Remy Danton
All Star
Lil Snupe was a rapper’s rapper. He spit with such conviction you almost felt stupid not listening to what he said. The mark of a great MC is not how clever their punchlines are or the technicality of their rhyme patterns; it’s simply whether or not they grab you. Snupe didn’t grab you. Instead, he choked you with his rhymes until your eyes bulged and your face turned red. You had no choice but to listen closely.
It was that conviction that got the rapper, born Addarren Ross, signed to Meek Mill’s label in late 2012. During a tour stop in Grambling, La., Meek was sitting in a van ready to pull off when the scrappy young 17-year-old ran up on him, knocked on the window and handed the MMG MC his mixtape. Meek gave the tape a listen and 20 minutes later Snupe was rolling with Dreamchasers, just like that. That’s how you grab someone’s ear.
At the end of March 2013, Snupe released his R.N.I.C. mixtape, which included the wildly popular “Melo.” With a classic Philip Bailey sample to anchor it, the beat was a sure shot, but Snupe’s relentless delivery and clever quips made the song pop. Yet despite the success of the tape and his alignment with Meek Mill, Snupe couldn’t escape the street life. Tragically, he was shot and killed on June 20, 2013.
Nearly three years later, the rap game still feels like it could use a pugnacious spitter like Snupe. Too many rappers nowadays sound drugged up and out of it; Snupe always sounded alert and precise.
XXL caught up with Lil Snupe’s mother, Denesha “Mama Snupe” Chester, recently to talk about her relationship with her son, what he was like growing up, future plans for his unreleased music and much more.
XXL: The intro to R.N.I.C. 1 features home audio of Snupe spitting. How old was he on that?
Denesha: I can’t remember. He may have been 11 or 12. Snupe walked around and rapped all the time and everybody was always impressed, so every time they’d see him they’d ask him to spit something for them, so that’s what he did.
When did you know Snupe wanted to be a rapper?
Actually he’d been talking about it since he was 4 years old. I learned that once he was successful, a neighbor came and told me Snupe came outside and was, “I’ma be a rapper.” And they laughed, and he said, “Yeah you’re laughing now, but you’re not gonna laugh when I blow up.” He was about four or five years old then.
So when he made it, [the neighbor] came and said, “I told my husband I guess we can stop laughing now because he made it.”
How old was he when he recorded his first song?
About 8 years old. We were in Dallas and there were a group of guys that were interested in him, so he started going to the studio after school. But because he started messing up in school, I wouldn’t let him go to the studio. I knew that’s what he loved to do so that was my way of disciplining him.
How was he recording at 8 years old? That’s sort of unheard of.
It was just natural for him. It was surprising to me because he would always be around rapping but I just never paid attention to how good he really was. So sometimes I would just be like, “Can you be quiet? Go write it down.” Because he’d just be freestyling all around and it would get on my nerves [laughs]. So I’m like, “Go write it down. Write it in your book. Keep up with it.”
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What kind of a child was he?
He was outdoors. His attention span was very low. You’d always have to keep him busy. I guess his mind was racing now that I just look back at it, his mind was always on something. Being an only child, being at home with me was just boring for him. So he used to run away, go to school and sometimes not even come home and stay at a friend’s house just because they had a video game. Once I got him a video game, if he did something again that’d be his punishment — I’d take away his video game. So he would find a way to do what he wanted to do, no matter what he had to do.
He was smart. I remember reporting him because when he wouldn’t come home from school I didn’t know what to do, so I’d call the police to make a report and it became an ongoing thing. And they got to the point where they didn’t even want to deal with it, like, “Ma’am he’s not missing, he’s a runaway.” And Snupe would know to go to empty apartment buildings, knowing no one lived there so no one would answer the door because he didn’t want to come home and face punishment and be bored again. He had to be doing something.
[The police] would be so surprised how a young kid that age was so smart to manipulate them. They were frustrated with him because while his mother was worrying herself to death, he was out playing. And he just wanted to be out playing and with other kids.
Did he get in trouble with the law when he was young?
Never too much. He never did any criminal acts, it was just being ungovernable and being disrespectful to teachers. But I learned he was the kind of kid that if you respected him, he’d respect you. And they knew how to push his buttons but he just wasn’t strong enough to not react to it, so it was always a school thing, never in the streets illegal.
When did you realize rapping was going to be a serious career path for him?
He dropped his first mixtape on Dec. 12, 2012. He had been recording and he hid that from me, but he’d come around me and rap some of his songs that were actually on the mixtape, I just didn’t know that was his stuff. So he recorded that mixtape and got it to Meek and he started talking about how they were sending him a ticket to fly to Philadelphia. So I was like, “Yeah, this is real.”
What was Snupe’s reaction to the feedback he got on his first tape?
Everybody was just saying they felt where he was coming from and could relate to what he was talking about on the mixtape. I go back and listen to what he said. Snupe said he just rapped what he feel and hoped it was spiritual healing.
How did his relationship with Meek develop?
Well around October or November 2012, he gave Meek his mixtape at Grambling. And by about December he came and told me I didn’t have to get him anything for Christmas because Meek wanted him to come to Philadelphia. And I was telling Snupe no, you’re not going, so whatever. He came back like, “Well, they’re gonna send my ticket next week,” but I just brushed it off.
And then he came back with the ticket, and I was wondering why someone of Meek’s status would send a Greyhound ticket when he could just fly Snupe out there. And I said, “Well maybe Meek just wanted to see how bad Snupe really wanted it.” So I took him to the bus station and as a parent I just wasn’t safe, I didn’t feel good about him going at all but I was working two jobs at that time so I couldn’t just drop everything and just go on hope that you may make it or you may get a record deal or whatever.
So he got on the bus, it was 36 hours to Philly from Grambling, and he got to Meek and everything just started going from there. I think when they linked up, maybe the next day Snupe was doing a rap battle for T.I.’s album release party. So everything was so fast for him, and it just started going up for him.
I didn’t find out the truth until Snupe’s funeral. Meek came to Jonesboro and I was in the Sprinter with him telling him how I appreciated everything he’d done and how he sent for Snupe, and Meek told me he never sent for Snupe. Snupe just showed up out there, he didn’t even know Snupe was coming.
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