Musa Reems

[RH Premiere] Musa Reems Shares "44 4's" Video + Interview

A RH favorite and insanely talented West Side MC, Musa Reems, is giving his fans content on the regular. After dropping his single 'Let Em' Know' the young spitter came right back with an insane Curdbside Jones produced joint titled "44'4's'". The beat is nuts and Musa's intensity matches it well.

Today "44 4's" get's the video treatment, shot in the cities underground, the symbolism is heavy for the rising MC. To go along with the video's premiere, we talked to Musa about the track, as well as his forthcoming EP, Lately I've Been Sol Searching 2. Peep it below.

rubyhonret: What is the inspiration behind the “44 4’s” – beyond the tie to Jay-Z’s “22 2’s” and his new LP, what drove this to happen?

Musa Reems: The inspiration behind “44 4’s” came from many directions. In terms of writing new music, I wanted to use more literary devices and to be clever with my wordplay. I started to think about words that could be used repeatedly and that would tie into the “soul searching” theme of my project.  I began to think about why I love hip hop and what I do it “for”. I always say that I want to rap as bad as I want to breathe, so I thought the perfect way to portray this was by showcasing my lyricism in an intricate way. This whole project dives deeper into who I am as a person, so I thought that listing my passions and what’s important to me in one song was essential.  I wanted each song on the project to have a theme that tied it all together. I knew I had to tell stories and write from a more introspective viewpoint to make this happen. I wanted to write Lately I’ve Been Sol Searching 2 like it was a movie. Curbside and I talked about how we see music in colors and how it’s about creating the perfect painting. I felt like “44 4’s” was a vibrant, rich color to preview my project perfectly and show a sneak peak of what the rest of the painting will look like. This is why I also wore certain colors in the video. "44 4's" sounded like a white, royal blue, and yellow color scheme to me. Jason Yaccino and I discussed how the snow would be a perfect backdrop for this to come into fruition. The production from Curbside reminded me of Chicago, so I wanted to make sure that we captured key features that make the city unique like the L, alleys, murals, and subway tunnels.

rubyhornet: The record is a lot about motives, what gives you this mind-frame? What does hip hop music mean to you?

Musa Reems: I feel like my music has a lot of motives because I grew up on concept hip hop albums from MF DOOM and Biggie. I’m also a huge fan of Sean Price and a lot of artists on Duck Down Music.  I grew up on a lot of New York Hip Hop.  Mm.. Food is my favorite DOOM album and throughout the project he uses food as a metaphor to relate things to everyday life. With Biggie, he released Ready to Die and Life After Death. Those titles tied the idea of living and dying together to help Biggie display his story. With Lately I’ve Been Sol Searching and Lately I’ve Been Sol Searching 2, I wanted to use those two ideas from MF DOOM and Biggie in my own way. I have a full length project titled, Where The Sun Never Rises, so using the sun (sol) as a metaphor of life, growth, understanding, and energy was something that I wanted to use throughout multiple projects that I have. Hip Hop means the world to me. It changed my mindset and my identity. It made me want to work harder and understand who I am as a young man. Lastly, it showed me that I have the ability to make changes to my life and inspire people that are around me as well as complete strangers. Music is universal and art imitates life.

rubyhornet: Do you see a difference between intention and outcome? Does an artist’s intention influence how you see them from a music fan’s perspective?

Musa Reems: Yes, I do see a difference. I think that an intention has to be clear in order to have certain outcomes. Without clear intentions, a reasonable outcome isn’t likely. I also know certain artists may want certain ideas to be left up to interpretation. Personally, I think an artist’s intention doesn’t affect the influence on my perspective. I tend to put my own meaning to songs and how it applies to my life, then I like to see what the artist may have wanted me to think or perceive. I think it makes the viewer more open-minded and allows the artists to have multiple meanings that are relatable in their music. This is what makes me a fan of certain emcees, because they may have multiple layers and a deeper intention. In my opinion, that’s a form of skilled creativity.

rubyhornet: You have a new EP on the way, what is the hope for the new music?

Musa Reems: I hope my music continues to grow and I want to continue to understand my ability as an artist. I would also like for my music to continue to spread and be as relatable to others as possible. Being outside of my comfort zone is extremely important to me when creating. When I first started rapping over production from Curbside and S.K.I.L., I didn’t know how to approach it. I want to stretch my creative limits on a daily basis and reach past the ceiling. I’m very excited about performing new music and connecting with other talented artists this year. I look forward to seeing it grow and touching as many people as it can.

by Alexy