Artist History Hip-hop hero and music scene veteran Sup the Chemist is primed to release his powerful new album, Dust on the new Uprok Records label. This is Sup's first full-length solo album, following the self-released Raiders of the Lost Art EP, and after selling 100,000 copies of the four albums by his original band SFC, in the 90s. The question is: Will fans of this seminal gospel hip-hop revolutionary be as excited hearing his new work as he is in giving it to them? "The true family will," Sup asserts. "The ones that understand, that love the art form, and wanna see a brotha take it to the next level!" "Next level" is a precise way to describe the 18 new songs Sup has created for the faithful. 16 were crafted at the Green Room studio, recorded and mixed by alternative hip-hop music veteran Gene Eugene, with the other two written and recorded at the Diamond Studios, in Southern California. As well as occasionally featuring special guests such as Slerp (from LA Symphony), Ahmad, Project 86, and Jon Gibson, all were done with love, and in Sup's unique, creative style. As an example of the mad passion by which Dust was created, Sup says that "half the album I've been working on for two years," and that, with all of this mad creating, he's "already halfway through my next album!" Sup was initially inspired to create music back in 1987 by seeing one of the first rap-oriented films released, Wild Style. "When I saw that movie, I said to myself, I want to be a hip-hop artist." Sup was 12 years old. He got his distinctive tag in high school by always eating clam chowder. "The Chemist" comes from his experimental recording style. "Music is like chemistry, in that it's a formula causing one to react a certain way," Sup says. "Even when you're just composing a track, you must have some type of feeling you want to create, then you mix the elements of sound together until you have what you want or are close to it." Even though Sup has been recording for 13 years, this is the first album he feels he was able to spend some time with, to experiment with until he was fully pleased with it. "That's why I feel this is my best work," Sup says, happily. "I took my time to record more material than I could use, and then just picked the best." True to form as a chemist, his specific musical influences ranged from "Michael Jackson (before he changed his nose), Sade, the Jazz Crusaders, John Coltrane, The Police, The Doors," and many other diverse artists. Sup's first album was Fully Armed, released in 1987. That album was self-released, because of the resistance to hip-hop and Sup's vision by record label executives. That taught him that "no matter what you say or do there will always be one to question or dislike your creativity, so I just do what's right within my heart, ya know?" Likewise, because Sup does it for himself, his phenomenal success with SFC was a big surprise. "The best part was hearing from cats in prison at the time telling me how they were getting their heads together, and they were then coming out with their own holy hip-hop crews!" Sup doesn't consider the people who appreciate his music "fans." "I pour my soul out onto the track knowing that I'm not the only cat who feels this way," he says. "So if you dig my music, then you dig me as a person, and what you're identifying with in me makes us more like a family."

Location Pomona, CA - USA

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