TRiiBE culture correspondent Rome J. interviewed Squeak back in September 2020 on TRiiBE TV’s “We Real Chicago” show.
During the interview, Squeak said he got his start in music when his older brother, Frsh Waters, encouraged him to join Pivot Gang. Frsh is one of the co-founders of the group that was formed in 2012 with rappers Saba, Joseph Chilliams, MFnMelo and fallen bandmate John Walt. Pivot Gang producer Daedae, along with Squeak, joined the crew later.
“I make beats and I DJ. I made beats because I needed something to do while I was on house arrest. I just started making beats with gang [Saba and Dae Dae],” Squeak told Rome J. “I got into DJ-ing because my homies ain’t have no DJ. Like Walt, I was the first person to DJ for him.”
Squeak was also the DJ for other Pivot Gang members such as MFnMelo, Joseph, and Frsh.
“I DJ’d for all of them. They ain’t have DJs, so I said f— it. I’ll just teach myself how to DJ and then I started getting booked,” Squeak said, adding that he quickly recognized that DJs don’t get paid fairly. That pushed him to be independent and to curate his own DJ events.
“Then I just started making, like, five bands — minimum — a show just by myself,” Squeak said.
Squeak forged his own path in the music industry and was excited about wrapping up his first solo EP, En Route, with Pivot Gang bandmate MFnMelo. En Route was released in June with features from Frsh, Dinnerwithjohn (John Walt), Kobe Jxrdan and Rexx Life Raj.
“I’m about to release my first body of work outside of the Pivot album. I just got through shooting my first video and sh–, like, I’ma be rapping,” Squeak told Rome J. back in September 2020. “I ain’t on no P. Diddy shit neither. I won’t be dancing. I’ma a lowkey nigga and I like being low key.”
On En Route, Squeak said he wanted listeners to hear a different sound than what he was known for with Pivot Gang.
“I guess people be used to hearing like the super smooth sh– all the time but this [the] hardest sh– I got,” Squeak said.
Chicagoans are known for their grit and hustle, and Squeak was no stranger to hard work. He was inspired by his musical West Side predecessors Do or Die and Twista, and Chicago hip-hop contemporaries Lucki, Saba and Chance the Rapper.
“I’ma West Side nigga, an entrepreneur. Like, that’s who I am. This sh– just in me. We know how to get it. We know how to make sh– happen. It’s just us. It’s always just been in me too,” Squeak said. “My OG used to tell me that sh– all the time: ‘Since you been a kid, it’s seemed like you been here before.’”