Story by Katie Kelly
Photos c/o Spek Was Here
It’s raining when I arrive at the studio to meet Memphis trio Supa Glock Bros. Two of the three members, Spek Was Here and Dame Mufasa, are already there when I walk in. We start talking about anything and everything – the Kendrick vs. Drake beef, artists we’ve been heavy on, what’s new in Memphis – when the rain picks up and it starts to downpour. It’s suddenly the type of storm only a hot summer night recognizes, complete with thunder, lightning, and no visibility. “Hey, check on Co,” Dame suggests to Spek. “It’s crazy out there, I wanna make sure he’s good.” Spek replies that he’s already reached out to their third member (91’ Co) who confirmed he was safely on his way.
It’s an interaction that would stick out to me, not because of the overt display of consideration, but because I would later realize it was perfectly representative of who the trio were. Supa Glock Bros is more than three wildly talented musicians coming together for a fun side project. Supa Glock Bros is three wildly talented musicians who immensely respect each other both inside and outside the studio, which shines through in their art.
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Spek, Dame, and Co each grew up immersed in music, though their introductions to this world were very different. “I got my start making music literally on Guitar Hero World Tour,” Spek recalls. “I’m not even joking. Like, playing Guitar Hero World Tour made me realize that, damn, music is actually fun.” As for Co, he was looking for an outlet growing up. “You start rapping as a way to find your voice before you actually find it,” he shares. “So, I found my voice through trying to find my voice rapping.”
Dame’s interest in music was formed by two things: his mom and writing. “My mom was a teen mom so as she grew up on rap, I grew up on rap. She listened to a lot of NWA, Tupac, DMX, Three 6 Mafia…but she also listened to like Nirvana, Prince, and Phil Collins so I was exposed to a lot of different styles thankfully,” Dame says. “I also always liked words. I just liked reading and trying to write short stories as a kid. Then in middle school, I discovered I could freestyle – I could rhyme and think of words really fast. People were impressed by my rapping but for me, it was just easy.”
Though their paths differed, the destination turned out to be the same. The three each found themselves heavily involved in the Memphis art community. By 2018, Spek and Dame had linked up and started working together under Spek’s former imprint, Studio 88 Recordings. Around the same time, Dame met Co at an art show at Crosstown for Co’s Paint Me Gold collective. “I liked his art so I got tapped into his music stuff as well. I thought it might be lame, because when you rap yourself, you think everyone else who raps is whack. But I was like, ‘oh shit, bro actually hard.’ I mentally added him to my list of people to keep an eye on – both to work with and competitively,” Dame laughs.
After the three officially met, the music flowed almost instantly. Spek started creating beats specifically with Dame and Co in mind, and the two would spend their nights at the studio recording verses for his productions. Despite the seriousness they each took their art individually, there wasn’t a hesitation for any of them in collaborating. “We all respected each other,” Dame says frankly. “I knew Co was hard and I respected Spek as a creator. I’ve worked with a bunch of producers and engineers over the years and it was just always a different vibe with him. We’re different as a motherfucker, but we got the same taste artistically. It would be hard for me to find two guys who I vibe with so well and who I actually got this much respect for.”
Despite casually working together prior, it didn’t become a real project until the pandemic hit in 2020. Like most musicians at the time, the uncertainty of what the future held for artists forced them to grapple with some hard truths. “I was like legitimately going through an existential crisis,” Dame admits. “I felt that if I can’t create or perform, or if my music doesn’t matter…everything was different and I was like, what do I do?” Collectively, they all agreed that the one way to process everything and feel better was to record. Everything on the outside was changing, but the studio was still familiar. Among the safety of microphones and mix boards, Supa Glock Bros was born.
Speaking and spending time with Spek, Dame, and Co, it’s clear they are three very distinct individuals. When I ask how they blended their uniqueness into one unit as cohesive as Supa Glock Bros, I expected to hear about trials and tribulations or a difficult learning curve. Instead, they recount none of that. “I know in part of our core as a three-piece unit, there are things that we all identify with. That’s kind of, like, without question, right?” Spek explains. “We may have varying degrees of understanding or sentiments on these topics, lifestyle differences and similarities, but the one thing that draws us together is that we all share the common thing, and that is the Black experience. We live such entirely different lives from each other, but there’s always gonna be some varying degrees of overlap that’s gonna draw us back together.”
This is the foundation upon which all the other elements of the groups’ success rests on. With a shared vision, the group is able to create music, as they say, effortlessly. “Easily one of the favorite things about doing Supa Glock Bros is the fact that from jump street, this shit has been low effort -” Spek starts before both Dame and Co jump in to agree. “That’s the best part! It’s so fun and so easy, and that’s actually fire,” Dame adds.
Easiness and fun are two elements that are apparent when you listen to their music, but so is innate talent and natural chemistry. Spek’s mind creates beats made for Dame and Co to rap over. “Part of my homework is listening to these dudes rap, because I, being the engineer, should damn near know these songs better than they do, even though they’re the ones rapping on them,” he states. “So, I have to simply just listen and observe and connect the dots for certain lines. I have to be able to really take in the feelings of the emotions they’ve put on wax and either make a suggestion on how they can emphasize certain things better, or work the production to just make it even more expansive and dynamic than what it already is.”
For Dame and Co, working with each other as rappers only pushes their pens even harder. “It’s like being in a group project, and you don’t wanna be the one holding the group back,” Dame explains. “I know Co’s going to do what he needs to do, and if he doesn’t the first time, he won’t stop until he does. I’m the same way.”
Just like in their songs, Co seamlessly picks up on Dame’s thoughts. “I think when you have somebody creating this amazing production and someone’s whose rapping ability is top tier it pushes you. It’s no longer ok to just rap real good,” Co says. “It’s a whole other thing now. I want to experiment with flow pockets. In Supa Glock Bros, we get to do that here AND rap really good at the same time.”
Just because the journey with Supa Glock Bros has been refreshingly easy, doesn’t mean the trio have everything figured out. In fact, they humbly refute that. When we discuss their plans for the next year, they detail more music (follow-ups to their fantastic first projects, EP 1, EP 1.5 The Recoil, and EP 2), as well as more films and holiday-themed loosies, like the incredible recent drop “Spindependence Day Freestyle.”
Yet set among these plans, Spek offers another equally important element for the group’s future: patience. “We want to maintain this energy and consistency, while still continuing to be patient with ourselves. We’re gonna take time in just making the art and not rushing the process at all. I mean if we’re speaking on long term success, all long-term success takes time,” he muses.
“There’s a level of patience with yourself and others that has to come with it,” he continues. “If the shit don’t work out right now, it doesn’t mean it’s not gonna ever work out. There’s always more to learn. And that’s not like insatiability. To almost counter, you can find satiation in there always being more knowledge to learn, right? Because that insatiability comes from, like, I’m never gonna be satisfied versus I’m satisfied with always being in a perpetual state of learning.”
As the three continue sharing stories about their mutual admiration for one another, I start to think back to when I first arrived at the studio and how they checked in on each other during the storm. It’s clear they respect each other, they support each other, and they deeply believe in each other. But they also genuinely care about each other. It’s something real, and this understanding and trust permeates into the fabric of their music. Separately as artists they’re incredibly good. But together? Fuck, they’re invincible.
“I will put my money on this man’s production versus any producer in the entire city,” Dame says as he motions towards Spek. “And you not outrapping this man,” as he points to Co. “I just like quality and I understand quality. I feel like you can learn what good is, but when you naturally have ability and a taste level, you can’t settle,” he finishes.
Spek nods and reinforces the sentiment by adding one simple, yet defining thought: “steel sharpens steel.”
