Latrobe rapper prepares to head out on 2nd international tour

May 10—Sean Lewandowski started writing rhymes in high school after discovering hip-hop in the early 1990s, but he began taking it seriously after hearing Kanye West's 2004 record, "The College Dropout."

"It gave me the confidence to pursue rapping, because it was such a breath of fresh air and expanded my mind on what I could write with all the different subject matter on the album," said the Connellsville native, 36, who performs under the moniker Sean Ski.

"Over time, I started letting friends hear what I was writing, and their praises was the reassurance I needed to pursue it as a career," he said.

With multiple songs on Spotify receiving hundreds of thousands of streams, Lewandowski is preparing to head out on his second international tour alongside rapper Chris Webby, and is also in the midst of working on a new album.

Lewandowski, who lives in Latrobe with his 12-year-old twins, spoke with TribLive recently about making his way into hip-hop and how mid-pandemic obsession with the HBO series "The Sopranos" helped lead to his current success.

This interview has been edited for length.

Question: How did you connect with Chris Webby, and how did it lead to the tour you're preparing for?

Answer: I had been going back and rewatching "The Sopranos" series in 2021. I really became infatuated with it and would constantly watch different episodes daily. I decided that I wanted to write a fun song with all references from the show. In discovering an event called SopranosCon, I noticed that Chris Webby was a guest there and is a super-fan of the show. I thought it would be cool to have him on the song as well, especially with the strong core fan base he has. So I did a show with him at Mr. Smalls Theatre in December 2021, and we linked up earlier that same day at ID Labs studio in Pittsburgh and recorded the song ("Juiced Up"), which is my most successful to date.

We developed a friendship from there. Then, in 2023, he took me on my first tour to open for him, which included seven shows on the West Coast and 15 in Canada. That was easily the best experience of my music career, and I learned so much being on the road and from him specifically. I gained so many new fans from that tour and got a great reception each night, so much so that he's having me (join him on) part of his Canada run again this year, which includes a different part of Canada and only one repeat show from last year.

Q: How does performing in the U.S. compare with performing overseas?

A: They are both incredible, but I'd say there's a little extra energy with the fans in performing overseas probably, because they don't get to see U.S. artists that often.

Q: You're working on a new album. What can listeners expect in terms of the overall sound and direction?

A: Content-wise, this is really the hip-hop equivalent of a divorce album, so to speak, that you'll get in other genres. I'm taking a listener on a journey of all of those varying emotions that come with a long-term breakup or loss/tragedy in some regard. I hope it's therapeutic for the listener, as it was for me writing the autobiographical material. Sound-wise, it's all over the place. There's a good bit of live instrumentation as I wrote a handful of these songs with guitarists Stephen Gallo and Garrett Hunter as well as pianist Sam Brooks. Then there's also heavy hip-hop production from Big Jerm, Johnny Juliano and Moe The Natural.

The album features Wiz Khalifa, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Its Marly, Matchbox 20 guitarist Kyle Cook and more. It's slated for a late 2024 release. I'd say my goal this year and beyond is to keep touring and shopping this upcoming album to labels in pursuit of a record deal.

Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.