Q&A: Rising Hip-Hop Artist SASH Releases Impressive String of Singles
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR IN AN OFTEN CUT-THROAT INDUSTRY — where money, power, and politics frequently lead musicians to lose faith in or respect for their art, SASH is doing things differently. Born and raised in the Lower East Side, NY, SASH is a seventh-generation New Yorker who oozes pride for his city and uses its eclectic landscape as a form of daily inspiration. His music is moody and introspective but hard-hitting and stylistic, with a clear focus on storytelling. SASH makes delicate hip-hop and artfully combines his gift for songwriting with his ear for gripping production. His music is reminiscent of early ASAP Mob and is similarly saturated in New York sounds and visual aesthetics.
After signing to Apex Sound, the record label run by legendary producer Mike Dean and Apex Martin, SASH has immersed himself in writing and production sessions in LA. He’s released several singles and an EP and has an arsenal of more music to come. His work ethic is incredible, and the ease with which he makes his music shows that he is a natural-born artist.
Talking to SASH is simply refreshing. He has every reason to be condescending — he’s young, talented, and working with some of the best producers in the game — but he is as humble as it gets. Not one to overshare or talk just to fill space, he is meticulous with what he says, making it all the more captivating to talk to him. He shows gratitude for not only those who came before him but for his upbringing in a creative household. SASH is easy to root for, with his great music and intentionality that shows he’s in this for the music, not the fame, the money, or the accolades.
Although he is fresh into the music scene, SASH is already setting himself up to be a great role model for future artists, in and out of the hip-hop world.
Luna sat down with SASH to discuss his hometown, inspirations, and future goals. Read below to hear more about this talented artist and what the process of making music with Mike Dean and Apex Martin looked like.
LUNA: First of all, congratulations on the release of your single “ROSSI”! I really like the music video — it feels like a nice love letter to New York.
SASH: I think that's what my music is in general. I spent most of my life in New York, so up until now most of my life is a love letter to New York, not just my music. So thank you for feeling that, because that's definitely what I'm trying to get at.
LUNA: Describe to me the process of making “ROSSI.” I know that the overall inspiration for the track was the legendary motorcyclist Valentino Rossi, but how did you conceptualize the production? How did your love for Rossi translate into the sound of the track?
SASH: I don't always make songs the same way. I usually write down ideas — I basically have an idea bank, whether it be physical or in my head. And my dad's been riding motorcycles since he was 13 or 14 in New York [and] it's not the most mainstream thing in the US, moto GP racing is bigger in Europe. But we knew about all these guys and we would have the little action figures — what you would have for WWE, we would have for Valentino Rossi. We were obsessed with motorcycles from a young age, so it's always been there. It wasn't something that sort of just came to me the moment when I heard the beat. I've always had a connection to that.
And then [one day] it was Apex and me in the studio alone, and it was probably, like, three or four in the morning after we had just finished the first EP. We sort of just stayed in the studio, I think this was in the week when the last EP dropped, and everybody had gone home. Apex was like, “Oh, yeah, I do have this one beat that I never played.” And he played it, and it was already done pretty much the way it was, aside from what Mike did to it. I was just sort of in a 4:00 a.m. state when I heard it, and the first thing that it felt like to me was when you're sitting on a plane or you're in an electric car and you get ripped out of your seat. I thought this feels just like being on a motorcycle on a rainy night in New York. So I was like, “Oh, boom, this is how I will portray it.”
So that's really the process of the song — it was probably made in 20 minutes. I remember the next morning Apex was like, “Yo, that song is nuts.” And then he sent it to Mike, and then Mike did something to it and it was like, “Okay, cool. It's the first song we'll do for the next project.”
LUNA: That's awesome. I love when I hear stories of songs just being made with straight, instantaneous creativity.
SASH: That was really how it was. I don't think I went back. I think all the vocals are from the first night of hearing it.
LUNA: I like the idea of the inspiration not necessarily coming from a concept but a physical sensation that you felt the song evoked.
SASH: Oh, yeah, for sure. It's all feeling, at least in my stuff. I don't really know what I'm doing. I just hear a beat or hear a chord or have an idea, something that's a feeling, and I happen to be working with people who are really aligned on making those feelings into songs.
LUNA: Did you grow up in a creative household, or was it out of the ordinary that you ended up being a musician?
