THIS IS HYPE
Surging on the scene, comes a spit-fire rapper by the name of Hype. Hip-hop has expanded and evolved with new sub-genres, styles, and perspectives. However, Hype’s sonic composition is a mix of the current nuance of rap fused with the iconic 90’s sound. The entendres married with his poetic rhythm tells his story at a high level. His delivery of intellect and introspect makes you feel like a lightning strike. Not only is Hype an extraordinary rapper but also a producer.
He was born in Cameroon, Africa in the late ’90s. Hype was only six years old when his family uprooted to Canada. He spent his pre-adolescent years, where the initial curiosity of hip-hop provoked his interest. It wasn’t until Hype moved to the states in 2010 when he really began to indulge in the art and culture.
He wrote his first rap when he was in 6th grade. Recalling hearing Drake’s “Over” from the Thank Me Later album. Memorizing the lyrics while in class, rapping the same song to himself, a classmate took notice of his raw talent, and asked “you rap?”, a seed was planted.
Hype felt a synergy with his all-time favorite artist Michael Jackson. He was inspired by his duality as an artist and fascinated by Michael’s musical dichotomy on stage. In comparison to his actual personality, heavily reverberates with Hype. Music allows him to release his Kraken outpouring creativity whether free-styling, spitting bars, or producing. Influences from Lil Wayne’s, Tha Carter IV is what led Hype to dabble more into hip-hop. Hearing Kendrick Lamar’s, Good Kid, M.A.D.D City in 2012 is when it really clicked. Hype’s soulful sound varies depending on what pocket he’s in. Currently influenced by Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Nas, east coast rap is prevalent in his cadence.
In junior year of high school, 2014, he met musician college major, now producer, “J-Keyz” who collaborated on his song “Testimony” from his latest EP. Although, looking for beats was not easy and not to his standards, Hype learned how to make beats out of necessity. By watching and learning from J-Keyz and his other friends he started crafting his intricate sound. He began studying producers such as Kanye West, 9th Wonder, and DJ Premier. Now feeling comfortable, Hype started composing and publicly releasing his music. Summer’s Over mixtape was his first body of work he made public on SoundCloud. In 2016 while in college, he and his friends had studio access at his university being the first time Hype stepped into an actual studio setting all his work was done at home. However, it was short-lived due to his focus on school. He dropped making music altogether.
Summer of 2018 after his small hiatus, Hype missed making music, although he never put the pen down, he got right back where he left off. August of the same year “The Golden Child I” was the first single to go on major streaming platforms launching him as an artist. His frat brother, who’s production group was called “The Nayborz” sent him some beats and he later put out his first four-song EP titled The Nayborz Watchin. Followed by the single “Hoodie Season”. Hype’s passionate effluence didn’t stop, in early 2019 his first album, The Quiet Storm was a 10-track project. Hype relentlessly continued dropping freestyles every week on social media. Consistently growing his fanbase. Shortly after “The Golden Child II” followed, creating a buzz.
Needless to say, Hype did not skip a beat. Summer of 2019 he dropped his album titled The Summer. He felt the forces within him, reached a crescendo at the moment, which resulted in a two-song EP, “Somethings Coming” the song “Everything’s Great“ received over 100,000 streams. Hype was dropping projects consecutively every month ending the year off with the first version of “Testimony” was inspired by Kanye West’s, The College Dropout album, “Never Let Me Down” collaborating with J-Keyz to work on the beat. Enticed by J.Ivy’s spoken word on the Kanye track, in January of 2020, Hype reached out on Twitter and sent him the song. The song “Testimony” was originated, which would later be on his latest EP, From Beginning to End: End To New Beginnings.
When COVID-19 hit, momentum could not be lost. He released his new singles “No Mercy” and “Under the Influence”. Hype was making some noise musically, receiving and rejecting offers to sign. Slyfox Entertainment reached out in May of 2020 and after their first couple of conversations, Hype saw the similarity in views. Resulting in officially signing to P.U.R.E Records shortly after.
Hype graduated college on July 2nd of 2020, a Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity inc, with a Bachelor’s of Science in biology. Life changed so quickly for him, hitting the ground running. Manifesting what was on his latest body of work, preparation was key to produce this arsenal of music. His single, “The Summer (Come Up)“ was featured on Fat Joe’s, The Making Of A Don Vol. 2 mixtape series and is currently still on Fat Joe’s radar. On October 24th, 2020, Hype received the knighting of hip-hop royalty, DJ Premier. He performed four of his six tracks, at the “Romecoming” listening event in NYC. He closed out with “Hype Is Like” a homage to “Nas Is Like” which coincidentally comes to a full circle since it was produced by DJ Premier. The song has been in the #1 spot of his weekly tracklist on his SiriusXM show on Shade45 when spoken to DJ Premier, “Live from HeadQCourterz”. From Beginning to End: End To New Beginnings was released, November 6th, 2020 having over 100,000 streams in 2 weeks and still counting.
2021 looks bright and promising for Hype. His projected debut album with P.U.R.E Records is scheduled for May titled, Talk to Me Nice and he promises not to disappoint. Calculated and disciplined his process he is mainly focusing on the lyrics and message it will leave behind. He allows his music to take a life of its own, letting things simmer and cook. “Conveying emotions cannot be forced”, he said. It is very rare to come across such a musical architect like Hype.