genre hiphop

Samara Cyn never wanted to be a rapper. Even while moving around the country as a military brat, Cyn was a straight-A student who prided herself on never getting a single B on her report card in her entire life.

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It wasn’t until a 2021 college internship at software company Intel that she knew corporate America and the cubicle weren’t for her. “It was just miserable,” she laments to Billboard during her April NYC visit. “I would smoke lavender cigarettes. The herbal s–t that be at crystal stores because it calms you down. I was smoking that and drinking Angry Orchards because I’m allergic to beer. That was the era of my life.”

Four years later, Samara Cyn is one of the rising stars in rap’s rookie class and a breath of fresh air in the genre, boasting an ambitious blend of hip-hop and neo-soul.

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After signing with VANTA at the top of 2024, the Arizona State University alum delivered her heavy debut project, The Drive Home, in October, which showcased clever wordplay, twisted storytelling and an arsenal of wispy poetic flows on her arduous journey to healing and finding peace. She’s picked up some major co-signs along the way, catching the eye of legends like Nas, Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill.

Cyn’s been on the run, but she was forced to sit still when the devastating wildfires ripped through California in January, which provided a sobering genesis for her Backroads EP arriving on June 20.

“I’m sitting in my house with no power and my phone’s dead and I realized how uncomfortable it made me to sit in silence,” she explains with her silver grills peering through. “It made me reflect on how easy it is for us to ignore and distract and disassociate rather than face things and talk about what’s going on.”

The 26-year-old continues: “We’re desensitized as f–k. It pushed me into the whole delusion thing. How much are we willing to sacrifice to be comfortable and be delusional? Backroad is the long way around instead of facing that s–t.”

Cyn, who’s currently trekking through North America with her “Brand New Teeth” collaborator Smino on the Kountry Kousins Tour, delves further into June’s Backroads EP, Lauryn Hill bringing her out at a show, and where she sees herself in 10 years. Learn more about our Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month for May below.

Did you always want to be a rapper?

Hell nah, nope. This is a dumba– career choice. So stupid. When I was a kid, my voice used to be different. Then I got my tonsils and adenoids taken out. I snored like a 40-year-old man at five. My mom said that when I woke up from surgery, when I started talking that it startled her because I sounded so different.

I started doing music when I was in college. When I was in high school, people would say, “Your voice is so cool.” Interviewers or strangers will say, “You sing, right?” I’m like, “Yeah, a little bit.” I think you kinda have to have that distinctive something as an artist. When you hear it, it’s like, “Oh, I know who that is.” 

Why is rap a dumb career choice?

It’s not lucrative at first. It’s like trying to get into the NBA. It’s not dumb for the people who make it. A very [small] number of people get to have long careers. You gotta work really f–king hard and you don’t get paid for a long time. Let me put out the resolve. Any career choice that is fulfilling to you is good for you to make that career choice. 

It could be fulfilling and dumb at the same time. How does one go about managing their finances like that? It’s like you’re poor one second, and then come into money and might go crazy with it. 

I’m a smart cookie. A lot of people do that. I had a lot of people around me that did that and they told me, “You’re gonna blow your first bag.” I was like, “No, I’m not. Watch what I do.” I was real adamant because I know how this is set up. We don’t get a 401 (k) or a W-2 at the end of the year. Cool, you made your first six figures — and you don’t realize half of that s–t is going to taxes. You made $50,000, calm down. You have to be really smart about it.

So immediately I went and found a financial advisor. I don’t want to work a job and do this as my job — so I need this much in salary, this much in high yield, and I want to start a retirement fund. A lot of artists I was asking hadn’t got in the position yet, or they didn’t know, even if they passed it. There’s no blueprint. I stayed in my same apartment and car. 

How did you get in the zone for this project?

I made all of those songs except for one between now and January. It’s been a few months of making these records. It started in January with the wildfires that happened. My power had went out for a while, which is the least of the f–king worries. You start doom thinking about all the s–t that’s going on in the world that’s super f–ked up. I’m over here struggling to not have power for a few days, and it’s kids in Gaza that just had their house blown up. No family, no food, no water. Just recognizing my privilege in that moment.

It really made me reflect on how I was showing up and what my contribution was. It made me feel like that wasn’t enough. What am I gonna do about the s–t that’s going on in the world? I’m gonna make a song about it. How often I have a TV sitcom playing in the background, or music on in the background. It’s easy to distract, because that s–t is heavy. It’s heavy to think about everything all at once.

