“I Enjoy Being Surprised!” The Endless Creativity Of Tony Shhnow

"Everything I do is raw..."

“Tony Shhnow is the kind of guy that orders a pizza and wings and makes sure everyone gets a slice.” Sitting across from me at The Boiling Crab in Calabasas, Tony vents to me about selfishness in the rap game. He’s trying to support everyone around him, and he desperately wants to see all of his peers succeed, but that same loyalty wasn’t always shared. He describes a DOOM-like chip on his shoulder, the bone breaking weight of his own influence receiving pushback from an audience not quite ready for Plugg.

Tony’s a modern interpretation of an early Lil Wayne, but instead of looking out for his Louisiana-based Hot Boys, Shhnow is pushing the careers of DJs, Plugg rappers and producers throughout Atlanta. Instead of releasing mixtape after mixtape on DatPiff or Spinrilla, Shnnow sporadically dropped projects on Soundcloud, from ‘Black Billionaire Club’ where he freestyled exclusively over Neptunes’ beats to DJ hosted albums a la DJ Nick and DJ Yung Rel. 

Born Carrington Wilson, Tony Shhnow is Weezy’s Atlanta contemporary within Plugg music at only 26 years-old. Alongside the pioneers of Plugg’s distinguishable sound, most notably MexikoDro, Shhnow raps over beats that ooze with a dreamlike playfulness, padded with minimal hi-hats, thick basslines, and lush melodies. Unlike trap music’s grittiness, Plugg producers such as Cashcashe and Stupidxcool and Poloboyshawty build digital soundscapes that lull you into a near-ambient trance.

From the album art to his new tape’s title, ‘Plug Motivation’, Tony Shhnow calls back to Young Jeezy and his deep-set roots within Cobb County, Georgia. Just as Young Jeezy did on his cover for ‘Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101’, Shhnow sits in a storage room amidst cardboard boxes filled to the brim with cash. But unlike Jeezy, Tony relinquishes himself of an iced out-chain, opting for more cash to be spread out onto his solid black hoodie. After all, Plugg music is for the head of the operation, and in this case, Tony Shhnow is the leader of Atlanta’s Plugg scene.

[Voice Memos] is better than a recorder.

I use that shit all the time. I used that shit when I first started doing my skits. It’s simple to just [click]. With the AirPods, you can sneak it. You never know if I’m recording or not; that’s some of my best skits.

Do you ever tell people you’re recording, or does it just come out on the album?

It just pops up. It’s seldom that I’ve told a person before. I really don’t like showing people my music before it comes out. I will if I respect your opinion or if you’re a close friend of mine, but for the most part, I want you to be excited when you hear it. I even try to surprise myself sometimes. I won’t listen to a project for like two months. I enjoy being surprised.

What’s your process for mixing?

Everything I do is raw. I record it and that’s the song. I might tune it up a little bit, but for the most part, it’s not really much. I’m just rapping.

You might  “just be rapping,” but within Plugg, you’re already a pioneer at the age of 26. How does that feel?

It’s surreal. I came from nothing; nobody really cared about me rapping. For me to be doing the Plugg and the trap type-shit, I was stealing MexikoDro’s beats. I never one day would think that I’m working with him on a project. It’s our project. I can’t even believe it, to this day. I’m just happy to be here.

How did you meet MexikoDro?

I think it was through Instagram. I just DM’d him and gave him his flowers. He pulled up on me that same day at my crib like, “I’m fucking with you, what’s up?”

Did you ask him to come through?

There’s no asking him. There’s no telling ‘Dro to do anything. He just does.

Would you consider the Plugg scene, and the artists within it, a tight-knit community?

Yeah, a little bit. We’re accepting of new people. Everyone has their own niche, but at the same time, we’re all Atlanta. Everybody has their place but it’s all for one thing. That’s why I have no problem with collaborating; we have no problem with interchanging producers. We’ve all got the same mindset: “We’re from Atlanta. We’re trying to make it.” There’s not much hatin’ going on.

What was it like growing up in Cobb County?

Most Americans can relate to a story about Cobb County. It’s the most American hometown. When I went on tour, I saw a lot of things and I felt like Cobb was just a Southern – every American kid has experienced something like that. It’s not necessarily the most rich or suburban. It’s normal.

Being a normal city, how did that influence you?

I appreciated it because I’m able to relate to a lot more people. My topics don’t necessarily be too dark in my projects or my topics won’t necessarily be too light, I’m playing into the general person – their wants and needs, I understand those because I lived off that.

It feels like you make everyday music, in that sense. Just a casual listen overall.

It’s my life. That goes into what I was saying with the general thing, I try to make life music – things you can just live with. You don’t have to be in a certain mood or be in a certain place in your life to listen to it. It can be something that you listen to on the daily.

I heard you were really big on Weezy and Gucci Mane growing up.

Favourite rappers. All time. Them and Young Dolph. Young Dolph, Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne, Drake, Jay-Z, Kanye.

I’m super into Wayne. Wayne is the greatest rapper ever to me. He was the definition of a rapper. Literally. Everything he embodied, it screamed rapper. Still to this day. It’s not a persona; it’s not a gimmick; he can’t even hide it. Since a kid, he’s been the definition of what a rapper is. I appreciate that as a rapper. He’s the poster child of rap, to me.

I saw you tweeted out some DOOM lyrics the other day. How about him?

I fuck with DOOM. I kinda just got into DOOM. I always respected him, but I just got into his music though.

