SEAN // Interview

Clearly the Rap revelation of this year 2020, Sean appears as the new treasure of French Rap. With a visual, melodic and lyrical universe all his own, the Parisian rapper is without a doubt one of the rappers to keep your eyes on.

He told us with a touch of bitterness how his latest MP3 + WAV project was born after a burglary, also shows us the agility with which he and his team bounced back. Mysterious and fascinating, Sean was able to create his own universe and we must admit that it's captivating.

The one who knew how to bewitch us through sounds like 'Mood', 'En Vrai' and 'Temps D'un Été' took the time to confide to A Rap & A Cup of Tea about the evolution of his career, his vision of music and his musical desires. Passionate, humble and sincere, Sean is undoubtedly destined for a promising future and we can't wait to find out what the future holds.

Can you tell me about your background in music?

For now, I'd say that my career is quite short (laughs). I started doing sound under the name Sean when I was in high school I think... The first sound I made was thanks to my manager because he paid me for my studio session. At the time, I had stopped doing music for a while and he said "Keep going, there's something to do". And in the end, two weeks later he found the people with whom I made my first music video. I think that's when I started thinking that I really had to keep going.

Your last project, before this one, named À Moitié Loup was released last April and less than 6 months later you are back with a new EP. Is it the infatuation of your fans that made you come back so quickly?

Yep totally! With my team we are also in a really productive process and we try to make a maximum of sound. Now we're in a new era of consumption, so in the end I think we're just trying to produce as much as people want. It's like a cycle, people consume the music faster so we produced it faster and then we make it available quickly.

In fact, I've heard that the sequel is almost ready...

Yeah that's right, we're seriously ready. (laughs) You know, we got robbed the night of the national day celebration [July 14 in France], and so we got back the sounds from the project in our emails. That's why we named it MP3+WAV. On this project the sounds are not mixed but only mastered and I made them almost 2 years ago... I didn't want to lose them, that's why we decided to release this project as it is. So that explains why we are already ready for the next part... In the end, I haven't released the tracks I've been working on recently.

How would you describe this new project?

We really tried to bounce back despite what happened and come up with a nice project. Even for the morale of the team, it was good for us, because otherwise we had really lost more than a year of work and that was terrible for us. We also made the choice not to release real clips but only lyrical videos. You see, it's as if nothing was finished in this project. It's frustrating on the one hand but on the other hand, there's something interesting I think. In the end, when I'm going to release new sounds, people will only be able to see the evolution that's been going on and that's cool. Now I'm lucky enough to be able to do crazy stuff with musicians like Loubensky who does piano arrangements and that kind of thing changes everything, it's incredible.

Once you had said that it was directly in the studio that you created your songs ?

Yes, it's true that I do a lot of things by instinct. In fact, I have a rather particular way of working. Basically, when I listen to a prod and I really pick up a vibe, I don't want to listen to it again until I get into the booth and put my voice on it. I don't want to lose the energy of the first listening because that's when I feel more stuff. At the moment I'm doing the toplines in the studio and then I'm going home to write the lyrics. In the end, I realized that I gained in melody by doing that. It's much more important to me now to articulate in my songs, for example, so that people understand what I'm saying so that it speaks to more people, you see?

I remember that in 2019, your Mercutio EP was really based on the ambivalence of the Mercutio character [from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"]. Is this ambivalence of emotions and sensations that you put forward at that time and that we also find on À Moitié Loup, something you want to keep on your next projects?

I think that the theme of ambivalence will always be a recurring theme in my career. On this one, it's even deeper because the project is split into two entities: man and animal [e.d.: Hence the symbolism of the title which means "half wolf"]. Mercutio was more the duality between the alter-ego and the ego. It's also the example of this best buddy who gives you lots of advice on what to do, but in the end he can get as much into trouble as he can save your life. I like to play with this double-sided game.

It's not just my project, it's the project of a whole team.

You wrote an ultra touching song 'Première Nuit', it must be hard to get naked that way ?