Even what’s going on in our country right now. Like, it’s f–ked up, but we just continue to do our job. Even when the wildfires were happening, people were still going to work and their whole neighborhoods were burning down. I don’t think my contribution was enough, because all I did was write songs about it. How stupid I feel sacrificing so much.

It started with “Pop n Olive.” Sonic symbolization. Feel good song, but we’re talking about killing people the whole time. “Hardheaded,” straight on, confront society and how it is. Why we are the way we are and ignore s–t, when we know we can do something about it. Visually, I’m stepping into the 3-D worlds to kind of represent the delusion and the comfort aspect.

What made VANTA the right partner? When did you sign?

January of 2024. What made them the right partner — one, they were very adamant about being artist-friendly. I felt like a lot of people we were meeting with were like, “Yeah, but…” I got my whole vision laid out. I’m type-A personality. I got PowerPoints and decks. I come in with the s–t, and y’all can make suggestions, but this is what I’m doing.

They were the first people that were like, “We f–k with that and we’re gonna let you do what you need to do.” They’ve been very trusting of me because I’ve shown them that I can do it. They’re just there to help me evolve it. They were artist-friendly compared to some of the people I was talking to. They were trying to give me a color instead of making my color brighter. 

How was it when Lauryn Hill brought you out?

Surreal. I rehearsed 15 minutes with her band and I missed her at soundcheck. She had came later, so my first time seeing her was walking out on stage. Jazz in the Gardens is a mature crowd. A mature crowd is a tough crowd. They came there to see the n—as they rock with.

I think the crowd was receptive. For what it was, I felt like I did a good job. To be on the same stage as somebody and I can turn around and be like, “Thank you, Ms. Lauryn Hill.” She’s like, “You’re welcome.” Like, what a full-circle moment of my life, from listening to her projects in high school and throughout childhood, playing [her] in the house, to meet her and tell her it was a full-circle moment and she’s all warm and receptive is cool. The fact she wanted to highlight up-and-coming artists felt really great, to be considered by somebody like that. 

Doechii was there showing you love, too.

I seen her while I was performing. I was doing the call-and-response thing I do, and she was up there. I seen her acknowledge and I blew her kisses. She’s really a cool-a– girl. Very warm as well. I think the media tries to make it competitive. 

Who are some of your early music inspirations?

Christina Aguilera was my own first CD that I ever got. Back to Basics. My sister had a Chris Brown CD. It wasn’t mine, but I was listening to it. Christina [Aguilera], Erykah Badu, my dad played Slick Rick a lot, Outkast, Florence & the Machine. 

Moving around so much as a kid, highlight one or two of the places where you lived? I was gonna say Hawaii… 

We moved [to Hawaii] when I was nine and stayed there until I was 13. Me being young, I wasn’t able to take in where we were at. I loved playing outside every day. We lived in a cul-de-sac, and it was 82 degrees every day and I could walk to school. I wished I was a little bit older when I was there so I could drive around. Any time we would do surfing or paddleboarding, I’d have to go with the neighbors. My parents not doing that type of s–t. I played a lot of sports out there.

Hawaii was dope. It really put me onto island music like J Boog and Common Kings. I was playing tennis. I was in a bowling league. [I] never bowled a 300 though. 

You were writing poetry growing up?

Yeah, here and there. It wasn’t until college that I got super into it. My mom’s an English teacher and she always had this segment she would teach where she would show videos of Brave New Voices, which is like a reality thing, and you go to inner cities and the kids work on poetry pieces until the end of a competition. I was inspired by that. I was in the 5th grade writing slam poems about s–t I had no idea about. It wasn’t something I did every day. I would go through phases. I was really diligent in school. I never got a B in my life. 

How was Arizona State University? What jump-started your rap career out there? 

To be completely honest, the first time I rapped a verse — remember when Chance The Rapper did the So Gone Challenge on Twitter? He was rapping to his girl, and then it started a whole thing. I did a So Gone Challenge in high school. I was 17 and I did it for my mom. That s–t went up in my school area. I would write little verses here and there. Even when I was in college, I remember writing verses to the “Xxplosive” beat. I would pick hip-hop s–t and I would write verses to it when I was bored. 

