Red Bull Batalla: Snow Tha Product
Prior to the batalla, office had the opportunity to sit down with Snow Tha Product, Red Bull Batalla’s guest judge for the night. She spoke on her own experience with freestyle rapping, how she got her start, and the advice she had to give to the contestants.
Check out our exclusive interview below.
So first off, how are you doing? How are you feeling about tonight and everything going on?
I'm good. I feel really good. I'm blessed to be here.
How do you feel about being one of the guest judges for Batalla?
I'm a little nervous, because I don't want to make anybody feel bad or let down, but I have to be a judge.
You gotta give your honest advice on everything!
But you know, being a rapper, I know how we don't get that many opportunities, and I've been snubbed before. So I'm really on edge because I don't want to snub anybody and I want to make sure whoever deserves to get it gets it.
Yeah, of course. I feel like, at the end of the day, these people can take your advice and your critique and can only better themselves in the future.
Exactly.
So what first attracted you to start freestyling and rapping?
It was just kind of something to do. When you're in high school, or in lower-income, there's not really that much stuff to do. So rapping was free, you know, you can just get a free beat from wherever online and you start freestyling so it was fun. It was fun to do. I since have gone more towards music, like creating songs and stuff, because it was the next challenge for me. I could rap, but then I wanted to start making songs, you know, and like getting the next progression. It was just the natural way to kind of go, but it's definitely a skill and a talent.
How does your culture and upbringing tie into your music-making?
I put a lot of my culture into it. You know, I'm bilingual. I speak about that. I speak about being traditional Mexican, and religious. All that upbringing that kind of made me rebel is what my whole identity is in this rap stuff.
You come from a Mexican family, and my family's Ecuadorian, so I know kind of going against your traditional route, sometimes family can have very strong opinions on that. How does your family feel when you started getting into this sort of stuff? Were they always supportive?
No, they were very disappointed and they did not like it at all. I was just kind of looked at as like, "What are you doing? You're about to fail and you're about to throw your life away." So now, I think that's why I go so hard at it is to continuously show people. Sometimes, as kids, we have our own self-doubt and when people go the extra mile, and also give you that doubt, you grow that chip on your shoulder of like, "I already had it hard on my own, and you guys kind of made it worse." So you grow up with that rebellious thing, which I think is that edge that a lot of us rappers have.
I think also growing up in a Latino family, they're definitely not afraid to tell you when you're doing something wrong. How do they feel about it now, seeing you after all of the success that you've had?
I feel like a lot of them don't talk about it. My mom is proud, and my dad's proud. You know, some of my family is proud now, but I think the ones that don't, don't want to admit it, they just kind of ignore it. So you know, it's whatever. Yeah, but you're out here. You're doing your thing. It's great. Yeah, we'll take care of my family. Both my parents are in Mexico and so $1 goes a long way over there.
Also, just being a female rapper in the game, how has that been for you?
It's difficult. I think being a female rapper definitely comes with its hardships more so than being a male rapper. When I realized that, it's not going to change, and you might as well just get over it and keep working is when I started growing more because instead of focusing on what I have against me, I figured out ways to work around it.
How important do you think that it is for freestyle to continue to progress in this music sphere?
I think freestyle is its own genre. You know what I mean? It's definitely a sub-genre of hip-hop, but I think it's its own thing, and it deserves its own platform. I feel like a lot of times freestyle rappers feel like they need to progress into artists, which is fine. That's what I did, but I do think that while they're freestyling, we should highlight those moments. Sometimes you say some amazing bars that you already said in a freestyle song, so you can't reuse them. So, we should highlight that, you know, sample it. Freeze it in time and make it be a moment bigger because I think it deserves that. It requires so much skill. I lost it, and I'm no longer freestyling. If you ask me to freestyle right now, I'm definitely not freestyling, but I've moved it into another way. I freestyle in the studio to make a song and then I shoot my video, I edit, I do all these things, which is freeform, but I don't freestyle, I'll leave it to them.
So would you say freestyling is one of those things that you have to continue to practice or you lose it right?
Yeah, you have to sharpen that 100%. Once you start touring and drinking and partying, your brain is not doing what it used to do.
I literally could not imagine doing that though. I think of something, it comes out, and I just stutter a million times over.
It's really impressive. I've watched a lot of freestyle battles where I'm just like, "Oh my god, how did they think that quickly?"
How are you going to judge the Batalla tonight?
I'm going to go based on rap, based on technicality but based on the technical aspects of rap. I think I am talented in that, and being bilingual in my technical rap, my syllable placement, and my cadences. That's more where I'm coming at it from.
What advice do you have to give for people, either tonight or people who want to follow in your footsteps?
I would say, just make sure you love it because it's very disheartening out here. This industry is very, very difficult, and it will break your heart in more ways than you think. So make sure that you actually are willing to do it. And if you are, then don't quit. That's it.