You want me to tell you the truth? It's a piece we haven't even written. We just had the theme and it's the prod that inspired us to write this song, even though it's hyper-dancing and I start with "I'm in front of his grave". It's really paradoxical once again. (laughs)

We know that it's hard to stand out in French Rap, especially right now because Rap dominates the music industry, but on the other hand, you've created a world of your own. Did you try to create something unique or did you just say to yourself "I stay authentic, if it works it's good, if it doesn't it's okay"?

I didn't really try to differentiate myself, I just wanted to do what I liked. Now I just keep doing what I like without asking myself "Is it going to work or not?" If I had wanted to make sounds that "work" and be sure to capture the attention of the audience, I would surely have made a different kind of music, said something else and tried to get into codes. We're not going to lie to each other, there are a lot of codes that rappers use to succeed now. (laughs) I never wanted to take that path, I decided to follow my own path even if it's longer and dizzying. In the end the story will be more beautiful and I wouldn't have lied to myself.

In the interview you did for the media Yard you also explain it a little bit because you say that for you, rapping doesn't necessarily mean "talking about yourself" and that, on the contrary, it's about talking about everything you see around you. And you add: "I like to satirize what I see. I've never made music to tell about what I did the night before."

Yeah, that's totally it. It allows you to keep something a little "rare" in the process as well. It's like there's a distance between the artist and the person, you know what I mean? In spite of what I say in my songs, I don't really feel like people know me. (laughs) Sometimes I give myself away in my songs but I can also talk about someone else, you know? That's what's cool about the music I make: you never know if it's introspective or if it's a character, I like to lose people in that blur.

Of all the sounds you've released, which one is most like you in this case?

From the last project I would say it's 'Mood', it's pretty light sounding, but on the other hand the lyrics are cool and there's a good musicality. "You know in two minutes I can change my mood" (he hums). Even in the puns and in the chorus I think it's a sound that represents me pretty well.

In your opinion, is there an important difference between an EP, a mixtape or an album?

Yes, I find that they each have a different meaning. Already I find that an EP and a mixtape is different and the album even more because that's really the finality. It's something you're going to print and keep forever. You can listen to an album 5 or 10 years later and still have the same thrill you had at the beginning. I think a mixtape is a way to get to know each other, and it allows you to "practice" before releasing your first album where you say to your fans "Go listen to my first album, this is really me, you really have to listen to it" you know what I mean?

In 'Symphony' you say "And to think that we wanted to throw away our dreams"...

You know, there are times when you're really defeatist and you think "I'm never going to be a rapper, I'm going to do something completely different. I have other opportunities and I don't even know if being a rapper in 2020 is what I want to do". It symbolizes all those young people who are fighting for their childhood dream and who are afraid of not being able to make it. And at the end, there's always a moment when you look back at how far you've come and you think that, when sometimes you felt like letting go and turning back.

We got robbed the night of the national day celebration, so we got back the sounds from our emails. That's why we named it MP3+WAV.

At the end of this piece we also hear your voice, as if you had come to close the project. You said "We have twice the slab, so you and I, the pack, know that we're going to eat twice as much"... Can you tell me more ?

In fact, that part was recorded the day after the robbery. At the beginning, we were delirious to make vocal memos between each sound, like interludes, in order to tell the story of the robbery. In the end, we gave up the idea, but I still decided to sit down in front of the microphone and say what I had to say. That's a moment that's "true" and not at all thought out or anything, you know? I think that people can feel it.

What exactly do you have in store for us in this promising future?

In fact, now, I feel like I finally arrived on good tracks and that I can finally get on the highspeed train. I feel like making stupid clips on stupid sounds because we finally have access to everything we've been working for. It used to take a lot longer to find all the providers to work with and now I feel that things have changed, it's become more "easy". I know who I can work with, who's by my side, etc. It's the moment when I have the most freedom to do what I want to do musically. I really have the feeling that it has become my job. It's not just my project, it's the project of a whole team.

What can we wish you in the future?

Happiness, love and health for myself and my loved ones. And also that we can do concerts again as soon as possible. (laughing)

Instagram: @SeanZeuDog

Words © Fanny Hill Scott // Photography © Maxence & Jonas