BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition June 2019

FESTIVAL PREVIEWBREAKOUT
HOW
SAWEET
IT IS
Saweetie is just
one of the many
female rappers
creeping onto
the charts right
now. As someone
who spent
her early years
idolizing Nicki
Minaj, this shift excites the
rising west coast star.
“I was inspired by her being
unapologetically herself.
SAWEETIE at
BREAKOUT
FESTIVAL
Sunday, June 15 & 16
PNE Amphitheatre
Tix: $99-$149 (single day),
$149-$269 (2 day pass)
Being a woman in the hip-hop
industry, we’re often criticized
for anything,” Saweetie
says, explaining she’s been
criticized for being too
“bubblegum” and for talking
explicitly about her sexuality.
Saweetie credits social
media as a big help to her career.
Her first hit, “ICY GRL,”
was originally a freestyle
rapped in her car that she
posted to Instagram.
“Social media is where
I hustled, because social
media is the new way of
passing out your mixtape on
the street.”
Her series of “car raps”
was originally just for fun, but
quickly turned into something
that resonated with people,
much to Saweetie’s surprise.
“My music is growing faster
than me as an artist,” she
says. “I’m trying to play catch
up. I didn’t expect all this to
happen so quickly.”
Now that her meteoric rise
has caught her off guard,
Saweetie plans to spend time
in the studio honing in and
discovering her sound before
she feels ready to come out
with a debut album. While
quite a few of her standout
tracks have paid homage to
rap hits of the past through
samples and interpolations,
she’s planning to switch that
up.
“I think I’m gonna focus
on more original
beats,” she says.
“Tapping into my
creativity and
really starting from
scratch is very
important to me,
so moving forward
I could find myself
doing more beats that sound
like a Saweetie sound.”
But her success can
sometimes be the very thing
preventing her from doing
that work.
“My project’s doing
really well, so I keep getting
booked. My schedule is so
full of photoshoots and travelling
and doing interviews
like these. But eventually I’d
like to go back to my roots,
back to the studio and find
out what that sound is.”
Saweetie is in a high-profile
relationship with Migos
star Quavo, who she says has
spent a lot of time helping
her navigate the waters of
the hip-hop industry and become
a more versatile artist.
“I’m a very soft-spoken,
laid-back person, and that
comes across in my music.
However, not every song can
sound like that.”
Saweetie says Quavo has
helped her step out of her
comfort zone, becoming
more aggressive at times
and even singing on a couple
tracks. He appears twice on
her latest EP.
Saweetie is the only female
rapper performing at Vancouver’s
third iteration of the
Breakout Festival, but she’s
not letting that faze her. If
anything, it just motivates her
even more.
“Me and my girls have a
bomb-ass show,” she says.
“I’m very excited to represent
for the females.”
By BEN BODDEZ