SayMo

Born and raised in New Jersey, SAYMO is the child of Western Armenians wed outside of Paris. The city granted his mother a love for the visual arts, passed down, leading to his sampling of Basquiat’s graffiti handle SAMO. Growing up, his first exposure to music was Armenian and Turkish CDs played on the way to Armenian School, limited until he got computer access and found Hip hop, and the diaspora bubble burst. His cryptic and inspired lyrics reflect a linguist who grew up speaking a mix of Armenian, English, and Turkish at home. A self-titled mixtape of his early songs came out in 2020, aided by Haikoo Studio. WORDS applied the standards of high art, yielding collaborations with producers Armen Abrimian, Bei Ru, and Gorgeouz beats - his childhood friend Armen was there as they honed their craft together, the LA and Yerevan stalwarts respectively were convinced by freestyles done over their beats. Jerrz to Yerevan, the first single, served as a declaration condemning the 2020 Azeri aggressions on Armenia and Artsakh: sunflower seeds alongside Anatolian and Soviet Armenian and Soviet references with the sensibilities of stateside MC’s he listened to obsessively from the US from the 90’s conscious, informed with grit and sticky moments infused for all fans of Hip Hop; Inclusivity for the different worlds he grew up in is the artists aim.