Vancity Raps (2025) Movie Script

(indistinct)
You got the power
You got the power
You got the power
Yeah, you got the power
You got the power, made this hour
The one we the made it 25th hour
We got them our
We made the flower
Who's the one that's
really just a coward
I hate the law so I break the law
Like the government
when they making war
They will control you patrol you
Even try to hold you
Do anything in the
power to try to mold you
Into something that they wanna see
Government don't care,
what you wanna be
They don't give a damn
about people on the streets
Some little class
workers, only the elite
Get the treatment
that everyone deserves
So imma' rip off his skin
Just to get another plan
(metal banging)
(lively hip hop music)
(electronic music)
(suspenseful dramatic music)
(bright upbeat music)
(electronic music)
- [Rapper] Your mic joke,
hit that intro, y'all get up.
- [Rapper 2] Y'all
gonna get some, come on.
(bright hip hop music)
- Oh bro, what you just watching?
- [Man] Oh, hey man, what's
up, how's work though?
- Work was good.
- Just turning on lets
see, work yeah, it's good.
Good, they covered kinda like,
I don't like the local scene in Vancouver.
- Oh yeah.
- t's kind of keeping it up with like
what's trending and stuff.
- I know
- You know you like it?
- [Man] Yeah, I like it.
(beep)
- Hey, what's up, it's
Dangerous, aka The Dream Catcher,
aka the Deli MC aka the Lyrical
Miracle, you already know.
- Give it up party people
for this motherfucker.
(fans cheering)
Chances 138, and I call the cops
Fresh off the top on the best city
Black and plus side
Ain't nobody gonna talk
- Rocking with Emotions right
now representing Vancouver.
We rocking live right
now with Vancity Rap.
Time is coming
Come stand by me
I say that
Time is coming
- Yo, it's your boy, JGeezy
and this is Vancity Raps.
(dramatic instrumental music)
- This is Moka Only and
welcome to Vancity Raps.
(fast violin music)
(guns booming)
(dramatic instrumental music)
Talk nines talk live
Such a wonderful fun
Spend time kicking rock
Clock ticking into the wheel
Funk with the punk lot plus mine.
So prime, talk nice, spoke love
(rails crackling)
We getting hot right now
We getting hot right now
We getting hot right now
We getting hot right now
(lively hip hop music)
Baby I know, baby I know
I said I'll see ya after the show
Working like that I do not know
(hip hop music playing)
(rails screeching)
Two bombs don't bite,
two bombs go quiet
Two bombs that gonna make a ride
We evolve as the earth revolve
The world gets better
with the problems we solve
Think about all
Girl, you a straight rider
Be a little west sider
So brought a fly lady mess
with the clown jiggers
Hope we rude when to have
them making them figures
The longer the L-I-T-leader, fresh new T
You can be my stalker
(bright upbeat hiphop music)
Say what say what
Rhyme on the top, say
what, say what, what
Say what, say what, say what, say what
Say what, say what,
ride down the street
We are, we are, we the
chance, we the kings
Yeah we the kings
When we just first class
We are, we are, 'cause
we're independent or direct
Fly in the city
We are, we are, we the
chance, we the kings
- What's her name, the South side girl?
Something like that, Ben Saucer.
- Saucer.
The clip zipper
You need that faith
You looking for a fresh cut
You can see that
I thinking yeah...
- Yeah, yeah.
Everyday I wake up and thank God
Every night am working this and I
- [Rapper] I guess, in all essence,
I just wanna find the most diverse,
like I really wanna focus on
the diversity of Vancouver
'cause that part of the film
is definitely shining through it.
(high-energy upbeat music)
(siren wailing)
(electronic music)
(ground cluttering)
(footsteps thumping)
(door thudding)
(footsteps thumping)
(quirky instrumental music)
(electronic music)
(alarm buzzing)
- [Rapper] In Morning of became
a good ferry with her basket
and said, here are gifts,
take one, leave the others
and be wearing, choose wisely.
Oh, choose wisely for only
one of them is valuable.
The gifts were five, fame,
love, riches, pleasure.
- I was born in Surrey British
Columbia, don't judge me,
I then moved out to Trinidad and Tobago,
which is where my father's from,
lived there for a few
years, came back to Surrey.
Dance to the beat
Dance to the beat
Who's got the rhythm
Whose got the wisdom
Whose got the speed
And quickest metabolism
Dangerous a hero
Dangerous a speemo
High hip hop ground
(electronic music)
- You rocked in with Emotionz right now.
Rapper, beatboxer, singer,
DJ, grew up in Vancouver.
Been in and out, lived in LA for a bit
and lived in Montreal
and in Nelson for a bit,
but primarily Vancouver, my whole life.
I had a record deal out
in LA with Dreamax records
and I lived out there for about a year.
Well, when I lived in LA
I was real busy recording.
So pretty much every day
was recording in the studio.
We were working with DJ
Quick, West Coast legend.
So that was amazing.
And my days consisted of like just hanging
with my crew clockwork and
writing a lot of songs.
Favorite thing about LA
is just like inspirations in the air.
There's something special
about LA in that sense,
it feels like you're in one
of the Meccas of just art
and creation and culture and fashion.
And I really like it in that sense.
They don't know the school
Same fucking punks like before
You know, the ending 'cause
you've seen it before
Prepare you for the war
(upbeat hip hop music)
(glass shattering)
(electronic music)
- We get a lot of outta town
a lot of people move here
from other places right.
But back when I was growing
up being from East Van,
everybody sees the east van thing
and it's become this
thing, oh yeah, East Van,
but growing up it really was East Van.
So it was like a tale of
two cities in Vancouver.
(man laughing)
Not, West Vancouver though, the West end,
which was the rich side of Vancouver.
Then there was East Vancouver,
which was the poor side.
It was, you know what,
I'm a child of immigrants.
They immigrated here from the west Indies
and they worked really hard
to provide a good life
for me and my sister.
(electronic music)
- I started smoking weed
in high school, man.
I remember man, it was grade 10.
It was not good either.
It was not a good experience bro.
But, it was just chilling outside smoking
we dropping freestyles, getting into shit,
grades had to be on point
though, and the teacher them,
they understood like
in the urban environment
where we came from,
attention was something
that we didn't have
for a long period of time in class.
She knew that, they knew that, so they...
Not that they worked with us,
but they were just like, yo
listen, y'all just make sure,
when it's time to do these tests
and when it's time to get this work in,
you guys get it in and it's whatever,
it was a common ground of respect
in some spot, not all the
teachers were like that.
Some of the teachers were
fucking assholes motherfucker.
(electronic music)
- [Reporter] Daniel Denton,
better known by his stage name Moka Only
is a Canadian underground hip-hop artist.
He has won three Junior Awards,
five MuchMusic Video Awards
and has been nominated
for 11 Western Canadian Music Awards.
- I was born in Canada, actually.
Toia, British Columbia.
- Thick, what, oh my God, Moka Only.
- I was a pretty quiet kid.
I didn't have a huge range of friends,
I was by myself a lot.
But I liked it
'cause I was an introvert
was then, still am now.
And music was on my mind
at a very early age.
My family had a piano in the house
and that was the first
instrument I gravitated toward.
So I started writing
music at a very early age.
First song I wrote, I was
about three or four years old
and wrote a rock and roll song on a piano.
(electronic music)
- Well, I grew up in Penticton.
We used to battle on
the beaches and parties
and freestyle in the cars
and it's definitely a place
where I got a lot of love.
Like I would say the main
source of my creativity.
It depends on the situation
I'm going through, my life at that time.
A big part of it though,
when I created Little T.
was this element of fighting back,
I'm smaller, I'm shorter,
I grew up on that battle.
(bright upbeat hip hop music)
(fans cheering)
So I could use my words to flip it right.
(bright upbeat hip hop music)
Even if I'm going through
something really hard,
I flip that into a positive
by using my writing.
So I would say that is a main source,
but then sometimes even if
I'm in a really good mood,
then I wanna write like that.
But I would say a lot
of it is therapeutic.
Worth the nine to five
They gotta rock the mic
No complaining
I can handle it
Two worlds, but I
continue to balance it
It's challenging, but it's rewarding
Am living now my dreams
And am recording
- Yeah she is harmless
who is this?
She is (indistinct)
Am in an Interview
I living proof that dreams come true
And I'ma keep imma keep,
imma see it through
- Baby C, Baby C
- Baby C huh!
(electronic music)
- I don't think it's necessary
to be signed to a label
with CD Baby and Distro Kid and Tune Cor.
There's so many ways to
like get your music out
and get people listening.
YouTube, people will just
watch videos on YouTube
or stream their music on Spotify.
You don't need a label to do any of that.
