Getting to Know… sufferplenty | Interview 🎤

In our 272^nd Q&A on The Musical Hype, we get the inside scoop from the intriguing Maryland emo rapper, sufferplenty.

“If  had to say what makes me interesting as an artist I would definitely say my versatility and advocacy for mental health.”  Both things that 🎙 sufferplenty highlights are awesome.  Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways the 20-year-old Maryland emo rapper left me during our interview is how crucial mental health is – how it has affected him in his lifetime.  In one portion of this extensive 272^nd Q&A, sufferplenty shares, “I kind of cheated myself out of my own childhood and teenage years by being consumed by my depression so now as an adult, I feel this strange need to do things that would impress my child or teenage self if we were to meet face to face.” That is incredibly deep and insightful. Besides mental health, sufferplenty discusses his musical beginnings, goals, influences, the recording process for his single, 🎵 “Lonely Life” (“at the end of the day, my purpose for it was just to feel like a hug”), and of course, his current and future musical endeavors.  The Musical Hype has served up a lot of incredible interviews but 🎤 Getting to Know… sufferplenty: Interview No. 272 ranks among the best! The crème de la crème!

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype: Hey, sufferplenty! We are so happy to have you answer our burning questions on The Musical Hype.  So, with these burning questions, we expect some fiery responses – hope you can dig it! So, starting things off, tell us about yourself – introduce us to you.  Who are you + what makes you interesting musically?

🎤 sufferplenty: My name is sufferplenty, I’m primarily an emo rapper but I often tap into various other genres including alternative rock and dark trap. I’m from Maryland, and I’m 20 years old. If I had to say what makes me interesting as an artist I would definitely say my versatility and advocacy for mental health. In my music, I like to keep things 100% transparent and outside of that I even make sit-down YouTube videos sharing my experience with struggles I’ve been through in my life.

Okay, first burning question down and you survived! Next, how did your music career start? What made you pursue music?  What were some of the goals you had early on?

🎤 sufferplenty: My music career started in 2017 which was when I first started recording songs, I already had the equipment for it since I was heavily into live streaming on Twitch at that time, and I’d been around music my whole life. From family influences to just singing and rapping in my bedroom or with my friends at school. There was a passion there that I wanted to dive deeper into. At first, I was just goofing around with it but in Winter 2017, my grandma “Gammy” passed away and that’s what started my love for making heartfelt/emotional songs. It’s also when I actually started taking things seriously. My goals early on were pretty simple. I wanted my music to be on Spotify really bad! I also wanted to make at least one album a year. In 2018 I got my first song on Spotify, 🎵 “Tired Of Trying”, and in 2018, I made two albums just that year – 💿 At The Edge Of The World and 💿 I See Dead People.  I did end up breaking the one album a year streak last year in 2021 though, unfortunately.

Have those goals changed so far? Have you made any tweaks?

🎤 sufferplenty: Without a doubt, like I mentioned, my goals were very simple back then. Now I try to dream big while still taking it one thing at a time. I’d really like to get more coverage, work with artists much bigger than me who I look up to, be consistent releasing songs every month, start performing in the summer, and get some merch going in the near future! The list goes on and on, but I think those are the most important ones.

Goals, done. So, let’s talk about those influences, shall we? Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 sufferplenty:  Such a good question, one of my favorites to be asked! My biggest influence of all time is XXXTENTACION. I feel like the impact he had on music and the people my age is overlooked. He really tried to show the world that if you put in the work anyone is capable of change and we can do anything we put our minds to. He shed a light on mental health and as an artist, he made whatever kind of music he felt like making. Whether that be hard trap, hip hop, rock, R&B, or music you can literally sob to. He did it all and that’s something as my own person I want to strive for as well. Some other worthy mentions include guardin, Lil Peep, Jaden Smith, and Lil Skele!

Beyond musical influences, what else or who else influences you? Or, what else motivates you? Deep question, right?  

🎤 sufferplenty: Very deep, aha! I’m honestly a person who takes inspiration from everyone and everything. I’m insanely inspired in the way that I want to constantly outgrow my old accomplishments and achieve things younger me could only imagine. I kind of cheated myself out of my own childhood and teenage years by being consumed by my depression so now as an adult, I feel this strange need to do things that would impress my child or teenage self if we were to meet face to face. I’m reaching a point now where I think if I was to sit with my younger self he would be incredibly proud, maybe even crack a smile but I’ll always feel the need to make it up to him and that will always be what drives me to keep going. Aside from that and somewhat outside of music, there’s this guy who goes by the name Luke Wale. He used to be a part of this emo group I watched in middle school, My Digital Escape. I always looked up to him for whatever reason and though he does make music, I would consider him more of a YouTube personality. He makes a lot of mental health videos and goes out of his way to connect with those in his audience by doing virtual meet and greets, making prints, and even allowing people to join his calls or games on Discord. The kind of audience he has is something I highly admire and would hope to have someday.

