Q&A With Canadian Hip Hop Artist Eyezic
Whats Up Eyezic! We really enjoyed your latest mixtape “O.M.I.D” , one of our main contributors CTHREE even gave it and 7/10!! How long have you been making music? What area code(s) do you rep!? And how did you get your emcee name?
Big ups, I appreciate the feedback and look forward to how the next offering is received 🙏🏽.
I started rapping when I was 14 and recording when I was 15. I represent the 519 but I like to stay as mobile as I can throughout Ontario, shout out to the 416 styll. I got my emcee name based off my real name, I just think eye-zic looks the way it’s pronounced, and just cooler in general lol 😂
Us being a LA based BLOG, we don’t really know much about the Canadian underground Hip Hop scene!! To know there is an up and coming artists like yourselves reppin the CAN, just goes to show the country is in good hands!!! Tell us about the scene out there, and how has your country influenced you in any way?
The underground scene in Canada is vast and there’s quite a few people who are starting to get a bit more recognition now. Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto are all major cities that I’m sure have a thousand artist’s who could pop at any time. Toronto is the hotbed for battle rap and all things hip-hop/r&b really as you may know. That’s where KOTD is held and of course you know the names that have come out of Toronto in recent years…
I was born in London and basically grew up in a small town over; St. Thomas. Even here there’s a lot of people who make music. The music is all very different and quite creative I must say, again I have to stress how much potential is here, we just need to get the people aware and not let the talents go to waste. My country has influenced me probably as much as anyone else’s in the digital age. It makes me feel like I have certain limitations, so I guess you could say it inspires me to work harder.
Lets face it, social media since 2015 has grown tremendously, especially IG!!! Tell us how is your IG grind is looking, and how have you been able to keep up with the high demand on social media? Do you have a website??
My IG grind is aight I guess for the amount of care I give to it haha. I try to keep my socials off and deleted as much as I can and my phone on airplane mode to be honest. Regardless the notifications are always off so I check when I check but I know how the game goes like you just said. It’s really annoying when you figure out cellphones are probably the biggest threat to the minds of the youth, yet when you become passionate with something such as music or business etc in this era, you have to consistently stay connected if you want to be successful. It’s saddening to me truthfully, but I’ve became numb to the fact we’re all playing the same game. The way I’ve been able to keep up is because I was born in ‘97, and I’ve always been good at video games and using computers 😂💯. Yes I have a website as well, it’s ftyinc.ca I designed it and put it all together myself. I run the business FTY and am a Co-Founder of Reezy.Customs.
Please breakdown the creative process to your latest mixtape “O.M.I.D”?
The creative process behind O.M.I.D was to create a storyline of my life at the time and showcase what I had to go through to reach my next or current metamorphosis. Hence all the hard-hitting tracks or tracks with a lot of the same topics but different approach or story throughout the entire tape, and then the final outro track, being the title track which is a representation of an ego death. By killing my ego and keeping my morales in tact, I built enough character to bring my life back to where I need it to be right now and I wanted the tape to feel like I’m still lost but leave a subtle hint that I’m aware of it at the same time, to leave listeners intrigued for the future. I also wanted to just make a tape everybody could rock out to and forget about what’s going on right now because the world is damn near crumbling before our eyez.
How often do you perform live?? Any indie DIY tours in the works?
I perform live a few times a year, the next show I have is end of February in Waterloo, ON at Laurier University for the radio stations annual hip hop showcase. I don’t live or go to school in Waterloo or go to school period but thankfully we’ve been blessed to show out last year and again this year. But yes actually, my friend and I were discussing setting up a national tour for the summer. He played in a band back in his day and did 800 shows across Canada with that band, their name was TROLE and he’s now releasing music as King Jeorge, they toured in a van at the time. Could definitely make it work, I just want to make people understand the range of music I have first before I go out. I don’t want people thinking I can only provide one type of sound.
How do you feel about the whole XAN & LEAN trend these kids nowadays are on!!!..LOL??? Be honest, do you use some of that stuff??..LOL
I don’t feel like kids should be chastised and judged or ousted for the mistakes they made or are making because we’re still kids. I personally don’t agree with the glorification of anything that can harm the minds of the youth but when you think about it, the youth is this way because of the way we were raised. There’s not really any other explanation. Generations before it was cocaine and heroin or some other type of shit you know, which I’m not saying kids don’t still do today, but yeah, there’s always been something wrong with the youth because that’s who leads the future. The youth has to make the mistakes and learn from them to be able to progress and move forward later in life. I have never done xanax or any type of pills or sedatives like that, I’ve sipped some lean a couple times but I ain’t continue cause it just made me pass right the fuck out to be honest lol. I’ve found solace in sticking to my herbs and would reccomend a couple different psychadelic experiences but that’s for another day. But yeah again the youth today is highly disturbed with all the misery going around in the streets and every other day the feeling of lord knows what will fall from the sky. I think the drug thing is just a coping mechanism because we are aware of the type of times we’re going to have to overcome and the time we’re currently dealing with. And to add-on to the real imminent dangers, with what we know about reality now and how consciousness is affected, whose to say all the horror, murder, chaos, brutality, etc that are watched on screens by us constantly, more than any generation before hand, isn’t taking it’s toll on developing brains as well. The radiation from 3, 4, and 5G alone is bad enough, mixing it with negative imagery and emotions just fucks us up even worse.
What you got cooking next? Any special for the new year 2018!!??
I got a lot cooking up, and a lot in store for this 2018, just stay tuned!
Where do see yourself in 5yrs? (2023)?
In 5 years I’ll be good as long as we’re all alive and happy!
Where can fans find your music? Drop all links!!
Fans can find my music by googling Eyezic or typing in Eyezic on apple music, spotify, google play, tidal, etc etc. Here’s some links
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/eyezic/1250089098
Any shout out?
Shout out my dawg Melanik Whyte for his amazing year with @reezy.customs go follow dat on IG. Shoutout the whole squad Dys FUNK Raven and Suavey. Major Ups to JACOOK for all the fire he provided last year. Shout out all the members of EVCT and TeamLo. Big ups to di rockstar King Jeorge, go check his music out on your favorite streaming service. Shout out TooPristine out of Waterloo for his production on “KEKE” with A Boogie and Fetty Wap, it was his first industry placement. Shout out TJ Mroz the host of the radio station for showing love and seeing the movement. Also shouts to Malichi Male for all his efforts in trying to get the small town we currently live in to see what’s really good. & Finally shout out to 1stDayFresh, all the Mississippi artist’s they rocking with and all the supporters of this FTY movement we have going on, much love to everyone and stay safe out here.
Blessings, Eyezic