You can do it on your own.
And not many people are
buying physical copies.
So it's not like back in the
day when you need a label
to distribute your
music to all the stores,
no one does that anymore, so
I don't think it's necessary.
I do think you need a team
of individuals around you
to help you with promoting your career.
I don't think you can do it all yourself.
So surrounding yourself
with the right people
with the right connections is important
and not being afraid to pay for services
that you need to advance your career.
(high upbeat music)
(electronic music)
(alien expectorating)
- Oh, hey, sorry, I'm late.
(alien expectorating)
oh yeah sorry, sorry,
traffic was a biatch.
You know what I'm saying?
(alien expectorating)
- Oh what was your original question?
(alien expectorating)
- Oh, sorry, sorry, yeah, yeah,
you're right, you're right
I am getting off track.
Vancity Raps, so you want it
to be about the hiphop artists,
the rapping, but not just
the rapping of the music
you wanted about the rapping,
the talking style rapping
to get to know the artist
so that you can shape the story.
(alien expectorating)
- Just want the most
popular artist I remember,
you wanted some veteran artists,
so I went out and got Moka Only.
And Emotions is, I would
consider him a vet.
(alien expectorating)
- Yeah, you wanted the newbies,
you wanted the intermediate
and the veterans
I got them all just
finished filming them all
I'm dead tired.
(alien expectorating)
- And, I'm beat and going to bed.
(alien expectorating)
- Alright, cool.
(alien expectorating)
(tense upbeat music)
- (laughing) That was funny,
make me disappear again.
(indistinct)
(man laughing)
- Wow, that's nuts.
Time is coming
Come stand by me
I said that time is coming
(electronic music)
- I was actually born in
the Dominican Republic
in Puerto Plata.
I immigrated here when I
was about a year and a half
to South Surry, I still rep
the DR, but at the same time,
I'm pretty, pretty Canadian.
I still rep Vancouver pretty hard.
That's an interesting question.
I'm trying to think,
when I'm writing songs
and even when I'm about to perform on,
I feel like everything about
what you do as an artist
is a creative process.
(indistinct music)
Yes I'll say I'm a singer,
but I'm also a performer.
I'm a personality, there's
all, whatever I say,
when people are listening to you,
you have to be conscious of that.
I feel like there's this sort of energy
that I want to share with people.
And I find that when I
perform in front of people,
there's this certain energy
that they give back to me.
A Creative process, it just
comes from how I'm feeling.
If I'm feeling like shit,
it's gonna be a shit.
It's gonna be a pissed off song.
What I'm saying, if I'm
feeling happy as hell, listen,
we're all celebrating.
So It just really depends on my mood.
- I had a great childhood.
I mean, my dad was like the Joe Jackson,
he was putting a guitar in my hand,
harmonica for my birthday.
I remember it was like 1990.
He got me my first camera
to start making movie.
We actually created
a rap root back then called Blackout Boys
with my best friend, and we
went down to "Star Search."
Did the audition.
It must go down
Going go from the North, to the West
To the South, to the East
I'll eat the beat
I'll drink the beat
To the Mc to see
(upbeat hip-hop music)
To get on "Star Search" with Ed McMan,
rap was definitely not in
the mainstream back then.
So we didn't get past auditions,
but he's always been
pushing me to do music.
(electronic music)
We control reality
- He's my favorite rapper, dead or alive?
I always say myself when
people ask me this question
I think my shades though,
but I also, there's a guy named 37
and I remember talking to
people like my bro and friends
and dude, this guy is
better than cannabis.
I was feeling his lyrics more and mostly
because one of the most
poignant MCs I've ever heard,
he just says things that are
so true about what's going on.
Like there's songs
called "Hand That Feeds"
try to find that.
(upbeat hip hop music)
(electronic music)
Oh, making that pack jump
Making that block, jump
Making that trap jump
Make your hood jump
Just like Chris Crowns
Yeah, I trip so
- I wasn't even the best in my school
in Seattle at rapping, which is crazy.
I was probably like third
best, fourth best, third, best.
There's two guys named Frosty.
Frosty was a 6'7, big black guy
looked like Gucci man,
fur coat, fur Air Force ones to match,
different color every day.
Ice called Frosty had
freestyle raps like Gucci.
This free styles all day,
he doesn't miss a beat.
Street guy, rapper, I
wasn't in the street.
I was playing basketball and
you know, I'll be in the hood.
So, I'm cultured,
but these guys were full time, rapping,
getting bitches, trapping on that.
Seven 16, I mean 15, 16,
you know, this guy's 17,
but they rock with me, I rock with them.
They gang members and everything too.
- I did a song on from Marley & Me
which was a great opportunity
to get signed in
so also some other highlights
were shooting in for my city
one of the music videos
The stage is my home
Engaged with the microphone
Ladies love me
We rented a boat and
we had two floors DJs,
music video, and people just
were having a good time.
And it was like, it was
just a blast with your,
Say hey, put your feeds up
Take, put your feeds up
- Did you hear little T did a
track with Snoop Dogg as well?
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.
- That's crazy, right?
Scream right up with your face.
Get that one one
I couldn't walk a straight
line if you're letting me crawl
'Cause I'm tow up for
show up and toe down y'all
I need a designated
driver and you've been pin
And once you getting into the peg yeah
- My early childhood.
Well everyone's really
individual my family.
So got my dad who was
like the iron worker type,
very like strong grew up in the 60s
really free loving, really cool,
but also could be, a tough guy.
My mom was sweet as an angel,
very nice Christian lady,
and I always kind of joke around that.
My dad was like the devil.
My mom was like an angel
and I was raised by both,
but they're both very different
when it came to parenting,
(phone ringing)
- [Caller] Ben it's me,
you know what this little hoe say to me
- [Recipient] Man whta that bitch say?
- [Caller] To hold for
the other night, man,
that little b said it's
prime time in the city.
If I want slide in the
cut or something hop side.
So man, I said, bitch
you know what time it,
Come and spend fan time
always in the city.
Sure I know what time it is.
(electronic music)
- Anybody that's hung around me knows me
they know I keep it real,
I don't like to talk a lot.
I just find like when you talk too much,
you're saying too much,
you know what I mean?
I'm not one to play like
talking about other people or,
I like to have fun, have a
good time, I like to laugh.
You know what I mean?
So a lot of time, everything
else is just hidden.
I like to just laugh and stay
happy and and keep my joy.
So if there's anything
that I need to get out,
that's not of that nature,
I just let it go when I write.
(electronic music)
- Well, that's a really good question.
My favorite three in Vancouver right now,
trying to remember T, can't say Little 'cause he's he's rebranding.
But T has been doing this
thing for a long time
and I've been following him
all through his Anza Club days
and all that stuff.
People who are really
putting in for the city.
So I'd say T on the top
of my list right now.
EBA Mob, he's really
doing a lot of big stuff.
I'm just following everything he does.
And he just understands how
the social media is working
and he gets his groups and
his followers really vibing
with third favorite right now.
Gotta go with a female, Kimmortal.
Kimmortal been doing some
really big things working
with Snottynose res kids and
JB, the first lady and Missy D.
But my list will go on forever, (chuckles)
I'll just be here all night,
In da club
In da club
Yeah, in da club
You know me VIP
In da club, in da club
Yeah, I'm riding on top
Riding on top
Can't stop staying in penny
Can't stop
Can't stop
In a hot top 20 inch rooms
Can't stop, can't stop
Rolling up, hot rock hard rock
You want me on top
Don't want me to stop
Until I drop to the drop
Flip top tree pop
Tree pop tree pop
Tripping in the swag
Flossing like ministag
Dior in the bag
This a dream I've arisen
To the cream still in the
smoke take my first to
And she spoke
Now I'm rich used to be broke
Now I talk now I talk
Don't play the hard stuff
Just smoke, just smoke, just smoke
(electronic music)
- I mean, when I first
started getting into it,
I have to say everybody sounded the same.
Like from one rapper, hip hop artist
to the other right into the other,
there was probably like one
or two that stood out for me.
and I didn't wanna be the guy
that sounded like everybody else.
My drive as a musician is just
at first I just started getting into music
'cause I wanted to
control my own ride home.
I didn't wanna listen to
somebody else's BS sometimes.
So I was like, I wanna
listen to my own music
on the way home.
Put it my CD in my car,
drive home to it after work.
And that was my whole viewpoint
on getting into music, took me a while.
It took me longer than other artists
to get out there because I
really had to do it my way.
And unfortunately that takes a long time.
I know all you rappers,
musicians, DJs, MCs,
whatever out there that
just wanna it tomorrow.
Will sell their life away in
an instant to get it tomorrow.
I'm telling you it's life is a journey.
