Samara Cyn returns to Genius to break down her song "Sinner." Produced by PoWR Trav and Tommy Parker, the track is featured on her EP 'The Drive Home.' On this episode of VERIFIED, the rising rapper opens up about her journey from a ‘traditional’ life to pursuing music, the rap legends who inspire her, how she handles negativity, and more.
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00:00I came from a very traditional mindset.
00:02I went to school.
00:03I got a degree.
00:04I was going to be a businesswoman and all these things.
00:07When I was working those jobs and the corporate stuff, I didn't feel free.
00:12So I will not stop.
00:15And whatever I do in this life, I want to feel free doing it.
00:25The day that I made Center, we were in Orlando, Florida.
00:29I had just came off of a freestyle run that was doing really well on social media.
00:34I was so excited that the music was getting a lot of attention, but with a lot of attention
00:40comes like not everybody is going to fuck with you for real.
00:43Just as much love that I was getting, it was kind of my first time experiencing negativity
00:48coming in on my music.
00:50So it was my first time kind of dealing with that, but I was feeling real cocky that night.
00:54And I was like, you know what?
00:56It don't matter what I wear.
00:57It don't matter what I say.
00:59It doesn't matter what I do.
01:00If enough people see it, somebody is going to say something about it.
01:04If I wear the top, somebody going to be like, why is she dressing like a boy?
01:09If I don't wear the top, they going to be like, oh, you felt like you had to have your
01:12titties out for attention.
01:13And it's like, you know what?
01:14I'm going to just do whatever I want to do.
01:18And y'all can eat a dick.
01:20Don't fuck with me unless you ready for this problem.
01:24Mama always taught me, you don't start those, you solve them.
01:27Don't fuck with me unless you ready for this problem.
01:28Because if you come over here messing around, you're going to get it.
01:31So come on over here and try it.
01:34And my mom was very much so that way as well.
01:36There's been so many times in my life where I'm like, ooh, this bitch, da, da, da, da,
01:41da.
01:42And my mom is like, don't take shit.
01:44Don't harm shit.
01:45If that is not bothering us, we not going to do no harm to that.
01:47We're not going to do no harm to nothing.
01:49But as soon as it starts affecting you and somebody comes in and they trying to mess
01:53up your stuff, then it's like, okay, you got to stand on business.
02:02I feel like I got a lot of rhyme schemes from Lupe Fiasco.
02:06Lupe Fiasco once said,
02:12And I remember being like, ooh, this nigga's nasty.
02:16He does a really great job of rhyming each syllable almost to the next line while streaming
02:22together a storyline.
02:24That's what attracts me to rap.
02:25If you can write a really good song, I'm listening to your stuff.
02:28When I'm writing, it's like, I'm thinking of those types of things.
02:32It was like literary devices.
02:33I'm thinking about how the cadence picks up.
02:36So like,
02:39It was like, yeah, the timing of it.
02:41I tried to be kind of playful, but still something that felt good to listen to.
02:52The contradiction of the song being called Sinner and being like, yeah, but I'm a prophet
02:56though.
02:57It's like my journey means something.
02:58As many times as I may make a mistake, as many times as I may sin or whatever the case
03:03may be, my journey is useful.
03:06If not to me, then to somebody else.
03:08Whether you're fucking up or not.
03:12Can you believe they pay me all this money just to talk shit?
03:15I probably worked at Harbor Freight for like two months.
03:18I've worked a lot of jobs in my lifetime.
03:21A lot of retail jobs.
03:22I couldn't keep them because as soon as somebody did something that pissed me off, I would
03:26just be like, all right, this is my two weeks.
03:29I could not stay in them jobs.
03:30I needed something that I didn't have to take so serious.
03:34So now I get paid to fucking rap.
03:36Like, when?
03:38I don't know.
03:39This is not a serious ass job, so yeah, I used to work at Harbor Freight.
03:44But now I get to be on stage and I get to be doing Verified and I get to be, you know
03:48what I'm saying?
03:49That genius and stuff.
03:50This song is, I'm just talking shit the whole damn time.
03:54I had just gotten my first little check and I was so scared to spend it.
04:09The biggest thing that I got was these white gold grills.
04:14So I got a bunch of little pieces of white gold teeth and I couldn't at the time afford
04:20the diamonds.
04:21I wanted to do the whole, like, yeah, I'm going to get the bust down.
04:24I was too scared to spend that much money on something.
04:27Also a lot of people on those freestyles kept being like, why does she rap like she has
04:31spit in her mouth?
04:32I was like, it's not spit, bitch, it's gold.
04:35This ain't silver.
04:36It's not silver.
04:37It's white gold, bitch.
04:38And wait until I get diamonds, I'm going to have y'all in a chokehold.
04:41And the double entendre is that like, wait until these records go gold.
04:46Wait until they go platinum.
04:47Wait until, you know what I'm saying?
04:48Wait until I got these diamond records.
04:51You know what I'm saying?
04:52I'm going to have everybody in a motherfucking chokehold.
04:55Like the grill.
05:04Center was just me talking shit about like, I'm going to do whatever I want because I'm
05:08that bitch and I'm the shit and that's what's going to happen.
05:10You can call me a hoochie.
05:12You could call me a sellout.
05:13You could call me, you know, prude.
05:15You can call me whatever.
05:17This battle that I have with authenticity, authenticity is always going to win.
05:21So as long as it's coming out naturally, like that's what I'm going to do.
05:24But it smells like shit every time it's me y'all talking about.
05:26So y'all talking shit because I am the shit.
05:34The concept of home is, you know, self-acceptance and being able to hold grace for yourself.
