Saint Lamaar is only 18 years old and already living out his dreams on the daily. Hailing from the East side of Columbus, Ohio and growing up in the church, music has been a part of his life since he can remember. Now currently residing in Atlanta, the rising star has had the pleasure of working with Grammy-nominated producer Willy Will and Grammy-winning producer Wonder Arillo.
Inspired directly by real life experiences, music serves as an outlet for Lamaar, a way to express himself in his most vulnerable state. One thing about him is his relatability to the masses, proving he’s human just like the rest of the world. Doing everything independent and putting in the work to make it to the big leagues, Lamaar released the visual for his newest single titled “Word For The Hood.”
AllHipHop: What was the household like growing up in Columbus, Ohio?
Saint Lamaar: I grew up with both of my parents. I have 6 other siblings, I’m the youngest of 7. Growing up was neat. I wouldn’t say I was babied or anything, but I did get a lot of love. I was babied by my sisters and had older brothers, so it was neat. They all did some sort of music or sports. We were always involved in different things.
AllHipHop: Biggest influences coming up?
Saint Lamaar: I have older parents so I listened to a lot of older music like Funkadelic, Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire. I love Musiq Soulchild, John Legend, those people. I love good music, music that makes you feel stuff.
AllHipHop: You grew up on music in the church, talk about taking the hip-hop route.
Saint Lamaar: I wouldn’t say I went all the way the Hip Hop route. I like to step into R&B, neo soul, modern day funk music. How I’m packaged, the stuff I do and who I’m around definitely looks Hip Hop, but I’m more well-rounded than just Hip Hop.
AllHipHop: At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?
Saint Lamaar: Leaving high school was when I realizedI could really do it. The love I was getting in high school, it’s a real captive audience in high school. Everyone has to be there. If you’re looking at something, the person next to you is probably going to ask who it is. I figured I could probably do this, I’m getting good looks and people are looking into me.
AllHipHop: When did you move to Atlanta? I know you worked with Willy Will and Wonder Arillo.
Saint Lamaar: I moved to Atlanta 2 months after I got out of high school, so 6 months ago. The plan moving down there was getting a lot of stuff in order, really getting into the studio and creating stuff. Creating and figuring out what I wanted my sound to be, what I had going on, and who I wanted to link with. I linked with Willy Will first. Willy Will made the beat “Word For The Hood” with a producer from Columbus called Young Doe.
We went to a session down there at Triangle Studio in Atlanta, we did a cook up. The beat wasn’t already made so when we got there, we broke it down and figured out what we wanted to do. We wanted to make something fun and faster, so let’s try this. I got in there and that’s what happened. I met with Wonder a month later in Atlanta, Arillo’s a great, Grammy-winning producer. He came to Deep House Studios in downtown Atlanta. Same situation: we figured out the vibe, we cooked up, and it was a great time. It was a great time with both of them, a very transparent level.
AllHipHop: What was the inspiration behind your name?
Saint Lamaar: The Saint came from growing up in church. Growing up, I didn’t really involve myself in a lot of stuff so all my friends called me Saint a lot of times. I didn’t cuss growing up earlier. I’d always bring up bible verses, what God said. I’d always pray before all of my meals so my friends started calling me Saint. My middle name is Lamar so I put it together. Let me see if anyone has this name, no one did so I ran with that.
AllHipHop: Any significance in the two a’s?
Saint Lamaar: No, that’s how my mom spelled it. [laughs] She was trying to be different I guess.
AllHipHop: Who or what inspired “Word For The Hood”?
Saint Lamaar: Fun, I wanted to have fun and make a fun track. The mindset and situation I was in while making it, it was hot outside so I wanted to make a move and have fun. It was the right people involved in it, I went to the studio and it was off the head. Off the top, we created it.
AllHipHop: What about “Round Trip”?