Life is a journey, and if you
sell it all in the first year,
you're done.
Riding in my Maserrati ridding
Get tattoos on my body
I be going nowhere
I don't even go there
She me in my hometown
rolling through the top down
My girl (indistinct)
She just turned 19
So many spot was on her dress
We just finished having sex
(high upbeat music)
(electronic music)
- In the mid nineties,
Limblifter was on the radio
all the time, 1996, 97.
Weirdly I didn't listen
to the radio at the time,
so I didn't have a car.
I'm sure I heard it on
the radio at some point,
but we were like heavy rotation
on the big Toronto station,
The Edge, we actually
we won the Casby Award,
which is Edge Radio's Canadian
artist selected by you.
We were also on MuchMusic,
heavy rotation in like 1997.
MuchMusic was just music.
I do vaguely remember seeing video,
it is a weird time.
I was kind of indifferent to it.
- So a lot of...
The rappers are used to
rapping about being rappers.
What essence is gangster rap?
What else is rap really in,
even in the 90s and the
1000s you had the only guys
that could really last mainstream
that wasn't doing gangster
rap was like Ludacris,
Busta, Common, most def like soul rappers
and like party rappers.
But if you if you didn't do a
gangster hard hardcore stuff,
you weren't selling records.
(electronic music)
- This festivals called
Electric Love Music Festival.
It's one of my favorite
music festivals around,
but like I said, they do
catering to the hiphop community.
(crowd chattering)
- Turn it off my headphones
Faster in the game
Things change their same
shit cooler from the fame
Just laying from the shame
Heavy on the brain
How we train man in the fish ball
Fill it up, feel at home
Mango might everything sell itself
And slaves stay brave
convict to concave
Flip pop, bud flip hop
What a crave try to keep away
Try to keep away
Yeah, it's getting faster in the game
Faster in the game
My still shot moving the frame
Have a still got a million slots
- They always have a big
hip hop upstage there
and actually Travis Turner
and I performed before
mad child last year.
And just cool to be able to perform
for some of these, I
guess higher level artists
per se, but to kinda have them come up
after you and be like,
hey, I liked your drumming.
And that was cool I
wanna do a track with you
it's a really big thing in
my eyes just having that.
(drum sets beat)
(electronic music)
- Moved to Canada, pretty
early in life I came up
when I was about 14.
Under the banner of multiculturalism.
As far as the division
between us as humans, men and women,
and also nationalities,
I really don't believe...
If we believe we'll ever eradicate
that I think we're sadly mistaken,
now of course,
because our neighbors to the
south have a little bit more
of a vivid agenda right
now on the go than we do.
We get pulled into that
because we're so closely linked to them.
So we feel anything that's going on
that reverberates from
what it is they're doing
in terms of their actions.
I think now with social
media, with technology,
with the way we connect,
we can have stories
that come in from around
the world in seconds now,
in terms of knowing what's
going on in the world,
because seeing so much more of it
because we're so in tune
with so much more of it,
of course, we're gonna be way more aware
of it now than we were before.
(suspenseful instrumental music)
Seven a.m in the morning
Checking out the hotel
On the stripper round with Gucci
Dress on the games
Turn to the interviews before the show
We the crowd everywhere
(electronic music)
- So what's my occupation?
I'm a Audio Engineer/Producer
fully artist ADR recorders.
The list was on mixing
engineer, sometimes mastering.
I was born in Poland.
I feel like I had a pretty
interesting childhood,
maybe a little bit more
interesting than some people.
I mean it was a good
childhood, like nothing weird.
But I grew up with my grandparents
that I was about six years old.
Then I moved to Germany
and lived until I was 16
and then immigrated to
Canada where my father lived.
So I've been here for about
15 years at this point.
(gentle instrumental music)
So this is a little bit
of a different genre
and this is definitely more
high fidelity of a beat,
I would say, more pop production,
and again, I just get ads to
sort of have a certain vibe
of a certain song.
And if I could, not
necessarily copy the song,
but give them the certain vibe.
So I sat there and produced this
and with pretty good results, I think.
(lively upbeat music)
(indistinct chattering)
(electronic music)
(warbling music)
- Feel my take on the Vancouver
Rap scene, is it's young.
There's a lot going on.
There's little pockets everywhere.
There's people releasing
tracks with Snoop,
there's people releasing tracks with Dell,
there's underground homies
that have been putting out albums
for years, getting signed to Bastard Jazz.
There's like all these little pockets
of stuff going on and it's bubbling.
(electronic music)
- Where was I born?
Right here, Gilfred City, G Town baby.
There's rainbow rappers,
and there's real rappers.
The rainbow rappers;
that's, everything looks pretty,
they dress and they got the drip
the swag, they're dressed a certain way.
They're always taking these
type of pictures on Instagram
where they're just like posing
and doing all this stuff
and it seems to be about
everything except the music.
And maybe that person
might have like a hot hook
or something and you might hit 'em out
and be like, yo, let's do a song
and everything have gotta be perfect
and tailored to them
for them to make a song.
They can never adapt.
And that's a huge thing that
separates a lot of people
I think, is being able to
adapt to different styles,
different flows, different beats.
That's one of my favorite
things is collaborating
with people because I love the challenge,
especially when the person's
already laid down a verse
or a hook and I've got to kinda adapt
because I want the song to sound cohesive.
I gotta like adapt to whatever they did
and doesn't mean I gotta
do copy their flow,
but it's just like, okay,
you're talking about this.
You're rapping, like, then I just gotta,
it influences the way I write
and I feel like I could do
that with anybody, any beat.
(booming upbeat music)
- One of the hardest things
to get through in my
creative life, artistic life,
maybe just life in general
'cause it was such a big part of me
it such a long time
Was when you know, my
group, "The Family Compact"
when we split up not due to
any bad blood or anything,
some of us had to go another path in life.
Their life was taking them
in a different direction, you know,
and we decided to say, you know what,
well, that's, you know,
that's gonna be it.
And so I started doing my own thing,
I tried to do my own solo
thing for a long time,
but that really kind of took
the wind outta my sails.
And I think its the
time looking back at it,
I don't think I realized
how much it affected me,
until I could, you know, look back.
But, you know, I see that
as one of the big moments,
sort of my professional life was just,
you know, having the group split up.
- [Glimmer] This is Glimmer
from the Hipster Cartel,
you're listening to the
urban renewal project,
with DJ Denise on 100.5 FM.
- Yeah I feel like Vancouver's
scene is, bubbling up.
People are trying to
do their own DIY shows,
and making sure to bring out their friends
so they can showcase what they're doing
and having listening parties.
I recently was invited to a video release,
like a launch party,
which was really cool.
So the person who invited
us came to the studio,
and brought us a hand
like created invitation,
which was really cool.
So people are really
thinking outside of the box
to bring people out to their events,
so yeah, I love what's
happening in Vancouver.
- For music on the hip hop side,
Canibus is really the guy for me.
I mean, Eminem as well,
but Canibus was the first guy
that I would have to go
and like check at the source,
and look up things that he was doing.
His, you know, he had the
most intelligible terminology,
that you'd ever seen,
the level of metaphors
and what kind of syllables
he was crushing into such
a small vortex was amazing.
And so I was always aspiring
to be an artist like Canibus,
very lyrical, very thought provoking.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
Probably in 2009, when I
then said, you know what,
I wanna meet this man,
I wanna work with him,
and I just put it out there,
I just reached out to him.
We got on this track
called "The Dream Catcher",
collabed on it and then I
was like, you know what,
let's take it a step further,
let's do a show together.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
We put that together, we flew 'em out.
(indistinct)
We usually played the truck
and he never said like-
- We put 'em up for two
days and was amazing,
because it was actually
Canibus's birthday the next day.
So to go out and do a show
where he's like, "Yo Dangerous,"
he's like, "You know all my tracks right?"
I'm like, "Yeah",
he's like yeah
"I want you to be my hype man,
like we've been doing
this for like 15 years."
This is a even more so a dream,
so I got to be his hype
man for the whole show,
and then he's like, "This
is your show Dangerous,
you close it out." right
so we closed it out
with the dream catcher track
and it was just unbelievable.
And then to take the man
out for his birthday,
we went for some teppanyaki,
it was just unbelievable.
The stories that this guy
was telling me of hip hop,
of him and, and Mos, and to live,
I felt like I had reached
the pinnacle on my career,
I did nothing else.
I felt like I'd already
like died gone to heaven,
and came back able to
do a little bit more.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- Like my mom raised me
up learning the piano,
from the age of like
literally four or five,
till I became a teenager (laughing)
I turned 14, 15, and I'm
like, mom fuck this shit,
you know, this is not cool.
