Bito Sureiya on His Supergroup Nasa8, Staying Prolific & His Top Anime of All-Time
an Interview with Nasa8's Bito Sureiya.
The DMV is chock full of talent from the arts, producers, rappers, graphic designers, leaders in fashion the list goes on and on. Bito Sureiya of International Supergroup Nasa8 has been creating, producing, performing, and curating shows for over a decade now. With things getting ready to open up, Bito Sureiya is getting set to release his next project Melanin Quest 7: DON next Tuesday, so I sat and talked with him about coming up in the scene, his Top 5 verses that he’s written, and much more. This is a series called 7 Questions where I ask an artist….well 7 Questions, it may be about their latest work, it may be about their weirdest take on Bacon Pancakes, nothing is off-limits. Here’s the first edition with Bito Sureiya of the Nasa8.
Sto: Who is Bito Sureiya and are you in fact the best rapper we’ve ever seen?
Bito Sureiya: Bito is a cutthroat Baller like O.J. Simpson lololol sike nah I’m a nigga that’s just trying to make a decent living with my art and shit ya feel me. But I don’t fucking kno that’s a super weird metric like “the best rapper we’ve ever seen” like you’re not gonna listen to what I got to say you just gonna look at me and be like “yeah he look like he be killing shit” lololol. I don’t know, what does that even looks like. I do have a theory that most rappers that be actually super fucking gross on the mic are either fat or ugly or both so yeah I’m probably dope as fuck.
Sto: Now you’re in a massive supergroup called nasa8 that spans over a decade of music, production, shows, videos and the like, how did it get started? How are you able to balance a solo career and leading a group?
Bito Sureiya: it’s been 10 Years???? Damn, I ain’t know for real? that’s crazy and niggaz still just as broke ain’t that a bitch... Lolol but nah niggaz just did it frfr I hate when motherfuckers be like “yeah it was in immaculate design” like shut up Nigga we were legit just a bunch of 17/18-year-olds fresh out of school chilling in our man’s basement and getting high. It just so happened that all of us were the same type of motherfuckaz. it’s like we had to make music or we would literally have nothing else to do beats or rhymes it didn’t matter.
(Pt2)
And straight up... you don’t! You just spread yourself too thin between so many areas of your careers whether it be solo or group until you burn out and sit in bed on Twitter for 9 hours straight...YEAH next question!!!!
Sto: One of the biggest issues I’ve learned about since linking with all of you is the blatant racism when it comes to the arts. Whether it’s venue access, opportunities to perform and much more can you go into that and how to combat it?
Bito Sureiya: yeah motherfuckers hate niggaz and shit there’s almost no industry in this fucking world that you’re going to be a part of that you’re not gonna have to deal with a bunch of racist motherfuckers as a black person it’s just a simple facts of the world we live in
there’s organizations and people that do beautiful work in the community that helps get these racists out the paint and make it uncomfortable for them to be racist in public and in private and until they ALL feel fear for the repercussions of their racist actions, niggaz need to join the fight and help out... BUT frfr my personal favorite way to combat racism is BEATING A RACIST TILL THEY GO TO SLEEP tf?!?!?
“Assholes that don’t want to fight should go to sleep”
-Xin
What do you believe are your Top 5 tracks you’ve ever created?
Bito Sureiya: that’s a good question I mean I don’t necessarily look at my music like that to be honest. I mean I listen to my shit a lot but I kind of feel like they’re all my favorite because I don’t like try and make... ya kno mid lol.
So I guess my 5 favorites are technically the last five songs i made and they unreleased af
oh wait no no no so I got this song that Josh Karbon made the beat for and it’s about big Areola‘s wit the braille and it got the homie Ale on it, I really like that song its definitely one of my favorites but.. also unreleased lolol.
So I guess my fav shits that I’ve actually put out I don’t kno I think I got some but imma do a top 3 instead in no particular order:
-Have you seen the second season of Baki the grappler (This actually a TheNASA8 track)
I mean come on this probably my best verse ever frfr
-Stag Horn Powder
This was the first track I legit was impressed by my own flow no conceded shit lolol
-Don’t get punched in your face to main ingredient (prod. @Flat_Stan)
my peoples used to play this sample on a fucking daily basis so it’s just like super nostalgic for me plus I was barring my ass off on this jawn nigga I said:
“I’m rare like a Hercules decorative plate and I might smack the eyebrow off of half of your face” lolololol
You’ve been extremely prolific during your career as you continue to ascend, how on Earth do you do it and what keeps you motivated to continue to drop music like this?
