Over the summer, Canadian artist G Body released a song that truly encapsulates a difficult journey during the warm months in a cold city. Repurposing the legendary hook on “Oochie Wally” and transforming it into an anthem for Toronto was enough to turn G Body into a local legend. With one hit under his belt and many eyes starting to look in his direction, the electrifying Canadian artist is ready to make his mark and bring his unique style of street rap to the international stage. On his latest single “Gold Mine”, we see G Body bringing a much more laidback energy, effortlessly merging elements of the signature Toronto sound of hip-hop and UK Grime. G Body is able to bring up the intensity with a snarl to cap off some of his more sinister bars, utilizing the versatility of Grime beats to bring a completely different type of energy to the genre. Watch as this quickly rising artists continues his onslaught of energetic singles, don’t be surprised if he has a couple of hits ready to be released from the vault. Listen to “Goldmine” on all platforms here!

An artist who has been releasing some of the strongest singles of his career to close out 2019 is DillanPonders. The Toronto staple has begun to turn heads in his city, all by remaining true to his vision and pushing high-quality rap music to his devout fanbase. On his latest EP KNOWHERE Dillan emphasizes his passion behind moving to the beat of his own drum and not fit into the expectations of society. This project leans towards the dark side of Dillan’s creative mind, understandably so after over a half-decade as an independent artist who has experienced a wild variety of highs and low traversing through the music industry. DillanPonders has been on an impressive run of dropping singles, with the most recent being “JURASSIC” alongside the red hot IDK. That feature may bring in new fans for Dillan but some of his strongest songs on the project are Dillan on his own laying down relentless bars. The intro song “KNOW I’M GOD” is one of my personal favorites, as Ponders puts his city on notice for his place as his own enigma, outside of the competitive nature amongst artists in Toronto. Playing off this, “LIMITLESS” sets his sights for the …

If you’re looking for a bright way to start this cold weekend, look no further than Awful Records newest melodic star SEANTHOMMONEY. The Maryland-Native has always been a creative force to be reckoned with. After dropping out of college his first semester, SEANTHOMMONEY took a bet on himself and moved to Atlanta to focus on his art full time. His first few releases caught the attention of Awful Records, who signed SEAN after inking a partnership with RCA Records. He has dropped some impressive party-ready hits r, but none more so than his most recent single “Flex Season” alongside certified club rocker TisaKorean. Their energies combine perfectly and it immediately feels like the pair have been creating music for some time. SEANTHOMMONEY’s melodic talents are outstanding on this single, never really giving his flow a break and almost coming off as an Atlanta equivalent to Lancey Foux. The visuals for this record match the bubbly nature of the song, rolling out to a party and breaking necks with how they flex. Tisa has been involved with multiple members of the Awful Records family lately, it’d be amazing to see more collaborations between them in the future. Its records like these …

Last week a new artist from Toronto immediately caught my attention with a hard-hitting single that is perfect as the cold city begins to get colder. Artist’s name is Velow one of the best to come out of Scarborough in recent memory, his deep baritone voice pairs well with his ability to be incredibly versatile from bar to bar in terms of his delivery. Throughout the narrative of his latest single “Laughed To Myself”, Velow plays though all sorts of situations where people doubted him or wrote him off. If this song and video are an indicator, all of those haters will soon be silenced as he is looking to make his mark on a global scale. What makes this song shine is returning to the same lyric “Ha Ha” in between his intricate bars that come at a quick pace to keep the energy moving the entire time. Both this song and video are relentlessly Toronto in nature, yet another talented artist to project the story of a sometimes confusing city to the masses. Watch the video for “Laughed To Myself” below!

Earlier this Summer, Ramriddlz released one of his most upbeat singles to date in “Niagra”. The song was reminiscent of the tropical soundscapes Ramriddlz initially caught fire from. Over the past few years, Ram has become an integral part of Toronto’s ever-growing hip hop community. He is an artist that has always found a way to reinvent himself and truly level up his talents from project to project. “Niagra” came after his album Ramreaper, which saw a much darker and personal side to Ram that fans had not seen previously. Building off this, Ramriddlz has recently joined forces with uniquely iconic Toronto photographer Dragan Andic, also known as The.97, who is a leading creative force to be reckoned within Canada. Dragan’s creative potential has been tapped in by some of the city’s biggest artists, for example 88Glam’s iconic first album was shot by Dragan. Beyond that, he has also worked with Roy Woods, Nav, Killy, and many more. His style has become synonymous with the city of Toronto, often channeling the dark feel the city has for a large portion of the year. What’s interesting is that he has teamed up with Ram as his creative director, with a conflicting style …

There are artists who grind for years and pave their own way only to be overlooked until one album brings everything they’ve been working on together to really set them apart. Reese LaFlare has had his hands in everything for the better part of this decade, releasing music but never finding the mainstream success that matched his talent and overall vision for his music. All of his creative efforts have aligned on his triumphant sophomore album Final Fantasy, inspired by one of his favorite childhood video games but also his tendency to drift off into fantasies of himself into his favorite movies and tv shows as a teen. One thing that has always been clear about Reese’s music is that he considers everything from adlibs to cover art to who he features on his projects. As Final Fantasy plays out this attention to detail is evident as running through the tracklist feels like leveling up through a video game. Moments of intensity coupled with instances of calm, to create an experience that always keeps listeners on their toes. There are so many hits on this project, it’s been one that has been played on loop since it released last Friday. The project starts …

With an impressive debut project, it is my pleasure to introduce the Lyrical Lemonade audience to Canadian artist JMON. Last week he released a 5-song EP titled Chaos Theory, a project that blends experimental, punk, and hip-hop genres to create something truly chaotic. JMON is an artist that has always put a heavy emphasis on his creative side, his visuals always being high concept and extremely polished for a rising artist. Each song allows JMON to show a different tempo and style he has in his arsenal. The first two songs were released as single, the intensely aggressive “You Can’t Hang” that brought on two of Vancouver’s quickest rising artists in Boslen and Eric Reprid to match JMON’s energy. The second track “Off That” is produced by Kiwi, who lends some impressive strings that show off what JMON’s futuristic R&B sound is capable of. The rest of the project was produced by one of Canada’s most exciting producers KULTARGOTBOUNCE, who has been a longtime collaborator of JMON’s. An impressive debut for an artist who seems to have a larger plotline to his music. Stream Chaos Theory on all platforms here and watch the “Off That” video below!

Alright we don’t have to play around here, its understood bbno$ moves different than a lot of these rappers out right now. 2019 has been an incredibly busy year for the Vancouver based artist, dropping his sophomore album Recess earlier this year and following with a run of hit singles, one that just so happened to crush hundreds of millions of streams. With more attention than ever, he finds himself at an interesting point in his career being that he could sign with any label looking to cash in on his chaotic energy. By the sounds of it, ever since he deactivated stealth mode they’ve been hunting him down to finally give him some money. To no one’s surprise, he’s remained independent as one of the largest artist’s to bet on himself and become one of the top 100 streaming artists on Spotify without a label. By doing this, he is creating a pathway to show how to become a thriving artist in quite possibly the craziest time in the music industry. Today marks the release of bbno$’s third studio album i don’t care at all, an amply titled project considering the more fame he seems to get the less interested he is in …