The Source caught up with the Seattle native to talk about future projects and inspirations
In a game filled with a continuous trend of new faces, sometimes it’s hard to even figure out the man behind the boards unless you look up the producing credits. With new producers entering the game and sounds being somewhat similar, it’s only a few producers that are completely carving out their own lanes while staying ahead of the competition.
Meet Sango.
The 22-year old Seattle-bred is a beatsmith who infuses Afro Punk and hip hop sprinkled with influences from Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill and Timbaland. Sango has completely managed to mesh both worlds, while completely developing his own sound. The Source caught up with him after his tour in Australia to talk influences, future projects and more.
Check the interview below.
Source: So starting of, who exactly is Sango?
Sango: A navy raised kid that grew up in a musical house and was super absorbent to everything that was thrown at me.
Source: So you just talked a bit about your musical influence. Where does it derive from?
Sango: I honestly think my mom gave it to me. Back in her navy days she used to make music and also my grandfather. He played the congas and ever since a kid he used to put us on the drums. It taught me rhythm, how to be creative and catch a beat.
Source: So how do you describe your sound?
Sango: All it is, is influences. I’m always searching for something new and innovative I can add to my arsenal of production.
Source: So to continue on the subject of your sound, how did you even come up with it? What made you want to come up with these eclectic sounds mixed with Hip Hop samples?
Sango: In my case, I have a really strong Hip Hop Base. I grew up listening to Timbaland, Aaliyah, Pharrell and Lauryn Hill. There’s actually a Portuguese group I really mess with named Buraka Som Sistema that really got me back to making more “worldly” sounds. I have always messed with that, but they really helped get back into those types of sounds. But to answer your question directly, Timbaland is a big part to my sound. I always drop his beats at my shows. It’s a ritual.
Source: So who are five artists you would love to work with? And out of them, who is the one artist you feel your sound meshes perfectly?
Sango: 40(Drakes producer), Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Ariana Grande and No. I.D. I think 40 and I would make great music though because I feel his sound could be something you would find on Soulection.
Source: So you really have a good relationship with the whole Soulection crew and Kaytranada. How did that even come about?
Sango: Honestly, it started online. We are like the online generation and met those guys off Tumblr. A girl named Angel who is close to those guys one day hit me and was like “I want to put your music on my soundcloud” and I started to get looks from it. Then Joe Kay reached out to me and everything was good after that. The internet was really a big factor for me.
Source: That dope, so you just got back from tour in Australia How was that?
Sango: It was cool, the one thing I learned is patience. You know, Austraila is really far away, so people were not too familiar with my sound so it took a lil’ getting used too. But once they got familiar, they warmed up to the music and it was tight.
Source: So what are some of the projects you have coming up?
Sango: Starting off, me and WALDO will be working on his EP and his album. He doesn’t have any names yet to those projects. SPZRKT and I just finished our EP and he mix and mastered it, so look for it to drop on Soulection around September/October. Im also working on my album, which will be titled In The Comfort Of. Also, coming up I will be performing at DC’s Trillectro festival on August 23rd.
Source: So the last question to you is, when people listen to your music what do you want them to get from it?
Sango: What I want them to get from it is, I want this music to serve as a soundtrack to whatever your doing or working on. I want people to be able to draw their own picture and meaning to these songs. That’s really what I want people to get from listening to a Sango record. I have my own stories and I present it, but I want you to draw your own pictures too.
–Andrew Somuah(@Drewtheabstract)
