“Precocious” is probably the word I would use to describe Samara Cyn. At just 27 years old, the rapper is a sponge of everything Hip-Hop. With co-signs from Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Denzel Washington (“I didn’t believe it when I first heard it,” she said of the praise she received from the Oscar winner), Cyn’s future is bright, and her present is already a sight to behold. Now, she’s teaming up with the legendary DJ Premier for a new rendition of a classic record.
The two connected on an updated rendition of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?,” released in connection with Major League Soccer’s “Thanks World, We’ll Take It From Here” campaign. The collaboration brought Cyn into the orbit of a producer whose music she had been hearing since childhood, when her father introduced her to artists such as Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. Recording the song also led Cyn back to the original version. As she studied the lyrics and revisited the group’s videos, she became interested in the friendships behind some of hip-hop’s most enduring music. Old photographs of Queen Latifah hanging out with MC Lyte reminded Cyn of her own friends making music together today, without knowing how their stories might be told years from now.
“There are certain things that come around that you just can’t say no to,” Cyn told me about the MLS collaboration. “This is just such a cool thing to do.” The “Brand New Teeth” artist still has plenty more ahead. She will head overseas for a European tour in September and is scheduled to perform with Clipse at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. New music is also in the works, although she isn’t ready to call it an album just yet.
Ahead of the final few matches of the FIFA World Cup, Cyn spoke to ESSENCE about working with Premier, revisiting “Can I Kick It?” and the hip-hop history she sees being made among her peers. She also discussed her upcoming tour and why 2027 is already looking promising.
ESSENCE: I want to congratulate you on this “Can I Kick It” campaign? You have worked with one of my favorite producers, the iconic DJ Premier. How did the opportunity to work with him in this campaign come about?
Samara Cyn: I feel like it was the managers and the agents at work, but I did think that it was really cool. My dad used to play Nas all the time and that was my first introduction to DJ Premier from there. So when I found out what it was at first it was like, “MLS wants to talk to you.” I’m like, “okay, cool.” And then when we actually got into the thick of it, it was like, oh Snap, I got to do it now because it’s doing something really cool and iconic with a really cool and iconic person. All right—well yeah, what?!
And is there anything tangible or intangible that you learned from DJ Premier during this process?
SC: Well, me and DJ Premier haven’t met in person as of yet. So I feel like I have yet to learn from him directly. But as far as learning from him as an artist, I feel like all of it has been picked up, again, unbeknownst to me. I listened to Biggie as trickled down for my dad because my dad was a big Hip-Hop person. So Biggie, Nas, and the Yasin Beys of the world and things like that. Even Kanye at a point, you just hear the dynamic of all of that stuff and the storytelling on it and how the production supports it and you just pick up on things unknowingly as you go on.
You start relearning what actually happened and all of these things that inspired you just off of listening to the stories and listening to the music. So I think in studying, you find the DJ Premiers and the Jay Dillas and all of these people that are incredible producers that you don’t recognize upfront because you’re just listening to Nas. You know what I’m saying? And when you go back and you find out what all these stories were and everybody that went into making these things that are legendary and paved the foundation of Hip-Hop.
“Can I Kick It?” What was your approach to this iteration?
SC: I covered it directly. And when I first got the opportunity, I thought they wanted me to write something new, but they were like, “No, you can change a few words here and there.” Truth be told, we’ve all heard “Can I Kick It?” It’s a universally known hook of a song, but I didn’t know. And I’ve listened to “Bonita Applebum” and I’ve listened to A Tribe Called Quest. “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo,” and all that type of stuff. But going back and actually reading the lyrics and trying to watch the video and listen to the cadences and the energy that was into the songs, I just learned a lot about them in general because I’m Gen Z. Don’t judge me—But I’m Gen Z. And again, everything, well, not everything, but a lot of the things that I know about hip-hop are because I had to go back and study it.
That’s all of us to an extent.
SC: Yeah, so I didn’t realize that A Tribe Called Quest—they were low-key just regular dudes. They were regular dudes and they in the video just in regular khakis and shit. And so that was interesting to go back and actually hear the lyrics and be like, “Oh my gosh, hip-hop just seemed real fun back then.” And it didn’t have to be anything in particular.
