Before diving into the music itself, it’s clear that Newman approaches artistry as more than just a craft. What began with a cheap microphone and free recording software slowly turned into a lifelong outlet for processing experience, documenting growth, and making sense of the world around him. As both a rapper and producer, his work blends soulful, sample-driven soundscapes with introspective writing, pulling inspiration from everyday details, personal loss, faith, discipline, and creative curiosity. On his latest project, dust on the akai, Newman turns an overlooked MPC into a larger reflection on unused potential, timing, and recognizing the blessings already within reach. We sat down with Newman to talk about the making of the project, the inspirations behind his sound, and how purpose, faith, and everyday life continue to shape his creative process.
How did you first get into making music, and what pushed you from just experimenting into taking it seriously as an artist?
One random day my brother brought home a cheap microphone he needed for a school project. Once we found out we could record in Audacity for free we never looked back. I always loved music, but didn’t see myself making it until that time period. It started out as something fun to do and was therapeutic growing up, helping me document and make sense of my world. I can’t think of any one thing that made me take it more seriously. Maybe performing more. But over time it was something I realized was something that was beyond a passion that I loved to do. Writing and recording became more of a necessity on my day to day, not just to get better at something but how I made sense of life in a lot of ways. Playing sports did that a lot for me growing up, but once I stopped doing that as much, all of the energy from that and then some went into creating music. It became something I knew I’d be doing regardless of anything.
Who were some of your early musical inspirations—both as a rapper and a producer—and how have they shaped your sound today?
Kanye West, especially around the time of Late Registration, was a gateway to a lot of other artists and music. Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne as well. Pharrell. A lot more but that’s probably where it started.
For someone hearing your music for the first time, how would you describe who Newman is as an artist, both as a rapper and a producer?
A rapper first and foremost who loves soulful music and samples, but a very dynamic artist who thinks in layers and might surprise you with where he takes things sonically. There’s clear messaging in his music but he can also have fun with it and cover a lot of topics and emotions. Production wise it’s even more wide open as far as what it can sound like. Soul samples for sure, trap drums, but lately I’ve been making a lot of jazz and afrobeat inspired ideas.
As someone who works as a rapper, producer, and creative director, how do you balance those roles when building a project like this, and how do they influence each other?
I always strive to keep the main thing the main thing, which is rapping and making songs. But the words and concepts are heavily pulled from seeing life through a cinematic lens, same thing with the sonics. The more I’ve worked on creative direction, the more I’m inspired by the mundane and actively try to find beauty in random everyday places/things. That allows me to have more appreciation for the random details of life, whether that’s a conversation I overhear, a color, places I travel, a scene from a movie etc. I try to take it all in. Of course my actual life is the biggest influence, but once the concept came to me, the rapping and production fell into place quickly.
Your work blends soulful, sample-driven production with introspective writing. What usually comes first for you—sound or concept?
The sound usually tells me where to go. On my day to day I have a million thoughts and experiences, I’m sure we all do. To the point it’s easy to forget or overlook them. The sounds are a filter for me, that pull those emotions and words out that were already there and needed the right canvas to come out the way they do. Especially when it comes to beat selection, I find myself gravitating to instrumentals that already tell their own story. Even in a simple loop, it could be just one extra sound or section that sticks out and keeps my attention long enough to build around.
What inspired the overall concept behind ‘dust on the akai’, and how did you go about turning that idea into a full project?
My boy Cam had gifted me an Akai MPC one about a year or two ago, since he didn’t need it anymore. I was truly excited and grateful he had done so because I always wanted to make music with one and never had the chance to. I tried a few times early on to learn how to use it but was missing a cable at first, then the initial learning curve kept getting in my way and I unintentionally pushed it off. That’s not to say I wasn’t working like a madman on music or production all this time but I didn’t realize how much time was passing in not learning to use the beat pad. I went on vacation to Bali end of last year, and the time difference had me up at 3/4 am every night. Maybe it was the setting, or being so far from home, or just sitting in silence, but I randomly thought of the beat pad and felt a hint of guilt and shame that a gift a friend gave me– not just a gift but an unexpected one that I always wanted–was sitting there collecting dust in my studio, the one I sit next to every time I go into that room. It became this realization that it’s crazy how God can provide things for you or put the right people in your life to help you get to where you want to go, and you may overlook it trying to figure things out yourself or being so caught up with life that you don’t even realize the blessings were there all along. Like a detail in a painting you didn’t see until years later. So it became this metaphor to stop letting dust collect on blessings and the time you have left, and what you want out of this life. That combined with some personal losses of family and friends, I knew it was all a sign to go even harder.
‘dust on the akai’ centers around an MPC collecting dust as a metaphor for unused potential. When did that idea first click for you, and why did it feel like the right framing for this project?
It was on that vacation trip to Bali at 4 a.m. The idea hit me quickly, and what dawned on me at the time was that I already had 80% of the project done. I was already working on another project, one I’ve been working on for a few years. None of these songs were apart of that project, and they all seemed to echo a similar sentiment in different ways. Songs like “Layaway”, “Without Work” and “While The Clock’s Ticking” already spoke to that urgency and tension. “Talk Is Cheap” and “Say Less” in different ways reject over-explaining in favor of taking action, so the project really formed itself.
Which song on ‘dust on the akai’ was the most memorable or challenging to create, and why?
At the moment I would say Landscape was most memorable to make, because it was the last song and one of the few that came after the initial concept came to me. I think it feels resolved and sums up the idea of the whole project well. That and my homie Shifty Capone, who I’ve been working with for years, we hadn’t collaborated in some time. For him to send me that beat at that moment, a few weeks before I planned to drop this, felt like divine timing. Looking back, all of these songs came quickly as far as writing is concerned, which is not always the case as I like to take my time when writing. But this one especially coming so close to the deadline wrote itself.
The project explores themes like purpose, discipline, faith, and self-direction. How do those ideas show up in your everyday life outside of music?
The gym is a big factor for sure. Trying to get in there at least 3 times a week minimum for the past year or so has done a lot for me on my day to day mentally. A few years ago I started a bible study with my brothers and that’s also very important to me. Traveling is another blessing that I’m grateful for and I’m renewed creatively every time I go somewhere new.
What’s next for you after this project? Where does this chapter lead creatively or personally?
Creatively, I thought of this year in a few different Acts. Dust on the Akai was meant to be Act I. It was about the realization of those blessings, and the next steps are about maximizing them. I’m looking forward to executing those visions in many more ways this year through rapping, producing, and directing.
I’ve got a lot planned with all the homies in my collective, Ten Steps Ahead, and one of the Acts I’m most excited about is The Last Of Many Volume II — a follow-up to a project I dropped a few years ago.
Listen to Newman‘s latest project dust on the akai here now:
Listen to more music from Newman here:
Connect with Newman HERE.