I always respected his story. I feel like I can relate to his story. He walked around the rap game with a chip on his shoulder. I feel like I have a chip on my shoulder. I feel like the rap game’s fake; a lot of people counted me out. A lot of people didn’t expect me to be here, and now that I’m here, they’ll be like, “Ohhhh, you’re here!” That’s why I feel like DOOM, where, “Man, now y’all on my dick?” My back on the wall, all odds stacked against me. I’m spitting raps that I don’t even think you’ll give a fuck about. That’s how I feel, still coming up. This is for me. This is for me to advance what I think is the culture.

This ain’t no ‘Pac shit. I don’t expect y’all to play this in the club. I’m not expecting y’all to ride around and your radio. I don’t care about no co-sign, a n***a remixing it, I don’t care about none of that. I relate to DOOM because I feel like he didn’t care if you liked this or not, to him this is his art, fuck y’all. That’s how I feel about my music. I don’t really care about what y’all think. I’m doing it for me. Fuck y’all.

Everyone just cares about themselves.

I see that in rap too. I see that in the industry. Don’t get me wrong, I understand. I feel like I’m selfish in some aspects, but not as much as these rappers be. Rappers are the type of people to order food for themselves, order a lobster meal for themselves at the studio. Tony Shhnow is the kind of guy that orders a pizza and wings and makes sure everyone gets a slice. That’s not something to brag on, that’s literally what happens. I can’t even help but to think of everybody else. It’s annoying sometimes.

Have you always been into DJ-hosted albums?

I’m from Atlanta. I came from trap music, I came from mixtapes, that’s literally what I grew up on. Some people grew up on ‘Pac and Biggie, I grew up on Gucci and Jeezy. Wacka and T.I. and all of them, Lil Wayne. Some of them grew up on Jay-Z’s albums, I grew up on Lil Wayne’s mixtapes. My perspective on music is a little different than the average listener just because I grew up with that. DatPiff, Spinrilla – I even fuck with Soundcloud the way I do because it gives me that feeling. If you knew, you knew. If you didn’t, shit, you didn’t know.

How did Young Jeezy’s ‘Thug Motivation 101’ influence this album?

That was MexikoDro’s idea; he came up with the title. I just brought it to life.

Why does “Plug” in the title only have one “g” and not two?

I have no idea. I asked ‘Dro the same thing. Dro never responded to me and told me neither. I was talking to the cover art director like, “Uhhh…” I deadass was back-and-forth with the title for a long time because I had no idea. I see it spelled various ways. I have no idea what the official spelling of Plugg is.

What does Plugg music mean to you?

Trap music is the worker music – the guy who’s trying to earn his position at the business. Plugg is for the guy who owns the business. He is the guy. I already did my work. Now, I’m enjoying the fruits. This is the music I listen to while I’m enjoying my time.

When you were making this album, did you know you wanted beats from ‘Dro and Poloboyshawty?

I wanted to make sure this cast of producers was original Plugg, and if not original Plugg, the new wave of Plugg. I tried to keep strictly to the main cast like Poloboy, Mexiko, Stupidxool, Cashcache, etc.

Do you think the Plugg’s shifting at all?

The young guys are taking it over. We taking it over! It’s becoming something different. Even what I’m describing as Plugg, I established what Plugg was on ‘Plug Motivation’, but even then, my Plugg is different than the original Plugg. I’m talking about their cadences, their lyrics, the way the rapper did it, I did it in a different manner. I kind of made it a little bit more trap. I made it a little bit more trap than it normally is. I’m from the trap though, so that’s definitely where I was inspired from. That’s why I don’t like the term “PluggNB” because it’s Plugg. Y’all just need to accept that Plugg is so broad.

Why did you tap DJ Yung Rel again to host this project?

It was a space in the culture that was missing: the DJ’s position. I feel like a lot of glory went to producers last year, and even before that, the DJ had been pushed to the side for a long time. You can even ask Rel, he never thought there was a place for him like that in this new streaming era. I wanted to make sure he got a place so that the rest of the world could see that there’s a place for it.

Do you find yourself focused on regionalism within music? I’ve seen you with Detroit combos, other Atlanta artists, and sort of pockets of sounds exclusive to specific regions in the country.

Give me an example.

On ‘Reflexions’, you had Dilip and Zelooperz.

If I’m making a song with a person, I’ve kinda got this DJ Khaled thing going on – If I do a song with Drake, I don’t want it to be on a Metro Boomin beat, I don’t want it to be on a Kanye beat, I don’t want it to be on a Zaytoven beat, I want it to be on 40’s beat. And a 40 beat that Drake made. I want to bring your most talents out of you. If I’m doing a YG song, I want to do it with DJ Mustard; I don’t want to do it with a guy from my city. I want to do it with your guy. I want to make a true song. I want to be in your environment. Don’t get me wrong, you can come to my environment too, but if I’m looking to make a hit and I’m a fan of your music, I’m looking to work with your people. I’m not looking to just get you rapping on a song. I’m trying to create an aesthetic or an environment.

Do you consider yourself a gamer? I saw you have a Gamecube and a PlayStation 2.

I consider myself a gamer. I used to play games a lot, but not so much nowadays. The last games I was playing were Call of Duty and APEX. I just decided I didn’t want to play games anymore. I have a Switch now. I haven’t picked up a handheld controller in a while because I don’t want to get locked. I have an addictive personality. If I wasn’t rapping, I’d be doing whatever but I’d be the best at it though. I remember this is why I quit my job: I started noticing when I was working at this restaurant that I would fuck around and become manager one day, going so hard as I do at shit. That’s not what I want to do, but I know I could. I know if I played video games, I would fuck around and go on Twitch, really trying to play video games. But I don’t want to do that, I want to rap.

After listening to ‘Plug Motivation’, what do you hope for people to learn about Tony Shhnow?

He’s not better than you, he’s just different from you.

‘Plug Motivation’ is out now.

Words: Yousef Srour

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