SASH: Definitely a creative household. My dad is in art. He's not an artist, but he's in the visual arts world… or he is an artist — he went to art school and he has a bunch of artwork, but he's not a professional.
LUNA: Still makes you an artist even if you don't make money off it.
SASH: Exactly! My mom is a designer and she was a stylist when I was growing up, so it was definitely a creative household. My mom was styling for Lauryn Hill when I was born. So there's definitely sick music ingrained in me. My dad is the biggest hip-hop head. So I didn't just fall into “internet music” on my own and decide that I wanted to make music. I can't remember [when I started] loving music. I just loved music for as long as I remember being alive.
LUNA: True! So moving into the topic of New York, that's just always at the center of your work. So as a seventh-generation New Yorker, you obviously take a lot of pride in your city, and you often cite it as your main source of inspiration. I’m wondering if your friend has 24 hours in NYC and has never been there before, where would you take them and why?
SASH: Okay, so I have to say, it definitely depends on what kind of person you are. I think that's kind of the beauty of New York — you can have the most quintessential, perfect New York day for so many different types of characters. I might have my perfect New York day, but that might include ten things that you have no interest in doing.
There's just so much cool shit. The nightlife in New York is unlike any other. New York is the best — the culture of growing up in New York [is the best]. We've been going out in New York since we were, like, 14. We never needed to drive anywhere — you could take the train to go anywhere you want.
I think if you're in New York for two days, though, you have to hit all the legendary restaurants and go to a Knicks game. I mean, again though, it depends — you might have zero interest in going to a Knicks game. But to me, I think being in Madison Square Garden is the best place in New York. It's the most magical place to be in New York.
There's a lot of cultural gravity in a lot of places in New York because it's so dense. The Lower East Side, where I grew up, has so many streets that have just been such legendary places. New York holds a super artistic gravity. There's something really cool about the fact that the block that I walk every day is the same block that you see all these legendary Basquiat photos of him walking with his canvases and paint. You're walking the same path that other sick artists did in New York.
LUNA: What a great answer! I think it's cool that there's not one perfect New York day. The beauty of the city is that it's really a DIY, choose-your-own-adventure kind of place. It feels a lot easier to pick an LA day because you can't really go everywhere — that's not really an option. So you have to pick a neighborhood and say, “All right, we're going here.”
SASH: An LA Day is like a New York morning — a whole day in LA is, like, four minutes in New York. My perfect LA day is doing one thing. If you have five hours to burn in New York, you go walk around, spend $0, and see cool shit. In LA, you're just stranded.
LUNA: Yeah, you're in a car and it's a lot harder to get a feel of the city from just driving. Unlike in New York, where, as you said, you’re walking the same streets that some of the best artists in the world have walked.
SASH: Yeah, and there's a lot of that in LA too. But to me, there's something super holy about the dense amount of culture on top of each other [in New York]. There's a lot of magic to it.
LUNA: In November 2022, you signed to Apex Martin and Mike Dean's record label, Apex Sound, marking you as their first artist signed. How do you keep yourself grounded working with such legendary figures?
SASH: I think [by] remembering that when good things are happening, there's a totally opposite side to that and remembering what it feels like when there are no good things happening or bad things are happening. It’s about remaining the same regardless of great or bad conditions because it's all relative.
I try to remain humble and unchanged in that I can only control what I'm doing, and a lot of this stuff is just so out of my control. I couldn't have forced Mike and Apex to want to work with me, and I couldn't have made them call me then and say, “We want to help you put out your music.” So I think the mindset that I take with me going forward is that all I can really do is focus on getting better at my craft and showing up to the things that I care about — for what I care about. There's going to be good and bad that comes with it, so I'm just going to remain the same either way. Obviously, there's a lot of emotional attachment, but I think I save that for the music.
The first week I was working with Mike it didn't hit me until I was three days into sessions. I was just driving to a hotel or something in LA and I was listening to something and I was just like, “This is actually really nuts.” From growing up listening to everything that he's worked on and all the people that he's worked with, to hearing stories about all the legendary moments, albums, and things that he's worked on. Having it reduced to regular stuff was definitely a wow moment for me.
LUNA: That is so cool. It is good to sit with your accomplishments, but sometimes it is definitely hard to conceptualize when such amazing stuff is happening.
