RAHIEM SUPREME INTERVIEW: THROUGH THE EYES OF MEDORA: “Through the Eyes of Medora,” a dynamic series in Viper Magazine, shines a spotlight on visionary creatives shaping culture in and beyond the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia). This instalment features Rahiem Supreme, a Washington, D.C.-based rapper whose soulful, boom-bap sound and vivid lyricism capture the essence of the region’s vibrant Hip Hop scene.
Known for projects like ‘Swag Genie’ and ‘Lost Gemz’, Rahiem blends ’90s influences—Nas, Wu-Tang, and Mobb Deep—with his own eccentric flair, creating music that’s both nostalgic and forward-thinking. From local performances opening for legends like Nipsey Hussle and Rakim to collaborations with producers like Wino Willy, Rahiem’s journey reflects the hustle and heart of the DMV. This series explores his creative process, cultural roots, and impact, celebrating his role as a trailblazer among a new wave of artists pushing artistic boundaries.
What’s your name and where are you from?
My name is Raheim Supreme and I’m from Northwest. Uptown D.C..
What was the first moment you knew you were creative?
Probably like childhood, maybe elementary school. Just drawing and stuff, anything. I was a fan of wrestling, cars, Dragon Ball Z, animation, stuff like that. That was the beginning.
How do you feel your environment helps with your creativity?
Oh, that plays a big impact. On art imitating life and life imitating art. And It gives you something to talk about basically.
What does your day to day consist of?
Working, probably out doing deliveries, jobs with cars. I might just be chilling at home, making music. Probably skateboarding, playing basketball; pretty simple. It seems like the older we get, we have a little more simplified algorithm of our daily day.
What does the DMV need to help excel other artists or creatives such as yourself?
I guess we’ll be like LA and New York since they got labels there; they provide a lot of structure for getting things done. There are a lot of people – I don’t know if it’s just a smart conversation or they really want to do it – but go into settings and functions. They’ll say they want to collaborate, but no one ever does it. You might not be the person to be aggressive, or you’re the one that’s serious and they’re not. That’s a big red flag of what’s holding us back here. I guess we don’t have the resources like that. You’ve got a few videographers here, a lot of musicians and artists, but I don’t think we’ve got access to all the things that you have out of state because it seems like they have stuff at a way higher success rate. It’s hard to name everything off the top of my head, but I think we lack structure or we don’t have a place for people to get a lot of things done. It’s kind of like scattered individual people, but it’s not actual companies or curation of teams.
It’s a complete infrastructure and also to a system to get things done.
Marketing, PR, videos, interviews, a whole nine.
The DMV is known for its hustle, but also systematic challenges. How do you navigate through the struggles, the gatekeeping, everybody not having the same equal opportunities. How do you balance through that?
One, you’ve got to know what you’re trying to do. My thing is easier because I know exactly what I want out of this. So the question before that too, it’s like some people don’t really know what they want to do, so it’s kind of wasting our time. So I’m a unique artist, I can make universal music, or I make niche music that’s my trademark. I knew that I’ve got full freedom to do whatever I want, which is a plus. But it can also be a hindrance because it’s very niche. Okay, I know exactly how to market myself, I know the people similar to me fishing on SoundCloud or something and the algorithm shows you everybody. So I’m going for producers, I’m going for artists. It might not be too much of my particular sound but it is Individuals and communities.
My subject matter, I do everything I’m talking about, so I need to go around it somewhere. DC people working at the shops, I gotta go around to do the plant based food, herbal stores. So I had to piece all that and I had already noticed in my mind before… I didn’t stop here because this is just here. I don’t even think they’re holding me back here. Everybody is clicked up in different states and they might not know you, but it’s relationship based and you have to build a relationship. I couldn’t really dictate here, I’m just seeing clubs and eating things every weekend. So I know that’s not going to work for me, I’ve got to be reaching out to out of state, reaching out to overseas and navigating through that.
To put that together and make your own thing outside.
Just to keep motion going, because here you might not see me perform every few months or a year or two, but I had other things going on everywhere else.
Do you feel like your style reflects your music?
Oh yeah, for sure.
When it comes to writer’s block or creative block, what’s your go to solutions?
Don’t do nothing, you gotta recharge. Go do some activity. Do something that you use in your mind. Whether you’re in a challenge, play video games, go do a job. Go hang out, go dating, do activities. I go indoor rock climbing. I go on little trips, like, “okay, I ain’t going to drive eight hours away, but let me drive two or three hours in Richmond or something like that. So it’s like you’re just decompressing and trying to recharge back up. You’re kind of burnt out, in terms of being creative.
You’re constantly balancing vision and survival. What’s the toughest sacrifice you’ve made for your craft and how does it shape you today?
I would say funding because I’m just like everybody else, I’m checking and checking it. I’m going off will and passion and praying they located this joint. As long as I’m putting my energy and time in this joint, taking strides, taking steps, then every step counts. But I sacrificed so much, I don’t even know how much money at this point, but I definitely feel like that’s one of the joints – money and time – because you don’t get it back. I’m about 12 or 13 years old and I ain’t keeping track, so I only imagine 13, 14 years and I’m not going to get it back. At this point, it’s really all a passion because we go through culture shifts every five years. They’re not even making money like they used to signing people. They’re probably not looking to sign you, probably on TikTok maybe. So you gotta be in your heart and your mind like, “okay, if I don’t make it mainstream, if I could just get it enough where I can be afloat so when I sell merch and release stuff, my fans support me. That’s the bare minimum as long as it’s therapeutic, as long as I’m able to make this and put it out; I find joy in that. So you gotta have these passions, whatever we were into artistically we’re happy. Okay I might not be the person that gets rings and all that, but I’m here to dedicate this to it.
That’s a fact.
‘Til I can’t play any more type shit.
That’s what it Is. The love of the game. Do you have a top five of DMV artists you’re listening to right now?
Oh, yeah. For sure. Wifi Gawd, El Cousteau, Tae Hendrix, Dreamcast Moe… well not really a top five.
Collaboration being the heartbeat of global creative culture. What’s the wildest, most unexpected collaboration you love to pull off? And how would it bridge the DMV to the world?
I really want Alchemist, I feel like that would be crazy.
We need that. If I could do that for you, I would do that for you. What do you feel is your favourite part about performing?
The crowd and the stage set up. I’m one of the people, that actually like that. I’m standing on speakers. I’m gonna walk through crowds.
Would you count yourself as a true performer?
For sure, because it’s fun to hear something you made and record it and it sounds good. How do you sound in your mind? Sometimes it might come out as trash, but it sounded good after you recorded it and now I can’t wait for me to see how people like it.
What is the first song that you want people to listen to you by you?
‘Luv life’.
What tape was that?
‘The Nine Diagrams’.
All right, my man. Yeah, that’s it, I appreciate you.
I appreciate you, man.
