Sam Nabi is a rapper and community organizer living in Downtown Kitchener on the Haldimand Tract. He curates the TriCityHipHop.com website, where he shares stories, photos, and music videos from local hip-hop artists in Waterloo Region. Sam grew up in the GTA and moved to Kitchener-Waterloo for university, where he got his start performing at local restaurants and bars through a connection with the campus radio station and the alternative weekly magazine The Echo. He writes conscious rap with witty wordplay and a hyperlocal focus. Where you have played, performed, and with who etc. Sam honed his craft in KW’s house show scene, as well as slam poetry and open mics. This city is too small to have a strict separation between genres, so he has shared the stage with folk singers, pop/R&B artists, screamo bands, reggae and roots bands, poets, electronica and more. A little bit about your sound, awards and recognition, etc. Sam’s sound is influenced by a pastiche of music he listened to growing up, from Run-DMC to Nelly to The Roots. His lyrical delivery speaks truth to power while not being abrasive; his words land with rounded edges. In recent projects, Sam selects a consistent sonic palette to set the tone for a record. 2016’s Late Convert brought quirky vaporwave aesthetics to a boom-bap foundation; a 3-track EP from 2019, titled Fallout, was full of apocalyptic ennui. 2020’s Attract Hazard, produced by STEVEDAVE, lands with lush warm electronic tones and pop culture samples flipped beyond recognition. 2021’s Out of Body was a gritty, Buffalo-style neo-boombap sound produced by Sovren, who has made her name with recent production credits with Griselda Records’ Westside Gunn. Any Current projects you want to discuss or share. Sam is currently working on a yet-to-be-titled EP focusing on Jazzy Boom-Bap sounds, inspired by iconic jazz and poetry clubs in New York City. He is also an organizer for the Mel Brown Festival, happening at the Kitchener Public Library in the last weekend in May, as well as a documentary project titled “Hope in Hip Hop” that explores what hip-hop means to local emerging and established artists.
Jul 25 202349 mins