A 2006 graduate of Wayland High School, musician Sam Adams (real name: Sam Adams Wisner) is the latest hip-hop superstar, topping the iTunes chart with his new EP Boston’s Boy. However, his rise to fame has not been without scandal. He was nicknamed “Scam Adams” after being accused of purchasing his own CD just to improve sales.

WSPN caught up with Adams to discuss his career, his music, and his time at Wayland High School. Portions of the interview can be heard in the video above, and the interview in its entirety is below.

WSPN: We know that you’re on tour right now: Summer Jam is this weekend and the House of Blues is coming up. What’s your favorite venue that you’ve played at so far?

SAM ADAMS: Probably Bamboozle in New Jersey. It was pretty big, and the crowd was just ridiculously loud, so I ‘m looking forward to Summer Jam ’cause it’s basically like Bamboozle in Boston, but a little bigger.

WSPN: What’s it like to know that you’re going to such a big concert like that?

SAM ADAMS: It’s cool you know. You don’t really know what to expect at first, ’cause you know so many people are buying tickets to see Drake, B.o.B, everyone else that’s headlining. But then when you do a show like Bamboozle, you see that you have your own supporters and own followers that bought tickets just to come see you. I think for a lot of other artists that haven’t had as much live experience with shows, it’s probably really nerve-wracking ’cause its like, “Holy s—, I’m about to be on the same main stage as all these other people.” I don’t know, everybody else is just a person. The whole celebrity thing doesn’t really get to me.

WSPN: When is your mix-tape, Party Records, going to be released?

SAM ADAMS: Party Records is still up in the air. We’re going to London to finish it in about two weeks. We have a digital release on iTunes, dropping four new songs that pretty much complete Boston’s Boy. Then the physical package will be distributed in stores. I’d imagine probably the end of summer. If not summer, when people go back to school for sure.

WSPN: There have been some accusations about “Scam Adams” and purchasing your own music, but that has been disproved. Why do you think people were accusing you of that?

SAM ADAMS: Jealousy. I mean when someone’s doing something right that you’re not doing, and you’re in the same field, you’re in the same business, it’s a lot easier just to point fingers than to actually research it for yourself. It’s a lot easier just to go with someone’s story. Scandal sells.

I mean, people could have preached on the fact that I actually sold that many records, but a lot of people didn’t want to believe it – whether or not it’s because they didn’t like my stuff. Everyone just sort of had their own theories.

Most people in the music industry still don’t believe that I didn’t buy my record. It sort of just comes down to your opinion of music, and also knowledge of the music industry and lack thereof. A lot of people have different theories but they’re all wrong.

WSPN: What are your plans for finishing college? You’ve always been saying “I’m going to finish college”; that’s a big thing to you, but are you still graduating? What’s your plan?

SAM ADAMS: I’m definitely going to graduate, I don’t know when. I’m guessing that I’ll probably get some independent study classes in the next couple semesters, maybe next summer. It’s sort of one of those things that you’ve got to strike a little fire while it’s hot, just to keep your fans and keep people interested. I’m definitely going to get my diploma. I don’t know if I’ll actually walk at a graduation, I don’t think that that’s too important to me, but yeah, I’m definitely going to finish. I’m only like two credits away from finishing, so not finishing would be stupid.

WSPN: I know you went to five high schools in four years and stuck it out at Wayland. What’s your favorite memory from being at Wayland?

SAM ADAMS: From being at Wayland? Probably just all my boys. I’m still pretty close with all my boys. I’m a big supporter, big fan of loyalty, so having boys that actually stick up for you is pretty cool.

WSPN: You wrote a song, I think it’s called, “Friday Night Lights”, about Wayland High School football games. Was that your first song? Tell us about writing that and producing that.

SAM ADAMS: Yeah, it’s called “Warriors”. I sort of wrote that as a joke for Chris Doran and Phil Hastings. It got to be a real song, and then I finished it and put it out and people loved it. I never went to a studio and did it, but I just wrote it in my room, recorded it in my room, switched up a little beat that one of my boys had sent me, and put it out and people loved it.

WSPN: In your song “Just Love Here” you sort of talk about being embarrassed to play your songs, it sounds like at Wayland High School, and how you were kind of insulted by a lack of respect for you as a musician. Is that how you feel?

SAM ADAMS: Not at all. That song actually wasn’t about Wayland at all. It was just about the music and music in general. More [about] people in the city actually, ’cause when I grew up in the city I was basically the minority in my neighborhood. I was embarrassed to f—in’ put something out that someone could take and critique ’cause I wasn’t confident at the point.

WSPN: There’s this whole thing about being a white rapper. Do you think that takes away credibility from you? Do you think it adds? What do you feel about that?

SAM ADAMS: I don’t think of myself as white rapper. I think of myself as a white musician, so that sort of changes everything when you think of it that way. Yeah, rap’s my field, hip hop’s my genre I guess, but I want to break out into way, way bigger things, like electronic music, dance music. Stuff that you know, other people haven’t done, or other people are doing but aren’t doing it well. The whole white rapper thing, I think it’s a joke, it’s been proven wrong. Ash [Asher Rother] proved ’em wrong, Em [Eminem] proved ’em wrong, I proved ’em wrong. There’s other people out there that can rap too, so it’s sort of whatever. Big middle finger to all those people that think white people can’t rap.

WSPN: You were voted most artistic in your senior class [at Wayland High School]. How were you involved in art and that kind of stuff at the High School?

SAM ADAMS: I took some classes. I wasn’t too involved in the school to be honest. I think it was a mixture between being able to write music. Most people knew I was into music. I actually don’t know how I did get most artistic. I designed a couple t-shirts — I designed the senior show t-shirts.

WSPN: You said that when you first recorded “I Hate College”, you didn’t really love it, but what’s your favorite of your own songs?

SAM ADAMS: All new stuff is my favorite, if I could pick a favorite from the EP I’d probably say “Coming Up” or “I’m So High”.