I wanna be outside with the cool kids man,
I don't wanna be doing piano
lessons on the weekend,
but I was raised playing
piano, so I did a lot of that.
The fact that now I'm still in school,
so my mom's very happy (laughing)
and I'm also doing other
things, extracurricular stuff,
so she likes that, she's happy.
She doesn't really
understand what it means,
when I tell her I'm doing a show,
she's like, oh you know,
"Good for you," you know,
(both laughing)
she doesn't really
understand you know like
what it means but she's encouraging,
and she's very supportive,
and she loves it.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- And if you don't know
my name is Dawreckage
I'm the nigga with the
loud mouth from Vancouver
Whadup' party people.
(crowd cheering)
Well I teach Krump
(crowd cheering)
- I call it an aggressive style of dance,
because I love it, because it's powerful.
It's a powerful style of dance.
krump started in the early 2002,
by two originators are
Tight Eyez and Mijjo.
They created their own style,
putting together different moves,
that they seen in the hip-hop world
from rappers to war movies,
from movements and clowning
and movements in hip hop.
And I actually thought when
back when I was in Edmonton,
beautiful fucking dance.
Like I said, I started in the early 2000s,
and I was actually on a movie
called "Rise," which was dope.
And it showed huh...
My phone is going off just
put it directly(chuckles)
it shows clowning, krumping
and stripper dancing,
and the one I fell in love with was krump,
and I've been krumping ever since.
- Then of course some mad rappers,
gonna like drop some cooler shit here.
(instrumental upbeat music)
Big drop here, oh, no I
was wrong sir (laughing)
I gotta set my shit up right?
No point in running
It's already here
He had a tale, he's coming
Come face your fears
- I didn't grow up in the city,
I remember having boots on and going out,
and playing and making tree for it.
That's what free time was, you know,
I had a dog growing up,
I had like three cats,
that all either got eaten by coyotes
or something happened to them.
At some point we had
pet rabbits, you know,
and they got eaten by coyote.
We would go coyote hunting,
and we had four acre
farm that we lived on.
We lived on the house area,
but the rest was just like
rented by other people.
And at one point there were
cows living on the farm,
so I feel like I come from a pretty humble
grounded background of
just like wilderness,
and you know I didn't
start getting electronics
until I was older and
even then it was like,
you only were allowed to
use it for a certain time,
you had to go outside and play so-
(lively upbeat music)
- Is it getting signed and not
getting signed on both sides?
I mean, it's fast becoming
less lucrative to being signed,
and then as they say, being
put out to work (chuckles)
so that you can pay
for somebody else to
have more than you do.
So a lot of people are now aware of that,
and once again, with
technology being what it is,
giving the independent artist,
just as much if not
more control and ability
as to what the bigger
people had in the industry.
I think things have definitely changed,
I still think it's okay to
be signed at a certain level,
because big promotion can
really get you from A to B,
but if you're ready for it.
If it's the right part of your equation,
if you set your game plan
and that's the right
time and the right area,
where you're supposed to
be, I think it can work,
there can be a symbiosis there
and they can work together.
- My main source of income
is from my day job (laughing)
So I would love to say
that I could make a living,
just off music but realistically, I can't.
I probably put more into my music,
than I get out of it at
the moment but I love it,
so it's a passion of mine.
But during the day I work
as a physiotherapist,
so I did go to school, went to university,
got my master's degree.
And I work during the day,
like at full time as a
physiotherapist and I love it.
And so that's how I like
make most of my money,
enough to like live
comfortably I would say
if I was just on the grind all the time.
So personally I think it's
good to have a day job,
to support your career
as you're developing it.
And also to have
something to fall back on,
like you never know,
if you're gonna be super
successful in music.
So like for the young kids
coming up they are like,
"Oh, I'm just gonna drop
everything and just do music
and not work a day in my life,"
I'm like, good luck (laughing)
I wish you the best.
- [Delivery Man] By the pizza.
- Yeah so can you get
a pizza for delivery?
- Oh you want Hawaiian?
- Pineapple, green peppers.
- Oh you got our address?
- Yeah, I got your address
- Same place?
- Same place
- Yeah
- Yeah I guess couple of bands,
like ranted was a big influence of mine.
She got me into hip-hop
when Tim Armstrong,
Travis Barker and Skinhead Rob started
this project transplants in 2001.
They did like California Babylon,
I believe they were on
a shampoo commercial,
in the 2000s.
It's one of those tracks everyone knows,
but no one knows the band of.
So that was actually my big transition,
was around 2001 there
listen of transplants
and getting me into hip-hop
and kind of the underground.
That was like the underground
LA low-rider kind of scene,
and that's what I really
enjoyed when I was growing up.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- The way I look at life is
like, you know shit happens.
You know what I mean?
You might be huge today and
might not be so huge tomorrow,
like, you know there's been times,
where shit I've had fucking so much money.
Money I needed someone to help me count,
but then there's been times
where I've been broke too.
So you never, you never know,
I think you just have to
roll with the punches,
but the best advice I can give
is not to believe everything that you see.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- And I think for the most part,
us as human beings, regular human beings,
out there working
doesn't matter, you know,
if you're working at, you
know, furniture warehouse,
you're mechanic, you're a radio superstar,
there should be harmonic,
unity in all our races.
And we shouldn't have to
deal with the same shit,
over and over again,
like the world just keeps
recycling, just keeps recycling,
you know, oh, let's go back to the 70s,
okay what happened in the 70s?
Well fashion was this, there
was this racial uprising,
there was this war over in Chechnya,
there was this, okay so then
let's just recycle all that.
Alright put that enter, boom,
let's just recycle a decade,
that's how I feel like the world is.
- Glimmer from the
Hipster Cartel (laughing)
you know that song?
We can't have right now
We can't have right now
We can't have right now
- That's a tough question,
I mean I feel like there's a lot going on,
and there's a lot of people
that aren't necessarily telling the truth,
about what they're doing environmentally.
And not necessarily really does come down
to the individual but you know it does,
using less waste minimalized you know,
I feel like that's an important step.
I feel like my weekends are lazy,
sleeping's, making coffees,
listening to some records,
maybe checking out some new music,
going to different record
shops and thrift stores
and hunting for some gold.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- My parents were both professionals,
they were both working
that nine to five life.
So grew up with a brother and a sister
and we had everything we needed, man,
we had everything we needed,
not everything we wanted,
but we had enough man.
- I met everybody there like,
we were touring for
like two weeks together.
That was like 2000 and what?
That was super fast 2008 or some shit,
not all of them were playing ball,
like lots of their
homies and entourage was,
but Chris Brown couldn't play ball though.
Chris Brown was interesting,
because he was playing,
like ball for like two hours.
And he performs at night time right
like nine o'clock or some shit,
so he'd be playing at
lunchtime all the way
to like three or some shit,
like aggressive, hard, sweating, yelling,
fucking arguing basketball, man.
And then you see him go on stage,
I can say is like,
almost like an hour and
a half or some shit.
And he's singing and he's doing flips,
and he's running around doing flips,
like for an hour and a half.
And then he's doing it
again at the next show,
playing basketball all day long
and then doing flips all
day for an hour and a half.
Like I was getting tired, you know,
so I'm just like the
long days in a festival,
I'm like, how's this
guy fucking doing that?
You know what I'm saying so
Chris Brown is just like,
he got energy, man.
That's back in the days
when people were like,
fuck Chris Brown, he beat up Rihanna.
(indistinct)
Dude that boy's in shape, man,
he's like a UFC fighter, man,
he's like 6'2 in real life,
and he's like lean and he's ready, man.
So I hope you in shape (laughing).
if y'all think I can fuck
with Chris Brown man,
because it's not walk in the park, man.
(thunder rumbling)
(electricity buzzing)
- How is the documentary coming along
- So where do you reside,
like where do you call home and shit?
- Far, far away
- Oh, far away really give or take?
- 1500 miles give or take
- 1500 miles, interesting.
So why'd you choose me
out of all the directors,
you could have chosen.
(indistinct)
- (laughing) really?
- Then that child would
come over to my house a lot,
in 1995 and just bring rhymes,
and we'd share rhymes or whatever.
And you know sometimes
Prevail would be there,
and one night we just had this wild idea,
why don't we combine forces
and try to make like this super group.
Now bear in mind,
me and Prevail already had a group,
we were split spirit, we were a duo.
So in my mind I liked the
idea of this super group,
but I felt like me and Fred,
hadn't really expanded
as a dual at the time,
regardless,
Prevail my child and myself and DJ Kelo C,
decided to form this group.
We had been drinking and
just making up silly names,
Like, what should we call
it? What should we call it?
