: @imasawtifan
Facebook: NattyWorl
Tiktok: sawtisunik
Snapchat: @sawtisunik
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3FPr1PFeeTMjCV7nUFZgSe
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