05:40I'm trying my hardest to get back to a point where I feel content with who I am, however
05:47I look or however I sound or wherever I'm at.
05:51Like I want to bring that comfort that I should have with myself anywhere.
05:59I know I'm going to regret if I don't do this the true and right way.
06:04I'm going to regret if my fall from grace is because I wasn't being true to myself.
06:08Bitter is the fruit that fell early.
06:10I will not be falling early.
06:12I'm going to do this the way that I want and I'm not going to let anybody tell me to do it different.
06:16So I'm going to slither with these snakes on me and just like, Lord, grant me graces.
06:20Like have mercy on me as I move through this while shaking off like all of these different
06:26opinions and negativity.
06:32I keep talking about this battle of authenticity.
06:35That's our thoughts and we have to choose which ones we hang on to and which ones we let go.
06:38There are times where I'm like, that sounds too much like this.
06:41There's another part of me that's like, okay, but that came out naturally though.
06:44Or like, okay, but that's how I would say that.
06:46Okay, but you know, it's like, as long as it's authentic, then cool.
06:49This was like, yeah, my hands are in the pot now.
06:52Like no churches involved.
06:54My hands are in the pot.
06:55Lord, forgive me for like even thinking about going against, you know, what I would do naturally
07:00or like walking true or being like true to myself or like true to my message that I came here with.
07:07So who the fuck I look like if I slow up now?
07:09I'll be damned if I go out there and embarrass myself because I'm being shy.
07:14Who?
07:15You know what I'm saying?
07:16What?
07:17No, I'm not like, the fear never leaves.
07:19The fear of like perception or the fear of failing or the fear of messing it up, like
07:23it never leaves.
07:24But if I step out into it, which I have this year, I've stepped out into it.
07:28I can't pull back now.
07:31I used to let that slide just to keep folks around.
07:36Now I keep the scissors in my bag in case they get loud.
07:39We pipe that smoke down.
07:41A lot of things I used to like, I used to let them slide just because I didn't want
07:45to start no problems.
07:47But now I'm real quick to cut a bitch off.
07:50Like if somebody does some weird shit around me, like you can go, because I know where
07:54I'm headed.
07:55So like, that's cool.
07:56Go and do your thing.
07:57Just don't do it around over here.
07:58The double entendre, which I feel like goes over a lot of people's head, is like, you
08:02know when you're home and you got the fronto leaf and they're always like, yo, you got
08:04scissors?
08:05When you was cutting up fronto leaves to smoke, I always used to keep a pair of scissors in
08:08my bag because I knew it was going to be cutting up fronto leaves.
08:11So now I keep the scissors in my bag, not to just cut a bitch off, but in case they
08:15get loud was like, in case they get weak.
08:18And then we pipe that smoke down is also like, we'll smoke or whatever.
08:22I don't even smoke no more.
08:29I think I'm fucking fired.
08:30So no, nobody can rap with me.
08:32Not even these niggas.
08:33Like no.
08:34I'm hot shit.
08:35I'm sorry, but if you're a rapper and you don't think you're hot shit, like what's going
08:40on there?
08:41You know what I'm saying?
08:42Like you have to have some sort of ego to get through this shit.
08:45Like nigga, I'm good at what I do.
08:47I'm great at what I do.
08:48And I say that shit with pride because I believe it.
08:52Like full send.
08:53Full beans.
08:58Bad boys.
08:59Duh.
09:00Mike Lowry.
09:01He was a bad motherfucker and so am I.
09:02Serving face and seasoned.
09:04I'm bad and I know what I'm doing.
09:06I'm seasoned in this shit.
09:07Bitch, I even brought my Lowry's.
09:09Put a little sprinkle of Lowry on that motherfucker.
09:11You know what I'm saying?
09:12That's just another goofy ass bar.
09:15They like my little voice.
09:16They think my shit sweet.
09:18They think they going to beat this little Kamo Coochie, please.
09:22This bar is actually funny as hell.
09:24At Disney, we were walking around and there was a building there.
09:28It was a candy shop, but it was spelled out Karmel with a K and the second word was K-U-C-H-E.
09:37And I was like, this is a kid's place and they got a building in here called Karmel
09:42Coochie?
09:43So the whole time we were making fun of it, talking about Karmel Coochie.
09:48We just kept saying it randomly throughout our trip.
09:50And so I literally only put this bar in there because I wanted to wrap it in the mic and
09:55see everybody in the studio fall out.
09:57I literally, for the sake of the joke, put this bar in there.
10:00It's another goofy ass bar.
10:02But yeah, they like my little voice.
10:04Everybody thinks my voice is so cute or whatever.
10:06They think my shit sweet.
10:07They think they going to beat this little Karmel Coochie.
10:10And sure enough, as soon as I said it, my managers in the room busted out laughing and
10:16I was like, no, we keeping that in the song.
10:21Karmel Coochie.
10:22Well bitch, I'm the new age Eve, forbidden gems up my sleeve next to that 318.
10:27I'm the new age Eve.
10:29Obviously the double entanglement there is like paying homage to Eve, the rapper, who
10:33is incredible and I respect the hell out of her music and her as a person, how she carried
10:38herself in rap music as well.
10:40She was hard and she could rap her ass off.
10:42And obviously it ties back to the Adam and Eve thing.
10:45We know the story of Adam and Eve.
10:47She was the one that told Adam to eat the fruit, which I think is a little biased, but
10:51it's fine.
10:52It's fine.
10:53Blame it on the women.
10:54Forbidden gems instead of forbidden fruit, because I'm trying to send messages in my
10:58music.
10:59I just said what I said.
11:00Bitch, I'm the new age Eve.
11:01Forbidden gems up my sleeve next to this 318.
11:05Here it is.