You know what I'm saying,
the bowling balls,
let's call it the paper plane,
I think I said something like,
yo, let's call it the big dicks,
I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
let's call it the swollen
members and it's it stuck.
We laughed about it but
by the next day it stuck.
- Well I met Moka when
I lived in Victoria,
and this is all before
the Swollen Members stuff,
this is when Moka was
still doing stuff on tape,
like tapes, like you gotta
literally buying a mix tape.
And Jeff back and all those
dudes out there and Moka,
we were just, boy, I just
appreciated his music,
and we were just friends at
first and in that aspect,
and then I just started
doing some tour managing,
cause I was like, yo, blah, blah, blah,
and Moka was like, yeah, sure,
you can find some dates
for me that's dope.
And that was after the
smaller members side of it,
and Moka is just a dope dude,
man, outside of the music,
So that's why I was drawn to him,
to even wanna work with him.
- High school was cool,
I went to four or five
different high schools.
I was moving a lot with my family,
I got kicked out of a
few different schools.
But yeah I had a great
high school experience,
and from moving around a lot
and from changing schools,
I got to meet a lot of different people,
and different neighborhoods
and a lot of us we still cool.
Yeah my parents have always been awesome,
and you know I came up,
my dad was in a band called the "Payolas"
and he was the you know,
songwriter and singer in the group.
So I came up around music
and studios and stuff,
and then my mom's always
been an amazing artist
and poet and sculptor
artists of all different types,
so that inspiration's been really cool.
They've always pushed me to do music
and pushed me in my graffiti
even and things like that,
so yeah they've been awesome.
- I think if you are a
real gangster out here,
there's more ways than showing the gun,
to show that you're a real gangster.
unlike you were saying,
the realest gangsters speak in silence,
that's been the rule from day one.
You don't need anybody to
know you're at gangster,
Why, what does that do for you?
You know what I mean?
I don't know.
- Hip-hop's gone more mainstream,
and because it's mainstream,
it's less focus on lyrics
and more of you know,
it's all about selling it
rather than what hip hop is.
And hip hop is you know it's
truth, it's about the struggle,
whether that struggle
has a racial minority,
or it's a struggle in terms of class,
in terms of poverty whatever it is.
It's about the struggling,
it's about life,
that's what hip-hop is to me.
And hip-hop got me through
some of the lowest points in my life,
because it was filled
with lyrics that mattered
and now I'm hearing
some of the newer stuff
from like, these lyrics are about nothing,
but yeah like all the newer stuff,
it's just like all the
beats sound the same to me.
I don't know, I'm I getting old?
Is that what's going on?
Like I don't hear any
creativity in the music anymore.
- Grew up as a bit of a punk rocker,
low in the pop punk scene I mean,
yeah, Travis Barker's a big inspiration
for a lot of drummers as
he was for me growing up.
But from there actually,
I had a lot of inspiration
from jazz and Latin.
My drum teacher, Scott Robert was amazing,
I mean Benny grab,
or even go into the more
drum and bass side of it.
(lively upbeat music)
- I watched a lot of hip-hop artists,
and even though
there's some really good
emergence happening,
I still think it's an untapped
market, it's an open market.
- I like to think of
Vancouver kind of like,
it's like a teenager, you know.
Like you know when you
look at like New York,
okay, you look at like,
LA, you look at(indistinct)
identities, and we're like
still finding that, right.
- The day in the life of DJ Denise,
oh my gosh, It is hectic, it's crazy.
So I have four kids,
So to start off, I've got to wake up,
(hinges squeaking)
make sure that my kids
are getting off to school,
and from there I'm usually
checking my emails right away,
getting everything set.
Say we're start talking about a Monday,
I'm making sure that I have
all of my confirmation emails,
for what's happening on the show.
Then I'll be checking out some new tracks,
also for a DJ set I'll
probably have during the week.
And for the rest of the day,
I'm always just listening to music.
- [Man] I think the
biggest myth in hip-hop,
is how they try to tell you
it's a young man's game.
That's just the studio
executives basically enforcing,
a younger signing deal is country music.
You got country music with all old,
fucking bearded fat guys, you know,
still doing it doesn't matter
how old they are, whatever.
RnB, you got a lot of
older people doing it,
and also rock and roll,
I mean look at (indistinct)
they must be 70 years old.
And I think their last
tour made $105 million,
I mean there's no age limit to music
who have a really young audience,
It doesn't matter what you look like.
(crowd cheering)
(lively upbeat music)
- The nineties are hard to describe,
but well specifically the
indie rock or whatever,
the scene it's so different.
Culturally, there's a huge difference,
I think even though
musically is like so similar,
culturally, there was a
big difference between,
I just mean musically.
All music is very similar,
but culturally there's a big difference
between like indie rock and the nineties,
and like hip-hop, probably in the 90s.
But also now where
hip-hop if people succeed,
or they're doing well or
even if they're not so much,
they blow everything up and
brag about it incessantly,
that's part of the
culture and that's cool.
I mean no one's gonna look down on you,
for talking about how great you are
or how great you were,
or something you succeeded at.
But in Indie rock you're
supposed to be humble,
you're not supposed to
celebrate your success
for whatever reason.
I shouldn't say you're supposed to,
but the the overall kind of feeling
was that trying too hard also trying hard
was also something that was frowned upon
during that era.
It is hard to put your finger on exactly,
why or where it came from,
but it's culturally I
would say interesting time.
(man snoring)
- Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,
I got the goggles.
(robot warbling)
- Okay, I won't do that again.
(robot warbling)
(laughing) that's some good shit.
(man snoring)
(robot warbling)
Just fucking with you.
Alright I gotta go to bed (laughing)
- I don't know why he keeps
telling him this stuff though,
but it seems right, right?
- He was just so dope,
I mean, the stuff that's
on video that you see,
that's on the internet now.
I mean I wasn't at that one,
but that's exactly how it was,
it was an event, he used to have people,
when he started spitting
just coming outta everywhere.
And I was so young, you you
know, it was just New York.
That's how it was I used to see fat boys,
like prince Markie Dee
and all those dudes,
and they used to be everywhere.
Like you just go somewhere,
you like walk in white castle,
and you're like, oh, he's
right there da, da, da.
So to see Biggie before he blew up to me,
he was just a rapper.
He's just some dude on the street,
and then further as you go I'm like, oh,
as I left I'm like, is that the same dude?
I'm like but how many fat dudes,
are that dope with a fucked up eye?
That's the same dude.
- It's the funny thing talking about that,
nobody really ever knows
for certain, you know,
I could sit here and make
up some glorious story,
but it was just in me from
the second I heard it.
I hear something on the radio or whatever,
my records, literally vinyl records,
my parents were playing,
'cause this was the 1970s,
and I would just want to emulate it.
And it's funny because I remember,
by the time I started
going to grade school,
you know, I'd go to grade school,
like singing the songs I
hear my parents playing,
'cause I thought it was new music.
I didn't know what they were playing was,
you know, from 20 years prior (laughing)
a lot of it or whatever.
People they were like, what's that?
What are you singing, what is that?
You know what I mean but yeah.
- That okay was definitely
my favorite joke for sure,
I got to dance with her, got
to open for a sell out crowd,
and you know, everyone just
super responsive warranty,
definitely ares up there (indistinct)
But yeah with school members,
and then as well as Canibus, D12,
- Someone like Moka Oonly you know, to me,
I looked up to and I still think,
as far as if I can consider
him up here and he's a friend,
because you know he's been
in the industry for years
and he's got just albums of albums,
of albums, of albums, of material.
Like I don't think anyone has
that much material out there,
but then, you know, right
now someone like Mike Mees,
people are saying is
very, you know, successful
because he does have a big following
and he's definitely done
some things that presently.
I would say currently
he's probably, you know,
someone that is doing very well right now.
- Fazz is watching, they,
watching everything,
they love when you drop music videos,
they love when you drop
music video, they love it,
drop it, show all the guns you want,
you're gonna get a million don't worry.
(lively upbeat music)
- Are you where you see yourself today,
or did you see yourself as someone else?
I obviously thought I would be,
one of the biggest actors
in the world right now,
Right here?
Hi, my name's Cart.
Can I do that again?
(indistinct)
Anyway, but yeah, I
thought I'd be a big actor,
when I was started out
acting in acting class,
my teachers would pull me aside
and say you need an agent
you should get out there.
You know, you're one of the
best actors in the class,
like straight up saying that to me.
And I think it almost gave me an ego,
that I didn't deserve
to have at that stage.
And I just burned it
out, like I just went in,
like I was the best
thing in every audition,
I'd walk in I mean, I'd book some stuff,
but like I was going up for
some big roles at the time.