SASH: I don't know where I picked this up, but there is some piece of advice that is: Your weakest point is when you cross the finish line when you think you did something really cool, that is when you're most susceptible to not doing more cool shit.
So with them [Mike Dean and Apex Martin], I'm just always looking forward and trying to do the best I can in the moment. Having Mike is like having Luke Skywalker — my trust is 120%. I'll ask him about anything whether it is music or being a musician in general. He has been at it since Selena [Quintanilla]. He has seen everything there is to see music-wise and could not be more well-respected. Having him in my corner has helped me actually remain unchanged. That is a lot of what Mike and I have talked about, not overthinking, and that is why there was a song called “over overthinking” — being yourself, being in real-time, and putting out as much art as you can because that is your duty to the art.
LUNA: Other than Mike and Apex, who are some of your favorite songwriters, producers, or artists to collaborate with?
SASH: Diego Andrade is who I have done pretty much every music video with, and most of the photos that I have ever done are with him. He is one of my best friends and just happens to be an incredible creative. He has done tons of stuff outside of me, and he does fashion stuff too. I have a bunch of friends who I work with on the producer/songwriter side. We have some really cool collaborations coming. But, yeah, for the most part, it has been Apex, Mike, and I on all these songs that have come out.
LUNA: Who do you look up to as a solo artist?
SASH: I could go on forever. I don't really have one person that I idolize at all. It's not like that. I have been inspired by just so many people. To start, Stevie Wonder musically is at the ultimate level [that] I could not even dream of. Bob Dylan is one of my biggest inspirations in terms of being a storyteller, songwriter, and artist. I have drawn a lot from Bob Dylan. I love this guy Rodriguez, a South African incredible songwriter and artist. Also, Jayz.
I think currently Abel [The Weeknd] is doing some of the most inspirational stuff ever. I met Mike for the first time at Abel’s show in New York at MetLife, and MetLife is like a 60K-person venue. So there is definitely a gravity to what Abel is doing, and Mike is doing a lot of the stuff with him. I also love Bakar. I mean, Lauryn Hill was huge for me and still is huge for me. But I would say if it has to be a three, it’s probably Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, and Rodriguez.
LUNA: In terms of your future as an artist, how would you like to be remembered?
SASH: No matter what level [I’m at] in terms of the capacity to create, whether it's a massive venue or big film, I want to be remembered as someone that remained the same in terms of my ability to create genuine stories, because that's the point of what we're doing. The point is to express in the moment whatever [comes up]. I'm serving the art, and I want to make sure that going forward, I'm remembered for that. I think all these people that I respect, that's what I've respected. That no matter how massive [they got] or no matter how many great people that they've worked with, that there is still Stevie — Stevie is Stevie and Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan.
So it's almost like you have to stay insulated in yourself, no matter who you're working with — that you still carry through an unchanged root of who you are, that you don't lose yourself in the fast-paced world of putting out art all the time and people that have opinions on it and people who listen to it, etc.
LUNA: You have steadily released songs for the past few months, at an impressive pace, and you released another single on March 10 called “THIN ICE.” Explain to me how it feels to release a track. Do you often get nervous before it comes out, do you read reviews or the critical reception of the song right after it comes out? Or is it more of a release for you?
SASH: Okay, that's a great question. I actually never really thought about that… I think it's more so when I finish the song [that is when there] is the release. None of what I do is me alone. I have some songs that I've produced fully and put out on my own. But in all these recent songs, it's not me alone. So as a collaborative group, when we feel like it's done, that's the release, and then I'm just super excited for it to be heard.
In this internet phase of putting out music, there's not really some huge moment where it feels like a song is released and now it's heard. It's like we're letting people hear the music in the moment. We might be making a song on Instagram live or posting the song on something and people hear it. It's not like, here's my record that I worked on for so long and you've never heard a thing. The listeners are so hand in hand with what we're doing. It feels like it's a relief when I know that we've gotten the art to where it has to be and then I am just excited to get it out. It's just like, this feels like something that shouldn't be on only my phone.
I know people might feel differently about it. I just feel like the release, to me, is a lot of pent-up emotional connection to make sure it goes where you thought it was going. Then once it's done, it's sort of like, this isn't my thing. This needs to be out there because that's the purpose of doing it.
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