Snow Settles In
By: Chris Lamb
November 9, 2000
In 1993 Jurassic Park was a monster movie and the Chicago Bulls NBA champions. Grunge rock was in fine form and airbags were the newest car safety devices since front-wheel drive. 1993 was also enthralled with the relatively new sound of rap and that year’s biggest rap song was undoubtedly Informer, a worldwide number one hit by Snow.Snow recorded Informer as a troubled youth and his life instantly transformed from troublemaker into pop star. Fame and money followed in the wake of the single, taking Snow around the world to promote and perform his debut album “12 Inches of Snow.”
Born Darrin O'Brien, Snow grew up in the Allenbury projects in North York, a subsidized neighborhood of the Greater Toronto Area. A school dropout in grade eight, Snow immersed himself in Toronto’s street culture, acquiring a criminal record and an interest in music. Reggae and hip-hop were particular favorites and Snow developed a unique rapping sound that became known in the East Coast music scene. While on vacation in New York Snow began recording “12 Inches of Snow” with producer MC Shan. The album was released and the first single, Informer, found heavy rotation on radio and TV.
"Informer" sat at #1 on the Billboard Singles Chart for seven weeks straight in 1993 and is entered into the Guinness Book of World Records twice - as the Biggest Selling Reggae Single in U.S. History and Highest Charting Reggae Single in history.
Two other albums followed “12 Inches of Snow,” Murder Love in 1995 and Justuss in 1997 but Snow wasn’t producing hits like he did in ’93. His decision—take time off, get a new manager and a new record company, record a new album and claim 2000 as his own.
Read below for an exclusive interview with Snow as he talks about his new album “Mind on the Moon” featuring the single “Everybody Wants to be Like You” and his new life as a father.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Snow, what have you been doing since your last album in 1997? We haven’t heard much from you.
Snow: I just took time off with my daughter, spent time with her, then I said, ok, and I got rid of my old managers, got out of my contract, got a new deal with Virgin, picked up new management and started writing a new album.
So you’re happy with the new direction you’re going in?
Snow: I’m happy with the new direction my life is going in. The single is doing really good and I’m proud of that but I’m just happy in myself. I’ve changed to become a better father. Someone she can look up to. I’m doing good. I’m more focused, more positive.
You’ve termed your new sound “soda,” why?
Snow: Well, I hate that word ‘pop.’ When I did Informer I had no idea that anyone would even like it and then all of a sudden I’m a pop star. But I don’t write pop music. There’s a little R&B, a little reggae, everything in a mix because that’s how I grew up. I was brought up on rock n’ roll and hip-hop. My mother, she got me into the reggae and I guess it shows in my music. I just add it all in.
To get into your album more, “Mind on the Moon,” where did this title come from?
Snow: I got into astronomy about a year and a half ago. I bought a big telescope and I was looking at the moon while a friend of mine took my picture. Usually I’m posing for a picture and I didn’t know he was taking the picture--my mind was on the moon. We thought that was a good title for a song and then I thought, “I’m going to name my album that.” It explains where my head is at, where my mind is at.
Looking at the lyrics to “Mind on the Moon,” you still seem to be talking about your youth. Are you still inspired by street culture?
Snow: Well, this album was made with a guy who grew up three doors down from me all my life, so we’d just sit there and come up with stories.
But The Plumb Song is very different. It’s very philosophical. How did you come up with these lyrics?
Snow: XXX wrote that. He’s a rapper from Queens, New York City. He’s in the same state of mind that I’m in right now, so…I can remember growing up with my dad (my mom and dad are separated) and he’s say, “Come on, let’s go up to the country,” and I be “Noooo,” I despised the country, I’m a city guy. But now that I’m older, that’s where you’ll find me all the time, walking through the woods. That’s what my friends and I do all the time, walk through the woods. So, you know, I’m a city man but my heart keeps taking me to the secluded countryside.
What do you find in the country that isn’t in the city?
Snow: No people. Like in Jamaica, the people who live in Kingston will go and hide themselves away in the mountains to become more spiritual and concentrate on that. That’s what I’ve been doing. It feels good, no one’s around and in the nighttime the stars are out. Especially on a holiday like October 4th--it’s my own holiday.