And I got close to really close to book
and a few large ones,
but I think I shoot myself in the foot
because I think I have a afraid
of being famous type mentality and...
Like I don't know if I would want people
to come up to me and like
introduce themselves to me,
say hi to me all the time.
And I don't know like I'm kind
of reclosed that way right.
(bright upbeat hip-hop music)
(instruments clattering)
- The people that follow
that and believe that,
can't really separate
the reality of it that,
most of these people there...
I just saw a rental,
for a 2016 Rolls Royce
for 150 bucks an hour,
That I know for a fact,
is only rented up to rappers in this city.
And like, that's the
thing, it's an illusion,
and that's why I say I like
the hip-hop I listen to,
is a lot of underground stuff
It's a lot of more heartfelt stuff
because I wanna hear the real stuff.
(lively instrumental music)
Lucifiana tap a lady
Grinding now she make
a nigga wanna man up
Luicifiana, damn you're a bad mama
- Well you know tough
love existed for sure,
but it wasn't anything negative,
like you know nothing like child abuse,
I didn't experience none of that.
My parents were loving without a doubt,
loving they both grew up in rural Kenya,
very traditional up upbringing.
So they raised us with still
that traditional element.
So discipline is an important factor
in that traditional element.
That's how you live your life.
That's how you build a life.
So that's how they raised us.
Everything.
School is very serious.
- The thing I'm trying to
break for every artist, dude.
I'm a young, black
getting it, bro, like dude
and I ain't tied to no
mother fuckin' buddy.
I don't owe no mother fuckin' buddy.
And if I wanna fuckin' tour,
I just tour pay for my own tour.
I don't wait for the government.
You know what I'm saying like,
that's what you,
I own all my own music,
I own my own studio.
I have shit like this in my house too
and in my office in Yale town.
But I'm not doing enough
selling drugs, dog.
I'm doing enough opening up
with legitimate companies.
Yeah, we probably also sold a couple QPS
with a couple half pounds,
but my ass,
once I got my profits,
I never ran to the club to chase bitches,
I saved my share.
So I sold, quick 20,000, 30,000.
I started to invest into legal things,
opening up studios,
focusing on that,
opening up that didn't make
enough money as I wanted.
Opening up junk companies,
opening up dispensaries,
opening up other shit,
you know what I'm saying.
So like, you have do other things
and boom me hit a jackpot
as soon as you don't give up.
You know what I'm saying.
All of a sudden you're able
to fund your music career.
Yeah we ride, yeah we ride
We smooth with the tile
Every block going around
All around
- My parents were against it.
'Cause I got really into it.
I was like, yo man, I
got, I gotta do this,
like I got to style down so,
I was very into it
and I was running around telling people,
oh, I'm gonna be a dancer,
I'm gonna be a tour dancer.
(crowd cheering)
(bright instrumental music)
(crowd cheering)
I go by Wreckage, my
real name is Kofi Amoah
I'm a Ghanaian descent from Africa,
but I just go by Wreckage,
just get the whole name out there so.
- And where I'm from Nova Scotia,
we just had this.
I don't know if you heard it,
the so Brooklyn challenge,
everybody was free styling over this beat.
Just started rapping over that beat bit
in their best verse so whatever.
And it was good to see a lot of people
from where I'm from, coming together
and doing their thing.
But to showcased the talents as well.
Everybody coming over to Woodworks people,
I didn't even know that rapped
was doing it.
And there's a lot of talent there as well.
- So what's my opinion of
the Vancouver Rap scene.
Again, I think it's actually
in an interesting spot right now
because you have all these artists
that were on the come up
over the last 10 years, or longer
that are definitely seeing success now.
So I think it's again
positive in a way.
I mean, I remember when we
were kinda doing hip hop,
it was almost like that
was 10, 12 years ago.
It was almost a little bit dead.
Like there really wasn't too much
coming out of Vancouver at that point.
And now when I look at Junk,
is doing really well.
And I remember that's a guy
that I met at The Anza Club
that was 10 years ago longer.
And you see Snak the Ripper,
you see Merkules.
And those guys are like on
top of the world, right?
And so I really think it's growing
and there's more and more great,
Vancouver hip hop coming out.
As I said again, I'm so Lowkey Bands
and you got a lot of young kids
and everybody's sort of doing their thing.
And I felt like the
community definitely grew,
and it's less about the battle rap scene,
like it was 10 years ago
and people would dis each other a lot.
I felt like
and instead of helping each other.
And to me coming from
the German hip hop scene,
that back then when I left
was very supportive
and you know, everybody was in the crew
when helping each other out
just to make it bigger
because back then German hip
was still sort of underground.
And so when I moved here,
I was slightly disappointed
because I felt like,
you tried to connect with these people,
but they would treat you
like you weren't good enough
or, you know,
or there was just this like
little bit battle mentality.
And I didn't feel like
it had to be there.
- [Man] Really wipe my ass.
- [Machine voice] I'm unable
to do that for you, sir,
I am a computer generated voice
built to track your
motion and your movement
throughout the world.
- [Man] Fucking useless.
("Little T - For my city")
- My five year goal,
I'm definitely working on my green card.
I'd like to be, you know, in LA,
I work with some people
like Day 1 already there.
So I'd like to expand there.
I see within five years, you know,
touring Canada, North America,
probably Europe.
I also just see myself
producing more movies.
Riding on our bags
Holding down a city street
street tag
Moving through a city
I attached on large
On large
("Baby C - Game Plan")
("Little T - World Wide")
(heavy upbeat hip hop music)
(bright upbeat hip pop music)
We kick here in the door
Ain't got my four four
Air on the mic
They know us, it's raw
Trying to give rich,
live like I'm poor
Stay on my God, they know I go high
Ain't out here trying
to live above the law
Ain't out here trying to be
- Hip hop, always shifts,
it always trying to...
There's always somebody who's not happy
with the way that it is
or they say, I don't
fuck with it like that.
So I'm gonna do it in this way.
I think, anytime that there's mediocrity
in a scene,
it is an opportunity for the other people
to show off their true originality.
Yeah, I work as a landscaper, I love it.
And it actually can be
inspiring sometimes.
Like you find that
your vocabulary and
your vernacular changes
based on what you're doing.
And so,
you know, I was working in a kitchen.
I had a lot of like food lines
because like heard new new words.
And so like with the gardening thing,
like you know, I wrote
this song like, wow,
and actually we just recorded it
and it's gonna come out
and it's getting good feedback.
The tenant of title is like old leaves
might be called the forest.
But I wrote it like, as
I was raking up leaves.
I'll find a rake for these old leaves
Until the dirt
Till they've grown trees
Maintain the roots
So they don't freeze
See beyond the forwards
of your own needs
It all came to me kind of like,
oh, I'm just raking up all these,
and then you put it together.
So sometimes actually
what you were physically
doing all the time,
like a lot eight hours a day
really affects, where your mind goes,
playing with words, right.
(thunder rumbling)
(electronic music)
- The alien is telling him
how to do the documentary.
(alien expectorating)
- Sorry, can you repeat the question?
Am always your original question?
- The aliens, a filmmaker.
That's outta sight.
I don't get it, man.
Like where did this guy come from?
- Is he wearing a suit,
this alien (laughing)
- No, I think that's his skin.
That's his skin.
- That's real.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah that's his skin.
It looks like a suit probably,
but it's just, it's like,
probably like a latex rubbery texture.
(bright upbeat music)
- First thing, when I came here
and I went on YouTube and Google,
you know, I tried to find Vancity hip hop,
like who is Vancity hip hop,
what's going on Vancity hip hop.
And I saw young Merkules okay.
- [Host] Okay.
- And I said, yo,
this big boy is disgusting though,
this is what's here.
And I never heard of his name in Toronto.
I never heard of this guy's name.
And I heard this guy,
I'm like, yo, this guy is disgusting,
how come this guy is
not busting right now?
But it was at the time when
things were happening now.
he was getting the sway show,
things were popping off.
And actually one of my first shows,
Shout out shout out.
Where head entertainment.
They got me that show
and they got me the open for Merk.
And I got to see him live.
And I'm like, yo, like this guy,
he has the capability
to really open the door
for advanced city hip hop.
And that's just how I feel.
I'm not, I don't ride dick,
I don't know the man,
I'm just talking what I'm talking.
And from what he's doing,
he's dropping albums and
he's getting numbers.
He's doing tours,
he's getting numbers.
That's the things that you need
to make it like a thing
where you see like,
yo, we have artists out here
from Vans, he's from BC.
Oh, okay, that's in Canada.
JGeezy from there too.
Let's see what else is in Canada.
Let's see what else is in the country
because right away,
you already know when you hear Canada,
first thing you think of is, right?