One night in college I was off a bean, and me and my friends were sitting by the lake on ecstasy, and one of my friends, Dwayne — he would rap and he was playing instrumentals — and I was like, “I got some s–t in my notes that would go to this.” I rapped one of my lil’ poems and my friends were like, “Damn, what the f–k? That was kind of hard.” I couldn’t stop writing after that. I stayed up all night trying to finish that s–t. I went upstairs and got my bag and went to class. I didn’t go to sleep. I was in class writing. Mind you, I’m a diligent kid, so me not paying attention in class, it’s like, “I f–k with this.” I would put my headphones on and walk to class writing raps.

I really enjoyed it and the people around me would rap, so it was quick that I got in the studio and got into that environment. Quickly after that, I was performing. I was putting s–t out on SoundCloud. That’s 2019. Then COVID hit and I lived by myself so it became very therapeutic. I went through some dramatic events that made it a safe space for me to talk about the stuff I was going through so I didn’t feel crazy. 

Poetic Soul was an open mic event that would happen every Wednesday and I went to that really often. That’s where I started doing my live performance music stuff. They have a band, and you plug your phone in and have five minutes to do whatever you want. The band is so good that they’ll pick up your track in 20 seconds, and the host will come out and unplug your track and you just go with the band for the rest of the time. That was a cool experience.

Once I graduated in 2021, I was like, “Damn, I’m gonna try to do music for a little bit.” I tried to do the businesswoman s–t I thought I wanted to do. I did an internship at Intel. I got paid crazy that summer as a college student.

When did you become an artist? I read this story you went to L.A. for Grammys week and got caught up in a home invasion.

Yeah, that actually happened in 2020. That was the traumatic s–t I was talking about. That shifted my focus from being on rah-rah s–t, which is so far out of my character, but at the time I was even finding myself. To actually doing more conscious, neo-soul, boom-bap type of rap at the time. That pivoted my trajectory. It wasn’t until the Intel internship that was the thing where, “Okay, I’m gonna do music.”

I was gonna get into sustainability, but that s–t is a joke. Companies that say they have a sustainability department — it’s not real. It’s an image thing. I started doing shows with music and doing admin jobs and I drove Covid vans, which was crazy. Transporting people with COVID to shelters and quarantine hotels. I needed to pay my rent. Eventually, I was like, “I’m gonna go to L.A. and do music.”

What did your parents think of you pursuing a music career?

My mom was so supportive. She’s always been the person to say, “Now is the time to follow your dreams. Push comes to shove, you got your degree and maybe you could fall back on something.” She was like, “Maybe you give yourself a certain amount of time and if you’re not getting opportunities, then you can come back.” The opportunities never stopped coming.

Dad was a little more of a tougher cookie. He’s very supportive now, but he had to see it first. Even with the record deal, I quit a decent job. I told him I got a record deal and he was like, “Just make sure you see it in person because n—as be saying anything.” He be putting all his friends onto my music. My 13th birthday, me and my dad rapped “Children’s Story” back-and-forth. On my 18th birthday, he beatboxed Doug E. Fresh and I rapped “La Di Da Di” in the kitchen at breakfast. Call him and he’ll hit you with a verse right there. 

Who’s gonna play you in your biopic? 

I wish I could say Zendaya could, but she’s too cool to play me. She’s too tall. She’s too classy. She’s amazing. Challengers was dope. 

Have you talked to Nas?

Yeah, I opened for Nas in London. We played two shows at the Royal Albert Hall. He’s cool as hell. He’s so interested in giving game, which is nice. It’s really easy to respect him. Not just because of his career, but as a human. He was very honest and real about s–t if he’s not f–king with something he’ll say it. 

What other business endeavors do you want to get into outside of music?

Part of me is interested in fashion, but I don’t know if that’s the path that I want to take. A lot of me is interested in creative direction and I’m a writer at heart. I feel like I could write great stories. Maybe TV and film is another way I can take it. Maybe not as in front of the camera. [Being] behind the camera or making a series would be cool. I really admire people like Childish Gambino or Issa Rae and Vince Staples. His series was cool. I could see it going into that era. Even Teyana Taylor. Maybe creative direction, it would be cool to do for other people. 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

On a beach somewhere, s–t. I hope to have left a mark that can be respected and it’s thought of as quality, as far as the music I make. I hope to be in different businesses I set up. I admire Rihanna’s career path. I hope to be more at peace and content with where I’m at. More paced. But right now, it’s grind time.