Long Beach, California has been producing a distinctly laid-back, languorous brand of hip-hop ever since local talent Snoop Dogg rocketed to global fame in the 1990s. Pairing soulful samples with mid-tempo beats and a drawling vocal flow, the Long Beach sound has produced a lineage that takes in everyone from Snoop’s contemporary Warren G to Vince Staples, and now the rapper and singer Seafood Sam.
Preferring to keep his real name under wraps – the artist moniker stems from a play on the martial arts honorific “shifu”, meaning “master” – Sam has been honing his lusciously orchestrated take on Long Beach rap since 2019’s debut album Dior Velour. Opting to rap over fresh instrumentals, rather than sample older rarities, his sound contains a nostalgic pull to the yearning soul of 70s Marvin Gaye, mixed with a dancefloor bounce. On his forthcoming album, Standing on Giant Shoulders, Sam perfects this infectious mix.
