[Vancity emcee extraordinaire — SonReal]

“Chaaaarrrrr-babyyy!” I heard a man’s voice call out from around the side of the house. “We’re over here!” I stepped down from the stairs leading to the front entrance of the house and made my way over to the familiar voices I had only ever heard in Toronto. It had been not even a few months ago when I had last seen Bizzy and SonReal when they were in Toronto for the DJ Stylus Awards. Originally from Vernon, BC, now living in Vancouver, I had never seen these two guys in my hometown — our interactions have always been over in the east.

As I followed the pied piper’s beckoning towards the back yard gate, I was soon ambushed with hugs and huge welcomes to 1851 — their home and headquarters for all things creative and talented.

I entered the big back yard and helped myself to taking a seat in their self-made muskoka chair comprised of old skateboard decks. Catching up with the boys and seeing them for the first time in Vancity seemed way too normal.

“We’re promoting the release of a new video today!” SonReal tells me excitedly.

Of course. This doesn’t surprise me. These guys seem to sh*t out videos and new music every five seconds. Straight goods, their hustle is like no other, a type of hustle that belongs in Toronto. But could these west coast-skater-rapper and manager ever wanna leave the beauty of BC? ... Maybe.

[Bizzy]

One thing’s for sure though, they’ve got the west coast hooked on SonReal’s music.

“Char, I’ve got the white girls on lock! Now if I can get the black chicks lovin’ me… I’ll be set!” Bizzy and I laughed, knowing full well how true this statement actually is. Having just returned from a tour in the interior, Bizzy and SonReal described to me the hype of the crowds who came to see him perform.

Afterwards, SonReal got up and began to give me a tour inside of the three-story house located just a five minute drive from my parents’ place in East Van, I could see how these boys could get down with making a new music video every other week. Residing at 1851 were 5 other guys amongst the two of them — and each of them had their own hustle gwannin — Bizzy working as SonReal’s manager, SonReal as the emcee, Ritchie who’s a DJ as well as SonReal’s DJ, Dane doin’ up the video game, and their two other friends who are like semi-pro skaters. This household was teeming with creativity… not to mention rent split between all of them is so cheap that nobody has to work job-jobs, and everybody can focus on their individual crafts. So DOPE! Each room was characterized by their art domain, with SonReal’s room hosting his own recording booth.

[SonReal and Adlib of Boombox Saints recording a hook]

[Signed copies of Where’s Waldo mixtape]

Walking back towards the spacious backyard, I sat on the grass and tried to coax the house cat into coming over to play with me. I let the sun penetrate my soon-to-be brown skin and listened to Bizzy as he checked his iPhone (which he does seventeen million times a day), and reminded SonReal about something or other, related to their upcoming tour to Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta. I smiled, observing their relationship with one another. Truly, best friends from time, Bizzy holds SonReal down, and vice versa. They have a great working relationship and that wouldn’t be so if they didn’t already establish a strong friendship.

Joining back in on the conversation, we argued (again) about the first day we all ever met… Was it the art show? The film fest? Last year’s Manifesto Festival seemed like such a blur. And as per usual… we got in super epic mode with each other and talked about how THESE are the moments… what SonReal calls ‘Life Moments‘.

I looked at these two and felt nothing but pride. I knew that years from now we would be in a different time, different place, and be different people. Better, faster, stronger, smarter, wiser, and crazziiieerrr.