Growing up in Missouri City, Texas (a suburb of Houston) a lot of kids have dreams of becoming a rap star. For artist/producer Spuf Don it became only a matter of time when longtime friend and college roommate at the University of Texas San Antonio, Travi$ Scott started receiving major exposure.
Spuf, which stands for “Superior People Understand Fashion,” worked extensively with both Scott and legendary producer N.O. Joe on The Element of Surprise that drops today [Friday, July 8]. The project sizzles with 19 tracks, nine of which feature Scott and are only a small amount of records the pair laid down during their time together before Scott shot to stardom.
Spuf also produced three songs on Scarface’s recent project Deeply Rooted, who says “Spuf is the future.” Multi-Grammy nominated producer N.O. Joe has worked on Hip Hop classics including AZ’s Doe or Die, several of Scarface’s albums including The Diary, UGK’s Ridin Dirty and countless others. Joe started working with Spuf in his early years.
“Spuf doesn’t write anything, so everything is freestyled but he’s very lyrical,” says N.O. Joe. He mentions some of the tracks that may have leaked on the streets in the last few years were “unfinished products” and “listeners will get a chance to hear the finished product from what they were working on back then and Spuf Don as an artist as well.”
Spuf has a different style to Scott; with a unique voice and lyrical patterns, he utilizes auto-tune far less. Listeners will be comfortable with the tracks Travis graces but will find that Spuf’s lyrical ability easily matches that of Scott’s while maintaining his own individuality. One of the stand out tracks is “25th and Leon”—the bass snaps are reminiscent of Kendrick Lamar‘s “Backseat Freestyle.” The production is top notch and ventures from hard street anthems to elements of EDM, Trap and even R&B. The album serves as a precursor to his next project Mad Trees, which will come out later this year.
Spuf Don’s first single is titled “2 Celly” which features Scott and is co-produced by N.O. Joe. Stream the mixtape below.