Right now,
for everybody to kind of
just ramp through this door,
out here in Vancouver.
Three years ago,
I don't believe that.
Now I believe that.
- My favorite rapper would be Eve.
She inspired me to get into music,
growing up, having her as a role model.
She was a strong,
independent female rapper.
And she wasn't, like all girly.
She was okay with just being like badass
and just like more of a tomboy.
And like her album dropped
when I was in high school.
I think it was in grade nine
when Ruff Ryder's First Lady came out.
And I was just like in awe,
I was, I was like damn,
if she can do it, I can do it.
And to this day,
I just fuckin' love her.
She's amazing.
I wish you would come
out with more music now
'cause like there's other
female MCs that are like more popular now,
she's got a couple tracks,
but like I'm just dying
for her next album to drop.
I don't want her to stop making music
'cause I love her.
10 questions
One Checklist
Betty yet, can you
get us on a guest list
Accept this or reject this
Either way last night was epic
Hop and day, everyday
I should warn you
- A lot of times,
I spend my days writing music,
doing artwork and then,
you know, meetings,
meeting up with different
people, planning out tours
or you know, different ventures and shows
and things like that.
And we also,
I help run a hip hop drop in
Center and East Vancouver.
So we're doing that every week as well.
And just planning out the curriculum,
getting guests, people
to come in for workshops
and then actually
teaching hip hop ourself.
(indistinct chattering)
- What the fuck men.
(indistinct chattering)
I'm trying to talk to the girl.
(indistinct chattering).
- Man I quit,
I quit.
- And I'm taking these tips too.
(all laughing)
I grew up in North Preston with my family,
we got a big family.
My main source of income right now
was work actually on BC Ferries.
So I'm traveling a lot to the islands,
things of that nature.
So yeah, I got a little
hustle hustle here and there,
but that's just how it goes, you know.
I knew
I said I'd see yah after the show
Where and what if I do not know
Can you tell me where to go
Hey, can you tell me where to go
Ohh, yeah
- I am absolutely not
where I thought I would
be, four years ago.
Life took a really interesting turn
when I did some soul searching.
After the third time of
dropping out of school
and I was really...
Because I'm a perfectionist
and because I'm an overachiever,
I saw myself dropping out of school
as complete failure.
I thought I had failed myself as a person.
I had wasted money.
I thought I had failed my mother.
I thought I was failing my family.
And I really was...
I had no idea where I
wanted to go in my life.
I was directionless and I was lost.
And you never really get out of that.
I just feel like now I'm
a little bit more sure.
(heavy upbeat hip hop music)
- When I moved from Victoria to Vancouver
around 1992,
the scene wasn't big here at all.
You know, hip hop, wasn't
a mainstream thing.
I got a little acceptance,
me and my boy prevailed,
we soon moved to the US,
moved to San Diego.
And people, they embraced us,
tenfold of what,
how we were embraced in Vancouver.
So we really earned our stripes
in Southern California
and had great teachers.
We had a place in the
Golden Hills District,
just in south San Diego,
like south of downtown.
We get up,
we had a band that we had assembled
like a Jazz band,
but you know, we'd have
'em play hip hop stuff.
We'd curate the songs with them.
So most days we're about
rehearsing with this band
because we had some upcoming shows
and we were always doing, working on
doing appearances and all that.
If it wasn't,
doing band rehearsals or
going on graffiti missions,
I'd often take off by myself
and walk around Seaport Village,
which is just a chill place.
I'd take a notepad
and go right and sit by the water.
Seaport Village is...
It's like this true
tourist trap essentially.
With all this marine and
nautical themed shops and cafes.
What-have-yous
It was a special time, man.
Undeniable, I met some
of the greatest people.
And like I said before, the best teachers,
who were very well
educated, in the streets
and in the music lab.
("J-zeey - Mary, Mariah, Toni")
- But there's so many artists today
that they just rather
take pictures on Instagram.
They just rather be in the club,
hosting parties. and this, this and that.
And then they'll have all these pictures
where they might even be
with other Whack Rappers.
And they're just like, they're posing,
they're looking all cool.
But then when you go to their shows
and you hear them performing,
you're like, dude,
first of all, I can't
even hear you perform.
Second of all, it's just a track.
You're just playing the track
but I can't even hear you performing.
It's just a track playing.
And you're just on the stage,
just either dancing around
or doing whatever, whatever.
Stage performances,
that's how you can tell
who a whack rapper is,
is when you see them on stage performing
and you're like, yo,
you had all these views,
all these likes, all this...
You get up on stage and it's just like,
like, what is this?
What am I listening to?
("7eclipse 007- La Short Cutz")
- Like on the littlest
biggest deal on the mix tape,
I got John Merkules.
I'm more battling, I'm raw.
I'm like, I'm hungry right.
On my second album,
it's like back to the basics.
I was really learning
about a lot about myself.
I lost my dad, I lost
people like Randy Ponzio.
I work with David (indistinct),
I work with Moka.
That was that album.
I feel good, I'm in LA
and I'm doing tracks with Doug C.
I actually am...
I've done Marlene (indistinct),
I've done movies.
You know, I've had my TV show.
So I'm feeling like
I can talk a little bit about that, right?
By the time I did T,
Travis Turner was Snoop.
I mean, I was in a really good place.
You know, it just depends where you're at.
- And again, going to the illusion
of it being the untouchables,
and now there's these "Gatekeepers."
And I see all these singing
competitions and of people,
they'll go up on the stage
and they'll just be in tears
and they'll just be distraught
because they'll say things like,
"Oh, I have nothing else to live for.
You know, I'm giving it all."
But I'm like, what do you like...
It's like, they're sacrificing
themselves for something.
And they're putting
everything on the line.
And I'm like, what is that, like for what?
Why would you wanna
live your life that way?
It just confuses me.
And it's like, okay."
So these select people
tell you that you're not good enough.
And then your whole life
is just down the drain.
And then that you're
a failure to yourself.
I think that is not self love.
(bright instrumental hip pop music)
- Yes, I was a 19 year old kid
and I saw a lot of what the Rascals
and swollen members
were doing in the city.
And I just wanted to make sure that
my friends and other people
would be able to hear some of the music.
So I really got myself
immersed in the radio
business, you know, just
getting friends out,
making sure that, they were
able to play their songs.
And just being a part of community.
- Like Steve Nash, my
one and only Steve Nash,
I'm a big basketball head, right?
So I'm like,
yo, I got Steve Nash and
I see another celebrity,
I see another celebrity,
I'm like, damn.
Yeah awesome, that sounds was cool.
I went to like Rascalz school,
you know what I'm saying.
So like, I graduated from Rascalz school.
So like they give back,
they go back to Africa,
they do trips like that
with like Soul guy and like Kemo
and those guys,
they do lots of community work.
So like that was always in the forefront.
Like, no, like when I first
read, like you might think,
like, oh girls, this isn't (indistinct).
The first tour we did
was a high school tour
across the whole country.
It was just Red talking to kids,
staying outta trouble,
all these things.
And then we perform after.
So God, that was the first tour we did
before we was even clubs, right?
So like Red really
put that in us, you know.
Like he made sure like, yo bro,
like these kids need us to come there.
It's not all just about
hitting the club at nighttime.
Like we gotta do the daytime shows,
go to the schools
and like speak to these kids,
so that was just embedded.
Offspring real on release
Sweat peace to Japanese
Will travel, more lases
Paying all these,
switching my face for sees
All day, for the waste, for the waste
It's great, great
- In my life, the way it used to be
is so much different.
Now I live in a family neighborhood.
I take my kids to school,
you know, I'm like responsible
(laughing).
I'm responsible.
I actually am surprisingly responsible.
I don't know where it came from.
It must be my sisters and my mom,
but I yeah I can be irresponsible like
if you're out partying
with me on the night,
I'm definitely
gonna be close to the
wildest one of the night,
depending on the night,
like I'll hit the dance floor, man.
I will be everywhere.
But yeah...
And in this evolution,
I'm not afraid to do any kind of music.
Like I said, I will make a gangster track.
You want a gangster track.
You wanna track, for guys ride
through the hoods of fuckin'
Los Angeles, California.
I will provide you with that beat.
(lively upbeat hip hop music)
I know that street,
that's how I grew up.
If you want some sort of light poppy
Taylor Swift type track,
I'll give you that too.
Like I do not care.
(lively upbeat music)
I'm not the artist that pigeon
holes himself to one thing.
And I'm going out with that label.
Like so that I can always,
you know, branch out,
oh, look what he is
getting into this time.
I don't know if you'll ever even hear
any my music after of this movie,
who knows,
but regardless of all that,
it makes me happy making music.
