Boston Culture: How did you come up with your name, SUMiT ?
SUMiT: My best friend at the time who’s since passed away gave it to me back when we were like 12-13. I had been writing so many raps at the time he was like we gotta think of a rap name for you. So after we threw a couple out there we got to Summit (with 2 m’s at first) and that just kinda stuck. I just dropped an m to make it more of a name.
Boston Culture: Talk to us about when you first started making music / first time recording in the studio?
SUMiT: I started writing when I was 12 years old that was the first time I had written a verse down. A few years later when I was like 16 I first recorded but it wasn’t in a studio it was just like a mic set up in my homie’s house and he knew how to run the recording program. The first time I was ever in a real studio to record wasn’t until I was 29 years old when my boy Dezi Garcia, who is also a great musician and live performer from Worcester, had gotten an internship at a local studio. He asked if I’d come through so he could practice setting up a session as he was learning the engineering side. I did and once I got in there I knew there was no looking back.
Boston Culture: Talk to us about “Dollars Matter” How did you come up with the visual idea as a CoDirector?
SUMiT: This was my first time taking on an actual director role in writing the treatment and script and having that kind of input on the visual and it was really the perfect song I think to do my first one because of the majority of the song being that storytelling style. So I just had to visualize the actual scenes and how they could be executed and then in collaboration with Trevor, who runs LMTLSS Media, and his eye for shooting scenes we were able to deliver the stories in a way that does the song justice. And of course, there is always input from my team, DiRo and Eddie C., who might just have spontaneous suggestions about shots or just ideas that completely improve what we’re doing.
New Single by SUMiT “Dollars Matter” Available On All DSP's. For more information visit his website: https://sumitmusic.com/ Co-directed by SUMiT & Trevor Finney Video shot and edited by Trevor Finney - LMTLSS Media
Boston Culture: Talk to us about your relationship with your management -. How did that come about ?
SUMiT: Danny DiRo, that’s my brother. We grew up in the same city, playing basketball in the same league for little kids and stuff, same area in the city so I knew of him. But freshmen year of high school is when we really became friends going to the same school. We just got super tight and have been ever since. Been through literally everything that you can go through together. He was always my biggest supporter (and critic) when I was rapping back in the day and he just really saw the passion and talent I had in me, just as a friend. Fast forward to 2017 we were on vacation, and this was before I had gotten into a studio and basically was in a bad place in my life. I just basically told him like, man it’s kind of driving me crazy that I never did anything with music, like actually hurting me inside that I had missed the boat on my passion. And he was just like nah fuck that, when we get back let’s do it for real. And that is exactly what we did and have been doing ever since.
Boston Culture: Which artists or producers would you like to collaborate with in your career?
SUMiT: Artists I really am interested and open to working with anyone who is dedicated to the work. I have favorite artists that I enjoy listening to, favorite rappers that I think are super nice, but when it comes to making music I believe a great collaboration can come from artists on 2 complete opposite sides of the spectrum. So I would never limit the options or just chalk it up to who I think raps the best, if you have talent and passion and it’s the right fit for me, I want to do it because that’s what I love to do. That being said, I’m gonna single out one name for producers, even though of course I would love to work with all of the big names: Pharrell, Dr. Dre, Ye, Timbo, 9th Wonder, Hitboy, Wheezy, Metro, No ID, etc. the producer I want to work with the most is Swizz Beats. His energy, his drum kicks, what he brings to a song as an artist in creating hooks and like sampleish ad libs to the track is amazing to me, I really love what he does and I think it would be a perfect fit with what I bring to the table.
Boston Culture: Who are your musical influences?
SUMiT: Too many to name. I grew up on my dad’s classic rock he’s a crazy big fan of this band, The Who. And they have like super conceptual albums, like rock-operas, they’re called. They told a story and produced musical movies that I would listen to and watch and just be like whoa. Plus they were insane performers so it was like a full picture of what great musicians looked like. In third grade, I was introduced to Hip Hop via the track Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems and my mind was just like fucking blown. I immediately became pretty much a diehard Biggie and Bad Boy Records fan. I completely dove into rap headfirst. When you say influences, it makes me think of the artists who that I not only like listening to, but ones that made me feel like I could, or should, or had to- participate in this style of music, or after I had started rapping- ones that helped me improve by studying something about their lyricism or delivery. So for me definitely BIG first and foremost because not only was he the flyest but also how brutally honest he was about his life, appearance, and raw emotions. Then of course Em, he was blowing up right as I was discovering the genre and it was a really big deal that this white boy was this nice. I remember thinking like wow, I wanna do that too, I wanna be on BET haha. DMX’s energy changed my life 100%. That year when he dropped those 2 albums that went gold or platinum, that Flesh of my Flesh, Blood of my Blood just set me on fire and made me want to channel my aggression into this rap thing. In middle school the Jay vs. Nas beef was going on so both of them were constantly in my rotation and just studying each of their discographies before and after that had a huge impact on me. Dudes like Cassidy, JR Writer, Fab, 50, AZ, Andre 3000, Mos Def, I could go on and on, they all helped me learn the craft just with their talent and different things they did mechanically with the rhymes or concepts taught me what separates great MCs from just someone who can rap.
Boston Culture: Where do you see yourself in 5 years and what are your main goals for 2023?
SUMiT: 5 years who knows, I’ve been through enough in my life to know that I can’t predict what’s gonna happen today never mind in the future. 5 years ago I never thought I’d be doing this interview. 2023 goals I do have a lot of though. I’m not the best at social media, I need to be more visible as an artist so getting on camera more is definitely something I am going to do. Do more live shows up here and down in the Miami area. I want to write at least 40 songs, I want to write my best song, I plan on writing a movie script so a goal is definitely to learn about that art and process and complete that. I want to grow my fan base, reach as many people as possible, bring as many people joy as possible through music. I really just want to grow in all aspects as a human and let that show in the work.
Boston Culture: What’s your greatest accomplishment in your music career? We’re eager to know
SUMiT: Honestly I haven’t done nearly enough to even answer that. I’m sorry because you said you’re eager to know but I don’t even wanna think that way I still have so much to do whatever is an accomplishment is really just a stepping stone at this point.
Boston Culture: Since you’ve been rising in your career, is there anything dropping soon that we should be on the lookout for?
SUMiT: Always. I think the next release you’ll get from me is a video for the next single, Highly Recommended, it’s a song that we’ve been had on the tuck for a minute and it’s really one of our favorite songs ever. It’s a real anthem type of track. We have a fresh EP to follow that up and a whole lot more. Definitely a lot surprises and new kinds of music people haven’t necessarily heard from me, so I’m excited. 2023 is our year I promise you.
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