Reece Rage photo
New Haven’s Snowsa with NYC New York superstar Young M.A..
New Haven has a once-in-a-generation hip hop talent in Snowsa, the rapper formerly known as Snowprah.This week, I got to witness firsthand this local talent’s imminent launch into national stardom thanks to a new music video by New York rapper Young M.A that remixes Snowsa’s hit song, “Yank Riddim.”
This Tuesday and Wednesday,New Haven hip-hop sensation Snowsa, of last year’s viral hit “Yank Riddim,” gave me an opportunity to take an intimate look at the formation of a star.
Snowsa, who’s 24 and grew up in the Hill, also came on the radio to talk with me on Tuesday.
When I met Snowsa, who has been signed by Island Records and has an upcoming MTV gig in New York, I was taken aback about how accessible and humble she is.
Almost immediately, Snow and I got into a heated argument about the hierarchy of New Haven pizza, and I almost forgot that I was talking to the one of the freshest talents to ever come out of this city.
I was quickly reminded of the level of stardom that this rising local artist has already achieved when I looked at her bag and belt, and calculated that they cost more than my car.
The night before the interview, I was all nerves, worried that Snowa would find me too sweaty and awkward to talk local hip-hop with.
On air, I was immediately put at east by just how approachable she is, and by our shared fan-hood of Yellowcard and Blink-182.
We had a wide-ranging conversation about her astrology sign, and my lack of belief in that stuff, her feelings about New Haven and her Hillhouse High School alma mater, our mutual love of early music videos from VH1 and MTV, and her diverse influences that include early pop punk, Jamaican music, and even the sound of wind. (Click on the interview in the above video.)
After the interview was over, Snowsa invited me to come out to her music video shoot with Young M.A for a remix of “Yank Riddim.” If you don’t know Young M.A, you should stop reading and Google her right now. She’s a sensation, from New York, with YouTube videos that garner hundreds of millions of watches.
I jumped on the opportunity.
On The Shoot
Sam Hadelman photos
Young M.A and Snowsa, recording the remix to “Yank Riddim.”
Around 2 p.m. the next day I showed up to Perfections Lounge in Bridgeport.
I was happily greated by Jav, who’s both the owner of the club and Snowsa’s brother.
He told me how important Young M.A’s visit to town was for Connecticut hip-hop culture, and how happy he was that it could all go down at his place.
Slowly but surely, company arrived. Dancers, family members, videographers, and managers.
About an hour later, Young M.A showed up.
She was swarmed by an offensive line of security guards, with her face covered by a bright red Louis Vuitton bandana.
She moved like a superstar, all swagger, but somehow maintained the aura of a civilian.
Following Young M.A’s arrival, Snowsa stepped onto the scene, bringing with her a multitude of family members and acolytes.
The venue had separated Young M.A and Snow from the rest of the collective, seemingly to avoid fan boy moments or anyone who could bother the talent.
Snowsa and Young M.A cornered themselves from the others in the rooms and dove into an intense conversation.
Snow later told me that Young M.A was simply “showing love” at that moment. It wasn’t until Snow’s manager, Gerald Isaac Jr., tapped Young M.A on the shoulder that I was able to sit down and talk with the New York phenom about the “Yank Riddim’” remix.
I’ve spent countless hours stalking her SoundCloud page and watching her music videos.
Other than her smash hit “OOOUUU”, which has amassed over 300 million hits on Youtube, I had really taken a liking to her verse on the remix of “Chiraq”.
One of Young M.A’s best tools in her arsenal of talent is remixing, which is on full display in her renditions of Drake’s “6 God”’ and Migos’s “I Get The Bag.”
This is one of the reason that her addition to “Yank Riddim” is so notable.
Young M.A adds the sauce to any dish and completely changes the vibe of the track she lends her talents to.
“It’s Snowprah, Man. I Fuck With Her Vibe”
I asked Young M.A what she saw in “Yank Riddim” and she said, “It’s Snowprah, man. I fuck with her vibe and in CT it’s love out here.” I went on to talk to her about what she sees in the Connecticut scene specifically and she replied:
“Unfortunately, I don’t see the Connecticut scene, and that’s the problem right there, and that’s why she here. Cause she bringing that acknowledgment, she bringing that presence so it’s only right. I done got so much support out here, I got so much love out here, it’s only right to be like, ‘Aight let me support them.’”
I gushed to Young M.A about much I enjoyed her music and how much it meant to me that she came out here to support our talent.
I told her it was “surreal” to see her come back and show so much love to another Tristate artist.
Young M.A told me, “Nah, don’t make it surreal. It’s me, it’s in my heart. It’s in my heart to do that.” The conversation then shifted to Snowsa. I asked Young M.A what she sees in her music that makes her stand out.
“She’s just genuine,” Young M.A said. “It’s genuine. A lot of motherfuckers ain’t genuine, they not real. She putting on her city. She from a city that gets put in the back burner, know what I mean? They don’t get acknowledgment like they should. They show so much support to other artists from other towns and people forget about what they got going on in they city, you understand what I’m saying?
“So for her to carry that city on her back and be genuine about it, she ain’t forcing it. That’s how I was, I didn’t force nothing. I was just me the whole time She know she not no lyricist, she ain’t trying to be a lyricist. She’s trying to have fun on her records. I add to the funness. It’s cool. Connecticut need that exposure. It’s cool, it’s fun. They got they sound. People don’t know that and she doing it.”
Young M.A is not alone in this feeling of the genuine nature of Snowsa. Every opportunity I’ve had to speak with her, it has always felt like she cared about what I was saying.
For someone with such a broad reach, she has truly kept the ability to be personable and likable.
Finally, I asked Young M.A what she believes her impact will be on “Yank Riddim” once the remix is released.
“I’m from New York bro!” she replied. “It’s Young M.A, baby. It’s the name itself and then this is the city that supported me before I was even famous, so automatically they gone show love cause like, ‘Oh shit Young M.A came to show love’, you know what I mean? I ain’t come on the record to make it hot, I came on the record to support.”
Snowsa’s family, at the music video shoot in Bridgeport.
After a slew of fried shrimp, indiscriminate smoke, and very well coordinated crowd placement, the video started.
I have personally never been to the recording of a music video, but it was way less orderly then I thought it would be.
Maybe it had to do with the fact the the energy was just right in the room.
The part the stood out to me the most was how family-oriented the event was.
Many of Snowsa’s family members, including her mother, aunt, and young cousins were in attendance.
Snowsa’s mom, Joan Cameron.
In fact, the center piece of some of the shots of the video were her cousins, who were absolute superstars. Her mother, Joan Cameron, said this about her daughters success, “Oh my god, proud is an understatement.”
Everyone in the room seemed to truly care about what was going on. And they welcomed me, a stranger, because they appreciated having a reporter there to document this moment: the cusp of Snowsa breaking into something very, very big.
Everyone wants to see this city get the shine it truly deserves, and this music video is just the start.
I’ve listened to the remix probably 18 times since the video shoot, and I haven’t gotten bored yet. The video hasn’t dropped yet, but when it does, I’m confident it’s going to be big.
New Haven has birthed a once-in-a-generation talent in Snowsa. If this new collaboration with Young M.A is any indication, the best is yet to come.