Snipe Young’s Big Night at the Grammy’s: ‘Icing on the Cake’

Birmingham’s Snipe Young had Grammy victories this month in four major categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Music Video, and Best Rap Performance. (Provided)
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By Marika N. Johnson | For The Birmingham Times

Birmingham’s Snipe Young continues his haul of Grammy Awards. It was his innovative sound design on Kendrick Lamar’s breakout diss track, “Not Like Us”, that earned Young Grammy victories this month in four major categories: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Music Video, and Best Rap Performance.

Snipe told the Birmingham Times this week he was not expecting such a sweep at the Grammys “but it definitely was the icing on the cake.” And while watching the show he realized it’s time that he “gets ready to deliver his acceptance speech beginning with I’d like to thank God and my parents…” he said.

Birmingham’s Snipe Young continues his rise in the music industry. (Provided)

“My parents allowed me to be,” Young said in a previous interview. “They never doubted me or pushed me toward anything other than my passion they believed in me from the very start. I started playing drums in the church around 4 or so and they made me feel like I was a touring musician from that point forward. My mother (Myra) and Father (Lawrence) are a class act.”

Snipe grew up in the Central Park community and spent many summers in Bessemer where he is a graduate of Victory Christian Academy. He was also once part of a Christian rap group that included fellow Birminghamian Sebastian “Pynk Beard” Kole who also picked up a Grammy this month.

Young, 34, a multi-talented force in the music industry, wears many hats, excels as an engineer, music producer, songwriter, and sound design engineer.

His Grammy success story began in 2016 when he contributed to Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album, which won numerous awards and earned him his first Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album. The project also secured major accolades, including the 2017 BET Award for Album of the Year, the 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album, and the 2017 Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Album.
Reflecting on his role, Snipe explained, “As a sound designer, I use recording techniques, editing software, and audio engineering to create sounds that enhance the mood and atmosphere of a project.”

His success continued in 2017 with music production and songwriting credits, alongside co-writer Goldie, on Chris Brown’s Indigo album on “Girl of My Dreams” and “All On Me”. The hit single No Guidance was nominated for Best R&B Song (but did not win) at the Grammys but achieved notable commercial success, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Billboard Top R&B Albums, and Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

His latest Grammy triumph with Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” only further cements his reputation as one of the industry’s premier sound design engineers.

Snipe Young’s Grammy success story began in 2016 when he contributed to Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album, which won numerous awards and earned him his first Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album. (Provided)

Here’s a little more about the Birmingham native, in his own words, from previous interviews:

Give us some details about you and your story.
Well, my musical journey began at a very early age in Birmingham Alabama as a preacher’s kid in church playing drums. Being as young as I was people were shocked at the rhythm that I had early on and I began touring with choirs and even filling in for my mom’s singing group ‘Divine Inspiration’. One day after a rehearsal, Tamber Kaye Hill heard me playing a song they used to sing in worship that I learned by ear on piano and she showed the proper way to play the chords and from that point forward, I was hooked.

“I began producing and writing songs after that and sharpening my skills and trying to compete with the greats in the business even while in my small town. At this time, I stepped into the artist space and began rapping in this Christian rap group ‘DK’ part of supergroup ‘The SYF Family’ where we toured the southeast and built a nice following. But in all of this, I knew my dreams were gonna need wings so I started going out of state working on my production skills. It was tough because back home, I was responsible for recording and producing 85 percent of the talent but that still wasn’t feeding the hunger. So, after a few trips to L.A., I decided to move to California and start ov

I linked with a producer that I met in a session on one of my trips out here named Theron ‘Neffu’ Feemster. I began creating sounds for Neffu for his projects he worked not knowing at the time it was called sound design. That relationship led to me learning a new skill and I began working with Native Instruments and Akai creating drum expansions for their users, as well as continuing to design for Neffu and other major acts which led to me winning my first Grammy Award in 2016.

Since then I have worked with some amazing people and on some nice TV shows and Films. I now have a label ‘The Nine22 Music Group’ and we have been doing a lot of synch work and releasing albums. But yet in all of this, my hunger is still there, so where I am today pales in comparison to where I want to be tomorrow.

Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, It hasn’t been a smooth road at all. There were times when I quit for like an hour, times when you just become depressed because you work so hard to get your shot but for some reason, you don’t get a fair shake. One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn was taking all the no’s because you only need one ‘yes’, once I understood this I started to see the ‘no’s’ as ‘not right now’s.’ It’s challenging being from the South here because people don’t really understand my way of speaking and the way of thinking is from Alabama. Also dealing with the misconception of how it is where I’m from, I’ve had people ask do we have paved streets and do we have horses on dirt roads.

Can you give some background on your music?
I’m a producer, songwriter, sound design engineer, we also have a roster of artists under The Nine22 Music Group: Josephine Clarke, Rej Archi, Dani, Sly Slim, and Code Newton. We specialize in delivering a quality product on all fronts. As far as the producing, songwriting, and sound design I’ve worked with Chris Brown, Beyonce, Sofia Reyes, Fox (Empire), Tim Jonson Jr., Ghostface Killah, Eamon, Ocean’s 8, Native Instruments, Akai, and a few more. The Nine22 artists have been responsible for the music used in the UMC/Netflix series Craig Ross’ Monogamy.

How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Well, as a kid I witness my father go to work on rotating shifts at a plant. Early on, I noticed that no matter when his shift changed, he was always up and ready to get to it. My job just happens to be my passion so I enjoy working and I can outwork some of the best. The way I think of it if I’m not working somebody else is and they are getting steps ahead.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I would have to say three of my most important qualities would be compassion, ambition, and diligence. As far as skills and areas of knowledge I will say the ability to adapt and learn would be one. The second one would have to be bending, identifying, and understanding sound, as a producer I honed this skill and used that knowledge to venture over to the sound-design space. Lastly, is my ability to imagine (my Imagination) with imagination you can experiment and explore different worlds of melody and sound.

If you are early in your journey I encourage you to study the people before you and broaden your audio landscape feel free to imagine and try things that may not be of the norm. Think about the imagination of a child and how they will become whatever element they feel whether it’s a superhero or a boat! Just be free and always remember to apply the principles of your craft then you can see it, believe it and be it.

boldjourney.com, voyagela.com contributed to this post

Contact Info:

Website: www.snipeyoung.com

Email: snipeyoung@snipeyoung.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snipeyoung/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/snipeyoung

Twitter: https://twitter.com/snipeyoung

Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmO-YQ0BCQ7Zr3CiasNUjw

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