How Sean Rowe’s Music Changed Over the Past Year
For most kids, playing the recorder in elementary school is just another part of the curriculum, never to be touched again after first grade. For Bronx rapper Sean Rowe, his introduction to instruments in his elementary school music classes were what ignited his passion for music.
Sean grew up a huge music fan, spending a majority of his time listening to his favorite artists and playing instruments he was introduced to in classes. His favorite instrument to play was the viola, which he played throughout his time in middle school. He even regrets not continuing to play after it was no longer a requirement for school.
“After eighth grade, I kind of just stopped and I wish I didn’t. Once I was starting high school, my mind was really focused on rap and I didn’t understand how the two could coexist then. I hope to start playing it again and be like, the first rapper to rap over some violas,” Sean said.
His interest in music only grew as he got older and started getting into spoken word. His time writing spoken word, combined with his love for music, made him feel like he could make music as well. Influenced by Ab-Soul and Kendrick Lamar, Sean wrote and put out his first song in the summer before his freshman year of high school, entitled, “Superstar.”
“The song wasn’t even about anything if I can remember. I was just trying to be lyrical like Kendrick or Ab-Soul so I put a song out,” he said. “I don’t even remember if anybody listened to or even liked the song. I loved creating it though, so I just continued writing songs and stuck with it.”
Sean continued to make and release music throughout high school and college. In high school, he released songs on Soundcloud, including a short EP called “Homecoming” in 2016. In college, he got the opportunity to perform as the opening act for Bronx rapper, A Boogie, during Marist College’s spring concert in 2017. His music portfolio grew with the release of his most recent EP, “Front Rowe,” in 2020. Throughout this time, his creative process and lyrical content was pretty consistent, but over the past year, things have changed.
“The creative process for me is really weird for me now. I’m a little jaded when it comes to creating music due to me not really creating freely anymore,” Sean said. “The process becomes a lot more difficult when you’re relying on other people to enjoy your art.”
Sean describes the music he’s creating now as more depressing than it once was. Being that he writes from a very real place and his lyrics reflect everything he goes through at the time of creation, he notices that his music is a lot more mellow. “I was a lot more wide-eyed when I was making music for ‘Front Rowe’ and in high school. I was doing a lot, performing a lot, performing for A Boogie, I was waiting for my big break,” he said. He also understands that trying to turn his passion for music into a career means that he cannot make music solely for the sake of making music anymore. He has to rely on the consumers of his music to like what he makes, so there is a lot of second guessing while he is creating.
Although turning his passion into a career has been tough so far, he is still encouraged to continue making music.
“I just want to connect to people’s lives in a positive way,” he said. “As long as I’m doing that, it’s worth it.”