So, you released a song entitled 🎵 “Lonely Life.” What was your inspiration behind the record? What was your purpose and/or what do you want your audience to get from it?

🎤 sufferplenty: Yes! 🎵 “Lonely Life” is actually my first release in like 6 months. I feel so good about the overall vibe of the track and even the response I’ve been getting to it so far. It’s been nothing but positive feedback! The inspiration for this one is so crazy because I actually made it on a whim. I didn’t have any intention of writing let alone recording a song that day, but I was very overwhelmed with loneliness. I really struggle with codependency and being alone is challenging because that’s when the thoughts in my head usually start getting to me. I live with my parents, and my fiancé and my parents had gone away for a few weeks. Then, my fiancé had been working a bit more than usual. Therefore, I was alone way more than usual. You also wouldn’t believe it, but I had been experiencing some paranormal type of activity when it was just me at my home and none of my homies were available to come over so, it sorta just felt like no one was there for me. Like, there was no one I could call. All of that ended up pouring into “Lonely Life” and at the end of the day, my purpose for it was just to feel like a hug. Like something people could sing along to and forget about everything else going on in their life for a second. I wanted it to be a song people could have on repeat and just have as a comfort song. It seems like what I wanted my audience to get from it is exactly what was received. I’ve gotten comments on SoundCloud that someone had gotten it stuck in their head and had been humming the melody, it means a lot to me that it could have that effect.

What was the recording process like for 🎵 “Lonely Life?” Did things move quickly, did you take your time, how did it go down?

🎤 sufferplenty:  For “Lonely Life,” it was a bit of a mixture. As soon as I heard the beat (produced by 🎛 CapsCtrl) the lyrics came to me extremely quick and shortly after that, in the same sitting, I recorded my main layers of vocals. I recorded the backup and ad libs a few days after that so, it was one of my quickest songs for sure. I’d also say that ever since I released my song, 🎵 “All To Myself”, the music process has been going so much faster and easier now. “All To Myself” was the first song I put out with my new production settings after struggling with my sound all throughout 2021. I finally feel happy and confident in my sound and my style, probably for the first time since 2018.

Okay, we’ve heard your bio, your genesis as a musician, explored those musical influences, and dove into 🎵 “Lonely Life.” So, let’s take a detour beyond music.  Besides what you’ve already shared, Is there else awesome, cool, or left of center we should know about you? Secret talents, surprising tidbits, favorite swear words… 😂? C’mon, I know you got something for us!

🎤 sufferplenty: I will give you all of those things! I am a pirate; I love to curse. It’s actually an awful trait I’m working on but the most challenging word for me is fuck and shit or even worse c#nt. So vulgar, I know. My sister and my mom have actually been trying to get me to stop saying that last one for years now but after years of having Australian friends to play games like Call Of Duty with, it’s just stuck with me. Some other things you might consider secret talents or surprises are my other passions. Recently, I’ve started my own interview/mini-doc series called Covering The Underground where I interview other artists in my scene and ask them a whole lot of questions. I have numerous unreleased episodes with artists like AbnormalJoy, Yung Kell, Lullabyboy, and even YvngCrow. All of these artists are way beyond me and the fact I’ve gotten to chat with them blows my mind every day. I also have started diving into videography, recording performances from artists I like, very similar to what M2 GH2 does if you’re familiar with him or Wiggy.

Alright, at this point, we’ve probably scared you with all these questions, so let’s wrap things up.  What are you currently working on or promoting? What’s in the future for sufferplenty? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure… not that much 😉.

🎤 sufferplenty: So many things are gonna be happening in the future if we’re lucky, I’m actually working on three different albums for this year! I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish them all but I do know one of them, 💿 This House Is Not A Home, should be releasing in July and hopefully in the next week, I should be releasing a music video for my song, 🎵 “Bipolar”. I also have a music video 🎶📼 for 🎵 “All To Myself” that just needs to be edited. I’ll soon have my first release ever of merch and the first episode to another series I’m starting on my YouTube channel where I go in-depth about the story and lyrics for each one of my songs. It’s inspired by Genius of course, and the first episode will be for – you guessed it – 🎵 “Lonely Life”!

Well, sufferplenty, it has been a pleasure – I hope the experience was the same for you! Thanks so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions.  Best of luck moving forward.  Keep us posted!   

🎤 sufferplenty: Will do, thank you so much for taking the time to interview me and feature me on The Musical Hype! I am so appreciative of this opportunity, and I look forward to seeing which artists you feature next! Take it steady.

Follow sufferplenty: Instagram • YouTube • SoundCloud • Spotify

🎤 Getting to Know… sufferplenty: Interview No. 272 [📷 : sufferplenty, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, No-longer-here, OpenClipart-Vectors]