Saint Lamaar: Round Trip was actually made in the same studio session, that’s funny. “Round Trip” was the same situation really. I had the beat before I went into the session. I went in there, it was the first song I recorded when I got into the studio. It was a song I wrote half of prior to the session. I wanted to record this one to see how it sounds, I like how it sounded so I ran with it.
AllHipHop: Your inspiration is life in itself, talk about creating music for other people to relate to.
Saint Lamaar: That’s a big part of music and getting consumers. Grabbing people’s attention and making music that people can relate to or find themselves in is a big part.
AllHipHop: What is it you want fans to get from your story?
Saint Lamaar: Just do it. Almost like Nike, just do it. If you feel like you can and if you feel like you’re different, don’t let anyone tell you what you’re doing and what you like to do is wrong or bad. Just because someone doesn’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s not good. It’s not for that person.
AllHipHop: How important is social media for your career?
Saint Lamaar: Really, it’s a place you can post music for people to listen to, you can engage with people and show a different side. With music, you can only show how you sound. You make a video, you show how you look. You can get on Instagram and talk, you can make posts and repost people stuff that you agree with. That’s instrumental in people finding out and knowing who you are.
AllHipHop: 3 things you need in the studio?
Saint Lamaar: I need water in the studio, I need gummy worms in the studio, and I need a producer in the studio.
AllHipHop: What kind of producers do you like?
Saint Lamaar: I like people who don’t just deal with hip-hop tracks. I like to make ballads, I like R&B stuff. I really do prefer older producers because they sometimes have a different type of soul and have made different types of tracks. They’ve lived in different times where music might’ve been better, with different melodies. I like older music so I usually prefer older producers.
AllHipHop: What would you be doing if you weren’t doing music?
Saint Lamaar: I’d probably be a chef. I’d be trying to be a chef or going to school to be a chef. Or in school for business
AllHipHop: What food do you like to cook?
Saint Lamaar: Anything now, I’m pescatarian. I deal with a lot of seafood like shrimp and salmon. I like pasta a lot too.
AllHipHop: What makes you want to give back to where you came from?
Saint Lamaar: For sure, that’s big. I want to give back to where I came from. Even if it’s not where I came from, a situation I feel like I came from. That’s instrumental and if you can help in any situation, why not?
AllHipHop: What’s the reality of coming out of Columbus, Ohio?
Saint Lamaar: Columbus is a place where there’s a lot of talent, but Columbus hasn’t really been put on the map as a hub for talent where stuff comes out of. You haven’t really heard “oh yeah, so and so is from Columbus.” There’s not a lot of eyes on Columbus in the music industry. That’s the reason I left Columbus, I had to get in the mix and get around different people. That’s one of the reasons I took off and did what I’ve done so far.
AllHipHop: What goals do you have so far in this point in your career?
Saint Lamaar: I want to be huge. I want to be a household name of course, I want to make music for people to dance in the house to. I want to make music people have to replay, I want to make classics when they come out. I want to make real cinematic videos, not even crazy edits but stuff people want to look at. I want to become larger than life in a way.
AllHipHop: What’s it going to take to get there?
Saint Lamaar: Of course hard work. Getting strategic partnerships, that’s really important especially in the industry. Keeping one foot on their necks and one foot on the gas, that’s going to do it.
AllHipHop: Dream collab?
Saint Lamaar: Pharrell. 100% Pharrell.
AllHipHop: What do you like about Pharrell?
Saint Lamaar: His sound. I love his music when he’s actually in it and being vocal. I love his beats too, they’re crazy. I love music that makes you feel something and he hasn’t missed for me
AllHipHop: What can we expect from you next music-wise?
Saint Lamaar: A crazy visual, an out-of-this-world visual shot by director Cricket and involved with Ambitious day dreams. A project this year in 2021 for sure, crazy out-of-this-world visuals and a kick butt project forreal. That’s what you can expect.
AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let the people know?
Saint Lamaar: Look out! If you don’t, it’s going to hit you in your face.