There’s no rulebook for making music when you’re recording freestyles on your phone without even a pair of AirPods. But that’s exactly where HungPhillet started, and the lack of gear didn’t slow him down.
The independent artist, born in Saigon and raised in Ghana, is currently based in Senegal, where he’s carving out a lane that pulls from UKG and house-driven rap. It’s a sound shaped by constant movement, both geographic and musical, with Portuguese influence woven in through his ongoing collaboration with DJ GuerrAA.
His origin story is refreshingly unglamorous. A friend’s producer back in Aveiro, Portugal made him a freestyle beat, and HungPhillet just went for it. No mic, no proper headphones, just a phone and SoundCloud. “I was just making music for fun,” he says. That changed a few months ago when he borrowed a friend’s microphone and dug through old beats from DJ GuerrAA that had been sitting in their files.
The result was “Single,” a track clocking in at 2:13 long he recorded multiple versions of, tweaking effects on Bandlab until it clicked. “Probably the best song that we will make,” he calls it, though with new material already in the works, he may end up topping it. After sharing it within their circle and dropping it on SoundCloud, they pushed it to Spotify, where it quickly found its way to a West African audience through the connections they’ve built there.
His approach to rapping sits somewhere between floating and purposeful. “I tend to bounce over the top of the beat rather than sending a strong power voice,” he explains. “I use the beat more as a means of sending the message and evoking emotional responses.” He cites Dom Corleo, Lon3r Jonny, and Molly Santana as influences, drawn to their shorter songs, limited vocals, and ability to make backing tracks carry emotional weight.
Right now, HungPhillet is working on an EP tentatively titled “Saudade.” The project will feature two more tracks in the vein of “Single,” plus a Portuguese-style rap that leans drill, and another with a UK Bassline house rap feel. Singles should drop in the coming weeks, with the full EP expected sometime between late June and early July. Video projects are also in the pipeline.
Most artists spend years trying to figure out what they sound like. HungPhillet, working across continents with borrowed gear and beats from friends, seems to have stumbled into it by not overthinking it. That kind of clarity usually takes longer to find.
Follow HungPhillet on Instagram and stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer.
