HYPETRAK 專訪 Sango 談論新系列「The Come Up」

隨著早前 HYPETRAK Mix 系列發表了 Sango 的混音新作《Just A Kid From Seattle》后，該位來自西雅圖的音樂製作人近日也接受了我們 HYPETRAK 的訪談。隨著 Kaytranada, Stwo, IAMNOBODY 以及 Falcons 等一班音樂製作人新力軍的湧現，Sango 憑藉著《Da Rocinha》,《Da Rocinha 2》，《North》三張專輯以及《Otra Vez》和《Trust Me》兩張 EP 的力量，在加上其放鬆的抒情風格證明了自己的實力。而在本次的訪談中，Sengo 跟我們分享到其最新的音樂系列「The Come Up」的細節，并談及到現況等話題。留意以下內容的同時也可以前往  HYPETRAK 查看完整訪問。

Tell us a little bit about your early days and background. Was there a time before Sango?

Yeah (laughs). Before I came up with my current artist name, my brother and I made beats together. Back then, we moved from Seattle to Michigan. I don’t know if you get this, but when you’re from the West Coast and you move somewhere else, you want let people immediately know where you are from — LA, the Bay, Seattle. Our original name as a production crew was DubWest. At that time I also started to experiment on my own sound when my brother would be busy with school or so. I was like 16 or 17. I came up with the name LumLOCC (laughs). Lum because I saw a luminous future for me, kind of corny I know (laughs). I sticked with the name for about a week or so.

That does indeed sound very West Coast. Doesn’t the ending LOCC imply some sort of affiliation with the Crips?

(Laughs) Yeah man, you’re spot on. A lot of people don’t even know that I grew up in a Crip neighborhood in Seattle. I’ve never been a Crip or a Blood though. I was never a gangster but I chose this name as a dedication to my origin. A lot of Crip members from Los Angeles or Oakland, Riverside and all that, moved up to Seattle to claim fresh soil to sell drugs. As for me, I was just a kid in the ghetto. Generally speaking, Seattle is a nice place and like any other major city, it has its rough patches. It’s not as dangerous like Compton or Oakland but there are people that I grew up with that were kind of crazy. There were also a lot of fake gangsters, wanksters out there that tried to make a name for themselves. There were a lot of corny and fake people among them, and a lot of stupid things happened because of that, like people getting robbed or killed just to make a name for yourself. I have to thank my parents for not having ended up being in trouble too much.

How did Sango develop from there?

I was like one of these nerdy kids in the hood that played Pokemon all day, rolled scooters, played basketball and soccer, and watched internet at night (laughs). I thought of the name by watching InuYasha anime. I loved InuYasha for a month but the character Sango was a girl that slays demons and I thought that was rad. I liked the character’s bold attitude and decided to adopt it to my music. But I can see how this name can end up being confusing to some. I found out that Sango is also a language in Central Africa, so some people would hit me up and ask me if I was Congolese (laughs).