SouthSide Saint is a multifarious artist who experiments with rap, afro swing, and soulful rap infused with elects of drill. Although he hasn’t fully cemented his style, he continues to try out different sounds, tweaking them to fit his idea of his style as an artist and his musical expression.
Saint was born in California. However, he grew up in south London. As a young child, he was heavily influenced by his environment, coupled with a glorification of the wrong things. An explanation for why he went down the wrong route that he tends to talk about in his music. Also citing this as the reason why he moved to Nigeria recently to set his priorities straight.
Saint started making music through poetry and story writing. He began to write stories and poems around the age of six or seven. Eventually, he decided to read some of his poems over rap instrumentals, prompting him to fall in love with music. To Saint, music is remarkable. It functions therapeutically; something to help him feel better in bad situations. When upset, he can tune into a beat, pour out rhymes, or listen to music that matches his mood.
Regarding his creative process, Saint describes how ideas for a song come to him in various ways. However, most of the time, it’s just a thought or observation he had while reflecting, that sparks an idea. When he starts writing the lyrics, once he understands his aim or message with the song, structuring it the right way is what’s left.
In addition, Saint’s primary message is cautioning and motivating others to keep their head up and make the best of hard situations. He believes that talking about what he’s been through, and rapping about what he’s learnt through his mistakes and accomplishments, could help others do so. It’s something he’s practicing himself. Therefore, he wants people to know someone can relate to them on their journey.
I wondered what influenced Saints’ decisions, choices and who he was. He states that he’s inspired by multiple people, musically, in fashion and generally through life. He mentions a few names, such as Dave, Nines, and BNXN. How much he relates to them is the main factor, making him feel connected to them while listening. In turn, inspires him to be who he is and create the way he does.
If you’ve enjoyed getting to know SouthSide Saint just as much as I have, you’d be glad to know that he’s far into working on his first EP. However, he’s aiming to drop a single as soon as possible. To hear more from him, his Instagram is @southsidesaint_