Unsigned Hype: Snupe (Extra Prolific)

18-year-old Snupe of East Oakland, California was the Unsigned Hype feature in The Source magazine's February 1993 issue. It was always going to be tough for Snupe to make a name for himself when a much larger rap figure had an identical sounding nickname, as even in early 1993 Source writer Matty C predicts that "it's not going to be easy" to differentiate himself from a young Snoop Doggy Dogg of nearby Long Beach, who had been brought to the forefront of the hip hop world through his guest appearances on Dr. Dre's The Chronic which was released only three months prior. In fact, Matty C spends the entire first paragraph of Snupe's Unsigned Hype feature talking about the name similarities, making it even harder for Snupe to make a name for himself when his supposed "big break" was talking about another rapper. He then goes on to talk about Snupe's membership in the Hieroglyphics collective, stating that it will be possible to "peep Snupe on Casual's and Del's forthcoming albums" (Snupe produced "You're in Shambles" and appeared on "No More Worries" for Del's No Need for Alarm, but did not appear on Casual's album Fear Itself). Regardless of his strong connections with already established hip hop artists, Snupe gets props for his "strong 3-cut demo of innovative Hieroglyphic hip-hop", which "all skillfully exibit Snupe's laid-back jazzy vibe as he gets lyrical with a country East Oakland accent" (the article fails to mention Snupe's upbringing in Houston, hence the accent). Matty C points out that, "unlike most Unsigned Hype artists", Snupe has an advantage on getting a record deal due to the "ties with his crew".

It turns out Matty C's predictions were almost correct. Snupe did attain a record deal not too long after his Unsigned Hype appearance, but not as a solo act. Instead, he and DJ Mike G signed to Jive (the label of fellow Hieroglyphics members Souls of Mischief and Casual) as the duo Extra Prolific. In 1994, they released their stellar and highly under appreciated debut album, Like It Should Be, which is performed exclusively and produced predominantly by Snupe himself, with Mike G's only contribution to the album being the production on the intro. Jive cleansed itself of the Hieroglyphics members not too long afterwards, dropping all three affiliated artists from the label. In 1996, Extra Prolific released the album 2 for 15 on Security Records, which was only pressed in 500 copies. Mike G contribute to the album at all, let alone appear on the cover, and so it appears that Snupe was using the already-established Extra Prolific name for himself. Following this, Snupe and Hieroglyphics split "due to musical differences". The Hiero press release comedically bluntly states that "the crew decided that Snupe would be better off his own", very obviously meaning that his departure from the group was probably due to something greater than just musical differences. Regardless, Snupe continued making music, releasing his next album, From Block to Block, as the slightly altered Extra Pro in 1998, marking a reunion with former partner Mike G who receives a credit as a separate artist (the album is credited to Extra Pro & Mike G). That same year, Extra Pro released Master Piece as a solo act on Snuper Records, which is an obvious throwback to his original stagename.

Then Snupe disappeared and did not release any music until 2013.

After a 15-year departure from the music scene, Extra Prolific returned in 2013 to release the digital-exclusive Royalty. Its one review on iTunes gives the album a one-star rating and mentions that "Extra Pro has gone off the deep end and landed in a giant pool of Faith", criticising the fact that "literally every song is religious". Snupe was no stranger to religious references in his early work ("First Sermon" from LISB is an obvious example) so this shouldn't come as a surprise that as he's grown older he's become more reliant on these references.

One thing really incredible about the Hieroglyphics collective that I think is often overlooked is the fact that these dudes were so young when they were releasing material in the early-to-mid-1990s that is now universally regarded as classic material. Snupe was one of these young dudes and I think it's a real shame that he never received the same attention that his partners received. Whether it was due to his Snoop Dogg-reminiscent stage name, releasing music as a duo under Extra Prolific, or releasing solo material under the names Extra Prolific and Extra Pro, there was definitely some odd reason as to why Snupe never attained the hype he seemed destined to achieve when he was starting out, because there was definitely never anything lacking with the music.

Edit: This article previously incorrectly stated that Del was signed to Jive. He was the one Hieroglyphics artist signed elsewhere during major label days and instead had his contract handled by Elektra/Warner.