Photo by Jack Rockliffe

Scan & Sus1er are a bit cheeky, a bit philosophical, and very online. They’re our Independent Artist of the Week, and the pair joined Lill Scott on Up For It! on Monday to chat about their long history of collaboration, their new single ‘Move’ and upcoming album, and why SoundCloud is such a crazy place.

The duo’s first collaboration was fittingly spontaneous, originating from a chance Instagram post from producer Sus1er:

“I put an Instagram story up when I was doing my first EP and I was trying to make a beat, and I couldn’t find vocalists. I really wanted a vocalist and Scan messaged me. I said “yeah sure,” so I sent him the track and he sent me back the most fire verse ever.”

Scan (vocals): We met through Facebook originally and then we were half friends before either of us ever made music. Then we interacted a bit over the internet, we were in some group chats together, and then it would’ve been 2 years passed that we didn’t interact at all and you posted that story.

And I can still remember [the Instagram story], “does anyone wanna get on a drill beat?” and I was like “yeah? Sure?” At that point I hadn’t worked with any other producers, so I was like “maybe he’s good, maybe I’m good” and that was when we made that song, ‘Second Wind’, that was on Sus1er’s Reconstruct EP, and the rest is history.

A scroll through their SoundCloud pages is a tour through hyper-modern takes on plenty of genres. Whether it’s the witch house-infused cloud rap of the 2021 track ‘RIVER STYX’, or the UKG and drill flipping single ‘Move’, it’s all tied together with an obvious attention to detail and appreciation for the internet. 

Sus1er: I’m on SoundCloud a lot and find a lot of music that I like, and connect to a lot of different people through SoundCloud because it’s such an accessible website, and there’s so much great music that hasn’t been found by the masses. 

Scan: Not everyone on there is necessarily connected as a community, but SoundCloud is a crazy place for nuts music. You find songs you hear on there with 250 plays and you’re like ‘how could this possibly make sense?’

The pair aren’t the type for half-measures. The beat for ‘Move’ sat in one form on Sus1er’s hard drive for over a year, and every 808 glide, pitched vocal chop, and cheeky lyric earns its place. But even though it’s obvious that Scan & Sus1er care about their craft, it doesn’t get in the way of having a good time:

Scan: [There are] a lot of things [in the lyrics of ‘Move’] that are jokes, cheeky things like “yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah we paid, Lil Baby ” because I like the song ‘We Paid’ by Lil Baby. I think that’s a really good song. 

It’s supposed to just be fun. Not necessarily make you laugh, but say ‘this is relaxed, we’re partying, we’re dancing’. Not thinking too much about it.

Scan & Sus1er’s debut album Trying to do Better drops soon (release date TBD). It’s dense with collaborations and features. It’s been in the works for years, and if the sneak peaks are anything to go by, it’s going to be a tour-de-genre of all things slick, modern, and fun. While your waiting for it, you can stream their full interview with Lill Scott up top, or listen to ‘Move’ here: