Sammy Adams

Mixing pop hooks with suburban party rap, Boston rapper Sammy Adams generated significant buzz in 2010 when his introductory release Boston's Boy instantly reached the summit of the digital hip-hop charts. Following a short-lived major-label deal that brought a glossy, mainstream sheen to his sound on the 2013 EP Homecoming, he reverted to independent imprint 1st Round Records for his proper full-length debut The Long Way in 2016, then explored tropical house, dubstep, and trap rap across several singles issued toward the end of the decade.

Born Samuel Adams Wisner, the former Trinity College soccer player from Hartford first attracted widespread attention in 2009 while still a senior by flipping Asher Roth’s hit “I Love College” into the irreverent “I Hate College (Remix).” Uploaded online under the name Sam Adams, the track quickly turned him into an Internet sensation. The following year he issued the underground mixtape Boston’s Opening Day, after which the Boston’s Boy EP climbed to the top of the digital hip-hop charts, propelled largely by the single “Driving Me Crazy.”

After signing briefly with RCA, Adams resurfaced in 2013 with the Homecoming EP and officially adopted the performing name Sammy Adams to sidestep any mix-up with the Boston brewery. That same year he dropped the radio-ready standalone track “L.A. Story,” written by Ryan Tedder and featuring Mike Posner. Departing RCA in 2015, he returned to 1st Round for his first official album, The Long Way, which arrived in March 2016 and contained “Helluva” featuring American Idol contestant Kat Nestel, “Love Again” with Madison Love, and “Electric Appeal” produced by Tiesto. The set of youthful anthems and party tracks reinforced his upbeat image, positioning him as a more college-friendly counterpart to G-Eazy. The reunion with 1st Round proved brief; he soon parted ways with the label. In 2017 Adams released the tropical-house single “Shining” and teamed with TEL YKast and Basko on the dance track “Driving,” then joined $MGGLR and Jayceeoh for the bass-heavy dubstep cut “Bandit.” Shifting back toward hip-hop, he issued the solo single “Action” in 2018.