Q&A With Buffalo’s Very Own The Supreme General

Hey The Supreme General! We appreciate solid underground music, especially from true up and coming NY area MC’s like yourself. We rarely bump into dope MC’s from Buffalo! Please tell me how long have you been rapping? Where are you from? Do you remember where you were at exactly when you wrote your first track!!??

*Thanks G. I greatly appreciate those kind words. I’ve been rapping for about 8 years, I’m from the east side of Buffalo and yes I definitely do. I was over at a than friend of mines home studio just listening to some of the recent tracks he’d made and ended up being asked to test a new mic for him one time. I did so by spitting my favorite big pun verse (the joint from terror Squadians specifically) over the beat he had playing and I REALLY liked my voice. At the same time, behind the scenes and unbeknown to all but a very select few, I have always written poetry on the low. So I was like fuck it, let me try this shit one time & see what it do. I wrote my first verse right there on the spot. It later became a song I never released called “gotta go”.

Your style and rhyme scheme is super ORIGINAL!! How important is it for your to stay ORIGINAL? I’m sure you hate it when fans say you sound like ???…LOL Also, In one sentence, please describe your sound…

*nah its cool lol. It’s fascinating at times to hear the different artists people relate me to. It speaks volumes about how the music touches them. Far as my style and rhyme scheme go, it’s honestly not even something I put any thought into at all because it varies so much from song to song depending on how the beat touches me. At times the beat drives me to be aggressive, sometimes it calls for me to be more laid back, & sometimes it can go either way. It really all depends on how dynamic the beat is in addition to the feeling it brings that ultimately decides how I choose to approach the song. When it comes to originality, I feel it’s key to my approach because it’s the thing that truly sets me apart from other emcees. Aside from that, it’s what comes the most naturally to me so I just go with it.

Tell us about your Hip Hop and/or music influences? Any NY influences? Was there anyone in your life that motivated your to STEP IT UP when it comes to making dope Hip Hop?

*aww man definitely!!! My chief influencers musically are an expansive and diverse group mostly composed of legendary NY emcees including Tupac, Nas, Biggie, Big Pun, Ghostface, Kiss, Styles P, LL cool J, Twista, 8 ball & mjg, DMX, 50 cent, jay z, jay electronica, Andre 3k, Jimi Hendrix, Curtis mayfield, Bobby Womack, Slick Rick, G rap, Big Daddy Kane and of course Rick James but I’m a fan overall of the essence of what a NY emcee is. Lyricism is VERY important to me and an absolutely integral part of my style so u already know I have a deep respect and love for it. Far as guys who made me step my shit up, I’ve gotta go with Nas & Jay because they consistently raise the bar but also Jay elec too. Dude cold!!!

Please breakdown the creative process of your new album“It’s My Turn!!! …The Throne Ascension LP”.

Ok, the process originally began as a concept album called “Clear and present HUSTLER: Egregia cum laude!!!” (A project which is actually now scheduled for release later year) which is going to be like a lyrical memoir of my overall grind to shine but what ended up happening was in the process of making songs for that album I had multiple songs that were dope but didn’t fit the theme in the way I wanted. It got to the point where I had so many songs that didn’t fit it became its own album almost topping out with over 20 tracks done with no home on the album I was working on. At the same time I knew that clear and present was still a few months from completion and had planned on releasing another ep in lieu of that but then decided last-minute (like 6 weeks prior to release) to add the additional songs and make it an album. Even though I’d released a bunch of singles before, I felt like what it became would be a GREAT album in addition to being a great introduction to me as an artist.

Rappers nowadays think by throwing up a few videos up on social media and pushing quick projects, they can blow up overnight! Give us your view on how over saturated the market is right now with so many MC’s/Producers but not to many quality music.

*Thats facts and most likely because the majority of rappers today look at the rap game purely as a hustle. It’s less focus on the actual art and more focus on the commerce. & don’t get me wrong, it’s not a problem to have commerce be a big deal to u as we all need money but when that supersedes the love for the art as the driving force behind the project is when u start to see shit like what we see now. A bunch of well marketed yet below average/disposable/sound alike product. The key is for people to support those that give u that stellar quality. It shows everyone who is really who. I’m optimistic and believe we will get back to that because ppl need that rhythmic medicine as prodigy from mobb deep would so eloquently put it. It’s only so long you can bump fast food music before u get sick of it. Figuratively and literally but that classic shit is timeless. People forgot that for a min but are slowly starting to realize it again imo & I couldn’t be happier about it personally.

Out the box type question, If it came down to 1 ALBUM only, what underground Hip Hop album would you consider THE BEST OF ALL TIME!!!???……One 1 album you can choose.

*If it had to be one, my heart goes with Big L “the big picture”. But unfortunately, tho it was dope and u could see how incredible it had the potential to become I gotta give it to Mos Def “Black on both sides” shit was raw all the way around imo. A complete project dope as fuck.

Here it is! Our most popular question! What is your definition of “underground hip hop”?

*My definition of Underground hip hop is simply hip hop that’s hot but not currently accepted by the mainstream for whatever reason. It’s basically the dope music that really drives the culture as it’s the first place you find the dopest shit and mainstream always eventually takes from it. Every dope mainstream cat either started out or stole from an underground legend. Word.

Where can people find you on the web? Drop all the vital links.

*You can find me at my official site HustleGameBoss.com, I’m also on iTunes ( iTunes.com/TheSupremeGeneral ), Spotify ( https://open.spotify.com/artist/7e66GI6sUxYXDU9IWdcphL ), Tidal ( https://tidal.com/artist/4953727 ) Pandora ( http://www.pandora.com/supreme-general ) and literally everywhere else music is found. Just search “The Supreme General” while enjoying your outlet of choice.

Lastly, and shout out?

*Yes, I definitely wanna Shout Out my team “The Ivy League”, my label Hustle Game Enterprises and everyone out there who supports me. I appreciate you and am going to continue to make u proud!!! 💯