You’ve made your own holiday?
Snow: Yeah, think about it though, when’s the last time anyone made up a new holiday? So I’ve got October 4th and it comes out just before Thanksgiving. There’s a little bit of competition with Thanksgiving but I think I can outdo it.
What’s your holiday called?
Snow: Natural Light Day. Me and my friend and my dad were up just north of Toronto. My dad took us on this walk and ‘schooo’ the Northern Lights came up and it was amazing. Jupiter was up, Saturn was up and Polaris. There was a shooting star that came ‘schoom’ like this (demonstrates with his hand) over the Milky Way and the moon was over here. So it just seemed like a natural decision to make it into a holiday with all these fireworks.
That’s pretty cool. Now, I want to talk to you about your past as a troubled youth and into 1993, when you had a number one song with Informer. How did that affect you?
Snow: It just gave me more money to drink alcohol.
Really?
Snow: Yeah. But it’s not like I wish I never had that hit. I’m glad that I did because it opened the door for me. This is the only thing I can do with my life. Informer came out and I was able to buy a house and give some money to my family and stuff. But there were a lot of problems. I was hotheaded, just came out of jail, and then had a number one hit. I didn’t know how to react to it. So I’m going to Germany, here and there, everywhere, and it’s like, I don’t know how to deal with this. It wasn’t like I had a song that did ok on the charts, do a few interviews to get warmed up, this was a big hit and I wasn’t too good with talking to people. I’d just gotten out of jail. So I was hotheaded, drinking on the road…
I’m sure just being on the road leads to that lifestyle.
Snow: Yeah. So now I can’t wait to get on the road, I don’t drink and it’s going to be full-form.
It seems that your life is taking a new direction and I’m assuming that this could be because of your daughter.
Snow: I’m enjoying it so much. We’re best friends. We’re singing music and she’s into astronomy like me, and it’s not like I push her into it saying, “Come on, you gotta do this,” she wanted to know about it. Me and her, I’m just really happy. And that difference is in my music, you can tell the change through the album.
I’m sure being a father encourages settling down, how does this affect you as an artist who sings and raps about street culture?
Snow: I still have the roughness. I still know a lot of rough people; you know what I’m saying? So I’m still connected to the streets but I’m not connected in a way that’s going to get me into trouble.
What’s your favorite song on your new album?
Snow: It varies. I’ll like this song one day, then I’ll like this song and then this song. Right now it’s probably “Nothin’ on Me.”
Where I recorded the album, it was an hour outside of Boston. It was a thousand acres; you couldn’t see another place, just rolling hills and stars. Aerosmith was in the next studio playing and we’d ride horses. I went horseback riding everyday. It put my mind at ease. I went fishing and I hate fishing too! But I was fishing and I was thinking, “I feel sorry for these fishes…then I thought, I know what I can do, these fishes are trying to kill my worm so they’re just as bad as me. So it helped me catch them.
Your also an actor and have actually scored a good role next to Robert DeNiro. Tell me about your role and your new movie, “Prison Song.”
Snow: It’s a ghetto concept. I know a rap group who knew the casting director and he said, “Yeah, I’m looking for some white guy who knows music,” and they said, “Why don’t you get Snow?” And I had been kicked out of America and had just been allowed back in and they said, “Alright.” They phoned me up and wanted me to audition for this movie, sent me the script and I saw it was produced by Robert DeNiro. It was a co-starring role and I auditioned and got the part. I was down there with Mary J. Blige and Elvis Costello who also star in the movie. It comes out in April or March 2001.
So do you want a serious acting career?
Snow: I don’t know. If I can convince myself that I did a good job, see myself and say, “Yeah, I’m good enough to learn,” then I’ll maybe get into it. But it’s hard work, getting up at five-thirty in the morning. I’m used to getting up at five or six o’clock in the afternoon and now it’s like, five-thirty. So, maybe…
Snow, what do you have to prove over the next two years?
Snow: I’ve got to prove to me that I’m a good dad. That’s the only thing I’m trying to prove.