Samuel Robinson, better known by his pseudonym Samssun, is an American composer, visual artist, rapper, producer, arranger, activist, and CEO.
Born: September 25, 1974, Amityville, NY
Height: 6 ft
Albums: The Essential Paragraphs, Community Service, Community Development, Community Awareness
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Record label: Something2Say Communications
Spouse: Inés Robinson (m. 2010-Present)
Siblings: Eric N. Robinson, Sophia Fitz-Henley
Children: Samuel A. Robinson III, Emanuel O. Robinson, Aiyana F. Robinson
Samssun is the cousin of American singer, record producer, and record label executive Sylvia Robinson by way of her marriage to Joseph Robinson. Her Sugar Hill Records is credited as the driving force behind two landmark singles in Hip-hop; "Rapper's Delight" (1979) by the Sugarhill Gang, and "The Message" (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; which caused her to be dubbed "The Mother of Hip-Hop." Samssun is best known for his Underground catalog of music. Born to parents Samuel L. Robinson Sr. (Emporia, VA) and Linda Tribble-Robinson (Brooklyn, NY), Samssun was first inspired in Long Island, NY by his Uncle Jerry Robinson (J Swing, a DJ and member of MCA recording artists The Bushes Crew). Due to the less than righteous actions of their management, The Bushes Crew were shelved and released from their recording contract but an impression was already made. At an early age Samssun started writing poetry and lyrics, which was a talent that he hid from his father (a Pentecostal preacher). Too shy to play the forefront in public, he wrote for Wally Fuller who would say the rhymes while he beat boxed. They went by Kool Walski and MC Black as a duo calling themselves K.O. Posse. They made their first recording when they were both approximately eleven years of age. The session was engineered by Robert Mayo.
In middle school Samssun was in a group called Chemistry that had 3 emcees, a singer, and a reggae artist. After High school, he embarked on a solo-career. At Nassau Community College of Garden City, NY he met and teamed up with Alfonso Nurse who called himself Def (later known in the party circuit as Frei Speech). They called themselves Civil Outcast, before there was an Outkast. When Outkast began to release music on LaFace Records, Civil Outcast changed their name to CO 2000 (Clearly Observe 2000). CO 2000 were apart of an even larger faction M.A.D.D Productions (Making a dope demo), that later became Drama Klub. Drama Klub had members spanning from NY to Canada such as Prophets of Rage, Finx Fatal, Giggler, Spank, Cheeba Sessions, and a host of others. They recorded at an Amityville, NY studio then later with Kevin Powell and Bill Barnes of Brothers On Standby (from Huntington, NY) which later evolved into Rhino Management. CO 2000 shared the stage with De la Soul, Redman, Keith Murray, Common, O.C., Organized Konfusion, and others. Samssun had a few different Pseudonyms over the years: MC Black, Poetry, Mellodious, Mr. Mello, Mr. Moody, and Furious Rage. In 1995 his father passed away and it hit him hard. It was then that he changed his pseudonym to Samssun to honor his father. He got back into the groove and started recording in Copiague, NY at a studio owned by engineer Johnny Floyd. A good friend, introduced him to James DL Ellison & HB of the Basement show on WUSB 90.1 FM Stonybrook, NY college radio. It became like a second home to him.
A few years later, he was invited to join a group that Karl Swass aka Fizm the Master aka the Funky Rhymester (Producer of the Brothers Grymm featuring 2 Poetic and Brainstorm) was starting called The Last Emcees. During their course, The Last Emcees went to one of the Cold Krush Brothers Anniversary's at the Wetlands and got on the mic. That night began the start of a relationship with Little Rodney C of Double Trouble (Funky Four Plus One) in which an instant connection was made. They put together a set of shows in the Iconic Lennox Lounge at 288 Malcolm X Blvd Harlem, NY 10027. There they shared the stage with The Cold Krush Brothers, the Crash Crew, the Furious Five, Waterbed Kev, Double Trouble, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, DJ Red Alert, and many more. It was a learning experience for him to be among so many pioneers. Around the same period, Samssun became close friends with the co-host of FM Radio's Little George Show Rawl "Ralo" Henry. The Last Emcees, Fizm and Samssun soon recorded an acclaimed song called Gameday featuring De la Soul member Trugoy. Pastor Dave Spence aka Mister Bug from Dew Doo Man Records /RAL / Columbia recording artists Resident Alien helped them promote it. Not long afterwards, Fizm had the idea to form a crew composed of seven artists he was producing at the time called Street Scholars. It was during this time that a production deal with Koch Records was pending but due to personal turmoil the entire group disbanded. Samssun went on hiatus.
In 2004 Samssun founded and became the CEO of Something2Say Communications in junction with SR Junior Period Publishing ASCAP IPI# 527539336. He later met Producer, musician, CEO of I.Q. Productions, winner of the 1992 Abe Olman Scholarship from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, NCAA Division 1 Nassau Lions forward, and 2014 Hall of Fame inductee Darren A. Quinlan, who would be a pivotal presence in his career and lifetime friend. After engineering the recording of a song Samssun did with former Orpheus/Capitol Records recording artist Bervin Harris, Darren convinced him to return to writing, arranging, recording, and producing music. Kenny Smith, known by most as Zulu King DJ Lord Yoda X of the Legendary Crash Crew and manager of Rob Base and E Z Rock brought Samssun in when he joined the largest grass roots organization in the world, the Universal Zulu Nation (Chapter 25). Sometime later Samssun transferred to Chapter 16. In 2010, Samssun got married and started a family. Life shifted to focusing more on family, faith, and parenthood. Saturday November 12, 2012 at the Gramercy Theater in NYC while performing, signs that something wasn't right surfaced. Samssun couldn't breathe and he was lethargic (He would later discover he had type 2 Diabetes). The fruit of Darren A. Quinlan and Samssun's labor, (combined with the turntable skills of AyCE International) was the album "Community Service" released June 15, 2014. Their follow up album was "Community Development" released September 20, 2016.
Fellow artist Finsta and Samssun met after the release of "Community Service", and soon built a friendship and bond. Finsta is a founding member of the group Black Moon who with Bundy formed the group Finsta Bundy and was the voice behind cult independent rap classics like "Feel the High" and "Sunnyside," the Brooklyn-raised rapper Finsta played a crucial-if overlooked-role in the development of the sound of '90s hip-hop. An album sometime later was inevitable. "Community Awareness" was scheduled to be produced by Finsta as the final chapter in the Community trilogy. Scheduled to follow was the book Soundtrack for Fundamental African Centered Thought (Lessons And Solutions For African People by RaMessu Meriamun). Samssun has been in and out of groups, recorded a great deal of promotional material for underground radio, recorded independent vinyl, CD's, & downloadable releases, appeared on Soundtracks, and shared the stage with Hip-hop legends. He is known for conscious content, being vocal on several social and political causes, including community, family, police brutality, the systemic emasculation of the black man, spirituality, the need for racial equality, reinforcing verbal articulation, the idea of American exceptionalism and the status of African Americans as a whole. The collective of recording artists Finsta, Rellik, Tasheem, Bro. Abdul, and Samssun is known as Inanimate Objects.