- That's one of my iconic tracks,
'cause this was a time when
Jay Z did the "22 Twos",
Canibus came out and did "33 Threes".
And I said,
let me come and hit you up with "44 Fours"
and hadn't been done yet.
So this is before then Jay Z came out,
did his own version of "44 Fours".
And I crushed "44 Fours"
and probably about,
I don't know,
a minute 14 or something like that
where it's just like,
Four- 44 in the morning
It's a Longman that
this is the 44th warning
The 44 threat in 44 days
Someone wants me to die in 44 ways
I hear something
I grab the four, four
Four crash through the door
Four fall to the floor
10 minutes later
454 was dressed is steal a mess
But I got the go
Jump in the four door ball of bill
for words to describe me
I'm born to kill
Turn on the lights again to clear-view
Suddenly a glance in rear view
There was an Acura trailer
with four passengers
I guess to be four more massacres
Pull a U-turn quickly
Go the other way
As I pass the four,
whether the bullet spray
I hit all four of my targets
Then I put a car over and I parked it
I'm on foot
44th and Oak
And I remember I got
four joints to smoke
So look around outta enemy and sight
So I grabbed the weed
And I grabbed the light
I stopped blazing
Damn
Believe this is amazing
I stopped dazzing
Next thing you know
I'm on fourth and 40 night
And I got no more joints for light
Do the math
Four joints and 40 blocks
That I heard 40 shots from 40 cops
They're all trying to get me
But just like the matrix
They can hit me, dangerous is
I hear someone holler
My boy Machete with
the six, four power
Climb 444 steps to the 44th floor
At the top was my alarm clock 444
- So everybody's on this right.
Where you get this okie
okie okie business.
So yo, when I was a young youth,
yo I beer Okie top okie dokie talks,
all that was hard.
It was stupid.
And I was like, it was like, yo,
I that's just my shit.
Everybody had their line that was mine.
So it started to form into like, okie this
everybody's just started calling Okie
and that's what it is.
And the fresh water thing,
I think was me when,
I started really like, really like
getting into like
my faith and my spiritual,
you know, side and feeling like,
there was a time
where I decided to like
kind of like slow down
and not be crazy like I used to be
and not be surrounded by the
people that I used to be,
knowing the poison that came with that...
So I felt like it was like a rebirth.
So the freshwater thing is like that,
that, yeah, that splash.
- I got to see Sharon Jones
live with the Dap-Kings in Stanley Park.
That was amazing.
That was she's rest in peace.
She passed away now.
But yeah, that was a really special show.
Even then, I didn't know
she was sick or anything.
And I felt a vibe of like,
this is really special to get to see this.
George Clinton and Parliament.
That was a really crazy show.
I liked that a lot,
just he was wearing like a wizard costume
and he had like a wound
and he was like shooting
vibes at people in the crowd
and she like that (laughing)
And just the songs were, you
know, like original G-funk.
Like it really captured
the 70s kind of funk vibe.
It was cool to be around that life.
- Just try to keep it
cool with everything I do.
I just try to stay smooth,
keep myself level headed
'cause I'm one of those kinda people like,
I used to have really bad anxiety,
you know what I mean.
So I learned over the years,
how to control myself
and to control my mind,
to just tell myself that
nothing is too hard to handle.
Everything can be done if
you just take your time
and do it right.
So basically, my biggest thing,
when I'm getting ready
for something like that
is what am I gonna wear.
- Welcome to the show,
Travis, welcome back to the show.
- Yeah, thank you very much.
You know, always grinding,
so appreciate being here.
- Well, I actually, I met Maestro
when he dropped the
"Conducting Things Album"
and he was doing a promo tour
and I was in a rap group
called the Maximum Definitive
back then, and back then,
and we had a track called "Jungle Man Out"
and the video was on much music,
but I was wearing the masks,
so I didn't rap in that.
It was just dark
and I believe Roger (indistinct)
and yeah, so Maestro,
we were on tour with him
and we just became, we
were friends since then.
And I, now I'm (laughing)
I did some tour management stuff with him
and his son's godfather big up Chance.
But now I've just kinda
veered myself more into
film and television,
but I still can't get away from the music.
So I just kinda...
Yeah, I always double and dabble,
I always say I'm out, but
I'm always drawn back in.
- As far as major labels go,
I would probably just avoid that.
I've been down that road before
and it's just so many fingers in the pie
and I find it really difficult to know
who to trust or whatever.
I feel with a smaller label,
like a boutique label,
like (indistinct) you know,
I get to know the people
and I have a much greater
sense of security and trust
with people that I've had
a proven track record with.
You know what I mean.
Instead of a rotating cast of
interns and people that yield
probably never even meet some of them,
you know, at a major label.
Yeah, pick your poison and stick with it.
(horn honking)
- What's up J-Geezy.
- What's up man.
- Well, you didn't sign the contract.
- No, I didn't find a contract.
We're not .
Check this out.
Here's this guy online,
DJ More Money.
He claims he is the king of G town.
His song,
video on Youtube just hit
over a million streams.
Now I'll tell you one thing
I ain't signing no damn contract,
unless I can be the number one
undisputed King of G town, you heard?
- Okay, okay, all right,
meet me here tomorrow,
I'll take care of it.
- Okay.
- I'll bring another contract.
(metals clinking)
- [Man] Lily, locate DJ More Money.
- [Alien] Locating DJ More Money.
(alien expectorating)
DJ More Money otherwise
known as Tyrone Power.
(" J-Geezy - It Was All a Dream Pt. 2")
(door thudding)
(metal clinking)
(door rattling)
(footsteps tapping)
(gunshots cracking)
(footsteps tapping)
(door banging)
(metal clinking)
- Eazy, eazy wake up
- Yo J-Geezy, what's up?
- Yo, contract, signed,
filled, and delivered.
- Sweet, what changed?
- DJ More Money is no
longer in the picture.
Someone took care of him for me.
- Sweet, that's good.
'Cause I really wanna
have you in this movie.
- But the guy just like off that dude,
and now he's getting,
he's getting the papers finally.
- Wow.
- What's going on.
- Wow, that is crazy.
- So my five year plan is
just to keep dropping music,
but to use the knowledge that I've gained
over these last five to 10 in years
and apply it
and kinda think outside the box
and not necessarily do things
the way I've been doing them before
and kinda upgrade my strategy
as I go along.
- Yeah, well I've just been
doing what you said, you know,
eliminating competition.
(alien expectorating)
- Oh, you didn't mean like
eliminate, eliminate them.
You just meant like be better than them.
Like get more like
views and more streams and
more popularity than 'em.
That way better?
(alien expectorating)
- Oh, oh my bad, my bad, I'm sorry.
Hey I misunderstood.
(alien expectorating)
- Huh?
(alien expectorating)
(producer laughing)
(alien expectorating)
- Was that dumb,
I was crawling all over the floor,
you shit (indistinct)
everybody's shit was whack.
(alien expectorating)
- Sorry, can you repeat the question?
- It all makes sense now.
So what you're telling me,
the alien is the producer of the film
and he hired that guy to do it.
Huh.
- [Man] What?
Producer of the movie.
- What did he say?
- That's what he said.
Right, well you so smart.
He speaks fucking alien, dude.
Producer, is the alien.
- The alien is the dog.
- The alien is the producer.
- [Man] Wait, the dog
can understand the alien?
- Yeah.
- How often do you guys talk?
- The last, like 10 minutes.
- I need to get high (laughing)
I'm going to bed.
- All right, man, good night.
You wanna watch "Vancity Raps".
All right, let's do it one more time then.
(man singing)
Vancity Raps
Vancity Raps
Vancity Raps
(electronic music)
- So can I have my body back
or yeah can you like
get that thing out of me
that you put in me.
(alien expectorating)
See, it's the end of the movie.
I did everything you said.
Can you get that thing out my body now.
Yeah, just take it back.
Take it in your space shift.
Take off to wherever you gotta go.
But I need to get on life movies done
and I get everything said and yeah.
(alien expectorating)
- So we just finished filming "Moka Only"
good interview.
This is pretty much our last
that was our last interview.
We now got our film
and now we're gonna hit post production.
- Yeah, thank you for having me aboard
"TNT Star Entertainment",
Travis Turner but
more than thank you, everyone
who came a part of the film,
you know, I'm really glad that
we've in one way or another,
we've been working together
over this last decade,
in the Vancouver scene.
So it's really cool to just see
how it's all come together.
- Yeah, totally TNT made a good point.
He said,
Vancouver's got a very
humble hip hop scene
and I think that's a good
way to describe Vancouver.
And I like that.
And you're gonna see that in our movies.
So anyway, peace out, "Vancity Raps"
(lively upbeat hip hop music)