I agree. De La Soul, Queen of Latifah, Leaders of the New School, all of Native Tongue, they were all just regular people, regular dudes, regular women just messing around and ended up making timeless music.
SC: It makes me think of us now—I had gotten a hip-hop book for my birthday. It’s by Brother Ernie, and it’s a bunch of archived photos from back in the day, the hip-hop scene and how Queen Latifah was hanging out with MC Lyte when they were 15. It shows Tupac and Queen Latifah in Naughty by Nature shirts at the Naughty By Nature concert. It just makes me think about me and my friends, and how legendary something can become even when you don’t know that it’s happening at the moment. You know what I mean? You’re just hanging out and you’re kicking it with friends and you’re creating and you’re doing regular stuff as regular people, and then it ends up being these stories that people are going to tell forever.
This is random, but did you hear when Denzel Washington shouted you out a few years ago?
SC: Yeah, I didn’t believe it when I first heard it. My dad had sent it to me. And again, my dad is the one that put me on to all of the things, including the Denzel Washingtons, including the Slick Ricks and all of my Hip-Hop knowledge trickles down from my dad. But my movie knowledge is also trickled down from my dad. And obviously such a huge fan of Denzel Washington when he sent it to me. He didn’t see it directly. He had heard it from a friend. But I should have locked in because shortly after that. It was Smino who sent me the actual clip, and it was him talking about “Brand New Teeth,” which is me and Smino’s song together, which was really cool.
In my mind, I feel like, because at the time Denzel Washington was on a press run for Highest 2 Lowest with Spike Lee. And it’s about music and being in the music industry and things like that. And in my mind I’m like, I wonder if he was studying for the role and getting into hip-hop and things like that and happened to come across our music? But he took it and ran with it. There are still people on my videos that I dropped recently that are like, “Uncle Denzel sent me here,” and that type of stuff.
That’s a huge co-sign.
SC: Shout out to Smino too, because that song was incredible and I was really proud of that song, but I think Smino just took it to a whole ’nother level as well with the story that he told on the record. And I think the complimentary feeling of the whole thing with the story at the end as well just made it something that people can really resonate with, visualize, and see. And I think that’s why it got as much recognition as it did.
I wanted to actually quickly jump back to your collaboration with Major League Soccer. Why do you think that collaboration is the right fit for you at this point in your career?
SC: Honestly, I think there are things that I feel like are strategic choices that we make because at the end of the day, my team and I, of course we’re trying to eat—everybody’s trying to put food on their table—but there are things that come around that you just can’t say no to. Because this is just such a cool thing to do. And I think when MLS came to do a cover of A Tribe Called Quest, and you get to collaborate with DJ Premier, I just feel like there’s certain things that come up as opportunities and it’s like, “of course I want to do it.” Things like this are really dope and we genuinely just want to do this.
I feel like that’s where it was with this. I think MLS too. I haven’t worked with MLS before. And even just coming off of the World Cup and everything, it was just like, this is just a cool moment to be a part of and to do it again in a way that is with legends. I think that’s fire.
So what’s next for you? What do you have coming down the pipeline? Anything that you want to divulge to the ESSENCE audience at all?
SC: I’m going on tour in Europe, so I’ll be overseas for a while, but I’m working on new music and I have yet to talk about an album at all. I’m not saying that this is what’s going to happen, but I’m working on music—I think 2027 is going to be a good year. It feels good already. I like the way things are with the shows and everything. Also, I’m performing with the Clipse at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Congratulations on that.
SC: There are certain things that are a once in a lifetime opportunity. So, being around the things that inspire me and getting to see it firsthand is really cool. Just more of that for the rest of the year. I’m upset that I missed the ESSENCE Festival this year, though.
It was a great experience this year.
SC: Next year I definitely have to go. It would be so amazing to perform, but it would be just as cool to pull up and just experience it. Speaking of New Orleans, LaReezy is coming with me on tour in Europe.
When is the first tour date?
SC: It’s in September. I’m pretty sure she’s performing at All Points East Festival as well. We’re both kicking it off there because both of us have performances at the festival in London. And then right after that we’re going on tour together. He’s another person that makes me think of Tupac and Queen Latifa hanging out at a Naughty By Nature show. So yeah, it’s just cool. There’s a certain sector of music right now that feels like the blog era and just the beginnings of it.
Young legends in the making.
