Hailing from two Canadian cities – “The Bridge City”, Saskatoon, and “The Queen City”, Regina, Samurai Champs is a recording and performing future-hip-hop/R&B duo. Comprised of new-wave rapper Jeah and dark-R&B/soul singer Merv xx Gotti, the duo draw influence from their Southeast Asian heritage while taking pride in their urban-Canadian identity. Check out our interview below!
Congrats on your new single, “Cabernet Sauvignon,” and the release of your debut album! What’s the story behind the song? The song is about a relationship two individuals fought to sustain, but comes to an inevitable end. Cabernet Sauvignon is the symbolic item used during these deep and intimate conversations shared between the two individuals. It’s not a sad song, but a real song.
Since the single is called “Cabernet Sauvignon,” What’s the best bottle of wine you can remember drinking? Honestly nothing fancy. We are artists after all, so anything that gets the job done. So probably a bottle barefoot. You can enjoy it anywhere and it’s easily affordable.
How long have you wanted to do an album like this? We’ve always wanted to release an album like this. We just felt like we weren’t ready until now.
At the end of the day, what do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people take away from your songs? We hope everyone can take something away from each of these songs. Whether it be a happy or sad realization, we just hope the outcome is positive. We hope the lyrics and the emotion in each song help people figure out any struggles they have in their relationship or anything their going through in life. Love has a lot of lessons. So be brave and embrace it. Learn to enjoy life and appreciate each turn of events as a growing opportunity.
What has been one of the most unexpected things to happen to you this year? We were able to go to Canadian Music Week in Toronto this year with our whole team from Trifecta and got invited to do NXNE in Toronto this June with the whole squad as well.
Of course we love to talk about food. What are some great Canadian dishes? We definitely love our poutines. Can’t go wrong with a poutine after a show or some Nanaimo bars. But breakfast with bacon, pancakes, and maple syrup is a must.
What was your favorite meal/restaurant growing up? Noodle soup bowls. Like Vietnamese pho or special rice dishes.
You tour a ton, so what is your favorite meal or snack on the road? Jeah has a big sweet tooth, so probably any type of chocolate. Like Reese’s Pieces or some Doritos jalapeño cheddar chips. Merv has his essentials like healthy granola bars to keep us going.
Finally, if you could be sponsored by one food/drink brand who would it be and why? It be red bull. Just because when we were in South by South West, the whole team went through 30 cans of it during the week. So I think we definitely could live off of red bull.