Bito Sureiya: OK Imma be dead ass serious with this one no cap... so You know I be joking and shit but like this is some real shit like in no way am I making light of it or you know trying to be funny style or anything like that... like I got mental health issues B and there’s like bars in my head And I gotta let them go or you know things could get bad for me...
Like I’ve kind of completed my rounds as a beatmaker like I’ve kind of not necessarily given it up but like I tell people all the time I don’t make beats you know because it’s like I came up around some of the greatest producers of this generation no fooling so I don’t really consider my self like a “Beat Nigga” plus l get horrible anxiety when i think about making Beats. I go to start the MPC up and I’ll start going through Beats and I’ll play some beats I made like “this is Fire” and then I’ll start another one get a quick 4 bar loop down and just listen to it for like 20 mins straight then turn the MPC off and I really don’t kno what that’s about it kinda freaks me out sometimes but whatevsies
But the bars are different, the bars are everlasting like it’s a lot different than how I used to write. I used to write and rhyme all the time like I used to freestyle fucking everyday type shit. like every time I would get cliqued up with the Homies we’d be freestyling like now I’ll go weeks without writing a rhyme months without a freestyle. like I don’t freestyle anymore like at all but the thing about it is, that shit never left me. I snap back into it no matter how long of a break I take from it sometimes I go at least a month without writing a verse and like I don’t freestyle on my own like my whole thing is I don’t like going first so I don’t
But I dare nigga to say something motherfuckers kno what the fuck I be doing in these streets. Niggaz see me out here Nigga, they kno how the fuck I get down on these beats. Motherfuckers know who the fuck I am bro like no weird shit, I’m BeetTripBito like they know who I am because I be going the fuck in every time I touch the microphone and plus I show love you feel me that’s the most important
But The motivation is the music Right?!?!? you know what I mean like the feeling of getting that dope verse off or the feeling of getting that great freestyle off you know what I’m saying. Just having a motherfucker just lose they shit at one of your bars. that’s the TRUE motivation for me I’ll always be doing this even if no one is listening. like I sacrificed a lot in my life to be able to bring my art to life so it’s super nice when people take the time to listen
Did you know Samurai Champloo is the best anime of all time?
ok first off shot out Shing02 and RIP Nujabes... BUT ok it’s not tho... Samurai Champloo has the best anime opening of all time no debate and champloo is definitely top five dead or alive and it’s definitely not 4 or 5. but i DO think there’s other shit that can stand next to it Like Gantz and Berserk SPECIFICALLY Gantz and Berserk (and only the 90’s series not the 2017 abomination or any of the shitty movies). I genuinely do think that Berserk is the greatest story ever told point-blank period and Gantz as confusing as it can be sometimes is a close second in my opinion. but I talk about this with Qué Pequeno all the time like I definitely feel like a lot of the philosophy that goes into a lot of popular anime is... sort of surface level so when you get to indulge in a series like Champloo or berserk it’s really a different type of experience in my opinion like you really get a chance to soak in some new ways of looking at shit and ways of thinking about shit like real shit you can apply to life other than just friendship and perseverance ya digg lolol BELIEVE IT!!!!
What’s next for Bito Sureiya, what can we expect to close out the year?
Who the fuck knows man, now I do what I want *uzi voice* lolololol sike nah yo I be making clothes now we started a custom embroidery business this year been knocking out orders for every damn thing and we just started a clothing line for TheNASA8. we dropped capsule #001 this year and got capsule #002 dropping sometime next month so look out for that shit. I also got maaaaaad music that I’m finna drop Me and GodSenseBeats have a Collab project that we’re about to drop called “Derivatives of Nomenclature” it’s a melanin quest sequel frfr then Me and Grey Skies a.k.a. opo ra have a Collab EP were dropping too just don’t kno when lol. Also we now sponsor a BMX Rider out in Germany so shot to him and we still rocking with our E-sports team niggaz can’t really fuck wit them in tekken frfr. So we be moving and shit trying make shit shake and get some bread ya dig so... come fw us and shit ya feels me.
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