Saucy Santana Interview: “Material Girl” Singer Talks Miami, TikTok

Earlier than their single “Materials Lady” grew to become a bonafide TikTok phenomenon, the rising Florida rapper Saucy Santana spent his time because the make-up artist to the Miami rap duo Metropolis Ladies. Their skilled relationship rapidly blossomed right into a friendship and artistic partnership, and it’s not onerous to see why. Just like the Miami women that gave us quotable classics like “Pussy Speak,” Saucy Santana is a pure social media star, typically showing in Instagram Stay clips and producing micro-trends, like “Caresha please!” with Yung Miami, with out even making an attempt.

Santana’s music has been a staple on TikTok and Instagram — anthems for ladies, queer POC, and anybody feeling themselves at any second in time. It began round 2019, together with his first single “Stroll Em Like a Canine.” The observe began off as an Instagram Stay freestyle however served because the template for Santana’s model of infectiously self-confident membership bangers. “For all my girls, for those who’re bored with his mess / Reducing weight, falling off, feeling harassed,” he snaps. “Slide with a wealthy nigga, now you blessed.”

Santana was born in Connecticut and moved to Florida, to a city simply an hour outdoors of Tallahassee, on the age of ten. It was the place the rapper, now 28, fell in love with hip-hop and pop music. “As soon as I moved to Florida. I simply had extra Florida bass. I simply began getting extra into the tradition of Florida music,” Santana tells Rolling Stone.

Rising up listening to artists like Trina, Jackie O, Gucci Mane, and Khia gave Santana an ear for freestyling and for the sorts of membership anthems which have been vital to his rising profile among the many newest class of hip-hop stars. His tracks have endurance, too. Santana’s releases are likely to blow up and keep viral on completely different platforms for years. Audio of the infectiously danceable “Stroll,” launched in 2020, has been utilized in greater than 300,000 TikToks after turning into a well-liked observe on the platform final yr. The tune generated its personal #WalkChallenge and has gained Santana almost 13 million streams so far. With “Materials Lady,” additionally from 2020, Santana fostered one of many greatest tendencies on TikTok right this moment thanks to varied remixes and edits of the observe.

Fairly Little Gangsta, one of many three albums Santana launched in 2020, affords essential context to the story of Santana as a Southern homosexual artist increasing the restricted concepts of what Southern rap seems to be and appears like. It options Santana firmly in his Florida bass groove and consists of appearances from a number of the main southern girls in rap. In truth, all of Santana’s albums embody options throughout the board, from Metropolis Ladies to Latto, Beat King, and Kali. “I wanna have my toes in each style,” Santana says whereas discussing how 2022 is proving to be a yr for him to broaden his viewers and attain. On tinheritor newest album Hold It Playa, launched in December, Santana expands his Rolodex of sounds, proving to be greater than a viral artist however a rapper who has taken the reigns of labor into his personal palms. The now Atlanta-based artist has launched 5 albums as an unbiased artist alongside the manufacturing label Streamcut and is decidedly extra accountable for their output than your typical rising star. “Being an unbiased artist has its professionals and its cons, I positively really feel prefer it has allowed me numerous my very own creativity in my music,” Santana says.

On the core of Santana’s work is his work with Tre Trax who has produced nearly all of Santana’s music during the last three years. The pair met the identical night time that Santana recorded his breakout single “Materials Lady.”

”We simply set to work, I used to be serving to him get via and report the tune, and that was actually the primary night time we met,” Trax says. The 24-year-old got here to Atlanta from Lengthy Island, NY throughout the coronary heart of the New Atlanta wave of hip-hop and had been working with artists resembling Latto and Lightskin Keisha when he crossed paths with Santana’s group and despatched over a beat pack. Trax and Santana haven’t solely constructed a music partnership that has modified their lives however have a constructed a friendship that’s rooted in mutual respect. “Santana is a brother to me and he’s one of the crucial stable folks I do know,” Trax says.

Santana appears clear that he has no person to impress however himself. “I management the kind of music I put out and once I’m placing it out. And it has truly helped me turn out to be a tough employee as a result of I’ve extra to show once I drop albums,” he says. It’s no small accomplishment for a brand new artist to reach with such a big physique of profitable work of their first two years, and it will seem that Santana isn’t slowing down anytime quickly. He says we are able to count on some new singles dropping within the spring, and together with his latest Vogue week debut, tour with Latto, Kali, and Flo Milli, the long run seems to be shiny.

“Two years from now it’s giving the face of vogue, it’s giving the face of make-up, it’s giving grammy’s, its giving motion pictures…the shit that I can do in two extra years, I can’t even think about,” Santana says. Gratitude has been resounding in his life as of late and he’s completely happy to take a seat with how the previous two years have been made potential. “I mirror quite a bit and I’m simply grateful.”