By Ian Bremner

Listening to Shaprece’s music, it’s no wonder Kanye West and Anderson.Paak are held in such high regard to the singer. While all 3 artists rely on some experimentation, the core foundation is always creativity, ambition and soul.

Shaprece’s debut LP, COALS like, Molting EP before it, is filled with hip hop beats, beautiful string arrangements, worldly percussion and her smooth and smoky vocals. 

Ahead of her debut LP, COALS, Shaprece was back in her hometown to perform Bumbershoot Festival. We caught up with her at this year’s fest where a day earlier she was seen getting “lit” in the crowd for Anderson.Paak. With the release of COALS still not nailed down at the time, we chatted about the upcoming record, her recent move to Los Angeles, and her love of the Northwest, but mostly nerded out about Kanye West.

Listen to Shaprece and read the Interview below:

Ian Bremner: First off, that Anderson.Paak set….

Shaprece: That album, [Malibu] is so good and he’s just so talented and the fact that he’s able to jump from lead vocals to lead drums and go full out and maintain his balance. Those are the goals..

IB: Any other albums you been bumping?

S: I’m a big Kanye fan, so the other album for me this year is The Life of Pablo. A lot of people didn’t get it and they were like ‘I don’t know..,’ but for me as a signer songwriter, it’s a bit different because I always listen to the melodies. I love rap that I can sing along too. Also, we may or may not be doing a Kanye cover in our set these days. My favorite is 808s [and Heartbreaks]. Again, from a singers perspective I can sing to that all day.

IB: What about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy?

S: I mean, you can’t go wong!

IB: You recently moved to Los Angeles but you spend a lot of time here in the Northwest. What have you noticed in the changing landscapes here in Seattle?

S: Ha, where do we start..? It’s ok though because as progress happens, things are going to change and evolve. Some of them are for the worse, but some are for the better. There are definitely some structural changes, of course, but musically, everyone has their nose to grindstone and pushing through and doing what they need to do. That won’t ever change.

IB: How are things going down there?

S: I love it there. I’m still here once a month. I need both. I’d go crazy if I only was in LA. I need my nature, my home, my quiet, my creative mode and that’s something I can’t always get down there.

IB: You happy with the how COALS has turned out?

S: I’m really happy with it. It’s beautiful I had hopes to release it earlier but some things came up and I had to be patient.

IB: Each hometown show you do seems to have a different feel or theme. You’ve played with an orchestra, stripped down or [Bumbershoot] with a choir. What’s the motivation for the different sets?

S: I just get these ideas, and then, THAT’s the idea. I’ll get an idea in a dream and I just want to do it. The choir was actually from the Kanye song we’ve been covering, it just needed a choir and those kids were so amazing.

Listen to COALS via spotify