Tag: edmonton

A Quick Chat With…K-Riz

I am so chuffed to have caught up with K-RIZ, one of the hottest Canadian artists around, to discuss latest critically acclaimed album, ‘Peace & Love’ as well as his plans for the rest of 2021.

I don’t think there’s no need for a big introduction for this guy – by the time you finish reading this Q&A, trust me, you’ll love his music as much as I do…so let’s get down to it.

NLM: Hey, thank you for taking part in an interview with NEW LEASE MUSIC. How is 2021 treating you so far?

K: Thank you for having me! Y’all have been showing so much love over the past year, I’m truly thankful. 2021 has been good to me. Released a lot of music this year, and I’m finally feeling as close to 100% as I can from a car accident in 2020. Feeling good and looking forward.

NLM: You released your album, ‘Peace & Love’ last month (24th September). What is the public perception on the project so far?

K: The perception has been really cool, and surprising. I’m pretty surprised by the songs people are loving. “A City Too Small,” for example, is really hitting people. I don’t really expect much when I release music, so any love shown is always a plus.

NLM: How would you describe the album’s sound to potential fans?

K: The sound ranges from classic hip-hop to full out R&B songs with live instrumentation.
I’m definitely a student of the game and I embrace all styles of music, from the old to the new. So I wanted that aspect represented throughout the album.

NLM: What inspired you to produce the album?

K: I wanted to make a happier and more conscious album, but there were so many negative things in my life that I never dealt with or maybe I avoided them. In order for the music to be authentic and genuine, I had to embrace what I was feeling. An album I was listening to was The Velvet Rope by Janet Jackson. She was very raw and emotional on that record. I heard the vulnerability and I felt that was the way to go.

NLM: What is/are your favourite single(s) from the album and why?

K: “A City Too Small” – love the darkness of the track and the bassline in the hook. “The View” – I loved how this song came together. It’s a song you can close your eyes to and drift away from start to finish. I always feel better after listening to it. “I Don’t Trust You” – it’s a song that gets me moving every time.

NLM: What message would you like the listeners to take away from your album?

K: I hope people hear a person who is human and healing. I’m sure we are all healing from something, so I hope the music heals and shows that it’s okay to go through these things, to feel and find a way to release these feelings and thoughts.

NLM: If you had to feature one mainstream artist on the album, who would it be and why?

K: It would have to be Nas. That’s my favorite rapper of all time. That will always be my answer until it happens.

NLM: Do you have other project(s) for 2021?

K: We got some visual projects in the works, as well as features. I’m currently headed back to the studio to begin work on the follow-up. Staying busy, always.

NLM: How can potential fans find you?

K: The best place to find me is on my website at krizmusic.com and you can also find me on the socials.

NLM: Finally, any special shout outs to those involved in the production of ‘Peace & Love?

K: I want to shout out and thank the entire HonorRoll Music Collective. This album is a stamp on a great era for us musically. Also, everyone involved in making this album and encouraging me to release it. Y’all know who y’all are! Thank you to the people out there listening.

Listen to K-Riz’s album ‘Peace & Love’ right HERE

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K-Riz Drops New Video for Latest Track, ‘Lost In It’

Earlier this summer, Edmonton hip-hop artist K-RIZ announced the release of his sophomore full-length album, Peace & Love. Now, he’s unveiling a new song from the project, ‘Lost in It,’ along with a new video filmed by Comrade and edited by Aliza.

In the video, K-Riz is shown being cleansed in a river, symbolizing his transition from one stage of life to the next, or shedding the old and stepping into the new. Displaying his rapid-fire flow over an aptly erratic beat produced by Calgary’s Rajah (Tory Lanez, Meek Mill, Lil Baby, Curtis Waters), K-Riz uses water as a metaphor to express drowning in, and eventually purging, his emotions from the end of a bad relationship.

With ‘Lost in It,’ the soft-hearted rapper goes hard, rhyming about the most difficult stage of heartache. “It’s the chapter where I’m caught up in my emotions and this cycle of negative thoughts,” said K-Riz. “When I was writing this song, I had these images of treading water as a tidal wave approached me, sharks surrounding me, and gasping after almost drowning. Rajah’s production went perfectly with the sink-or-swim metaphor I was trying to express in my lyrics.”

Much of the tracks from Peace & Love are linked lyrically to broken relationships with others and with self, capturing the different stages of grief and joy that come from experiencing love, heartache, and ultimately finding inner peace.

K-Riz is part of a new generation of melodic emcees who can rap circles around their opponents and sing their verses with equal aplomb. Listing the titans of soul and funk-inspired pop and jazz-oriented rap as his influences, from Stevie Wonder to Nas and Prince to J Dilla, the Toronto-born, Edmonton-based artist absorbs and spits out the specters of other eras while remaining spiritually in the present.

Peace & Love follows his critically-hailed The Room EP (2020), which drew praise from Complex for “quietly establishing himself as one of Alberta’s deftest lyricists.” K-Riz was also named as a Black Canadian artist you need to know by Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe of CBC’s The Block, and listed among the Canadian artists you need to hear by Exclaim in January of 2021.

Here’s your chance to check out the official video for the single below…

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Song of the Day: I Don’t Trust You – K-Riz

On the heels of his critically hailed The Room EP, Edmonton hip-hop/R&B artist K-RIZ getting ready to drop his sophomore full-length album, ‘Peace & Love’, due out on September 24….and first up from the project is single, ‘I Don’t Trust You.’

About an unfaithful lover, K-Riz confronts an ex-flame’s betrayal and deception, setting his melodic raps to a tender R&B-pop bounce assisted by production from J. Deppisch and Grammy-nominated LordQuest. Juggled into his wordplay, he recounts the good with the bad.

“When you fall for someone, it’s hard to trust what your intuition may be telling you,” K-Riz says of the song. “You miss the red flags. You want the person you’re with to be who you think they are, even if they’re someone completely different than what you set them up to be. When trust has been broken, that’s always going to be in the back of your mind. If you can’t trust, you can’t fully love the one you’re with, even though you want to try.”

Originally set for release in early 2020, K-Riz put Peace & Love on hold once the pandemic hit, choosing to delay the project until the time was right. Then things took a turn for the worse when the rapper was in a near-fatal car accident in the summer of 2020, an event that inspired The Room EP. That effort drew attention from Complex, Exclaim, CBC’s The Block, CBC’s The Strombo Show, and peaked at the #2 spot on Canadian college radio’s National Hip Hop Chart.

With Peace & Love, K-Riz goes back in the narrative arc of his life, recounting how he found the other side of a gutting heartbreak and series of upheavals. Not a breakup album per se, but a record that captures his personal breakthrough as a result of the fallout.

K-Riz’s stunning sophomore, Peace & Love, is slated for release on September 24…but for now, have a listen to its first release below (highly recommended)…

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Arlo Maverick Drops New Track, ‘Tap It’, Tackling The Issue Of Pursuing Generational Wealth.

Ahead of his highly anticipated Soul Merchant EP Today, Edmonton rapper ARLO MAVERICK unveils another track from the EP titled ‘Tap It’, a soca-inflected observation on the pursuit for generational wealth and security.

Directed by Maverick, the accompanied video revolves around a young woman from an immigrant family who disrupts the path expected of her to gain more social status. After moving to a new city for higher education, she loses focus and gets caught up in the party scene. Her father works hard to create opportunities for his daughter, as does her fiancé to ensure a better future for their own prospective family. In return, she racks up her father’s credit card without any concern for his debt, manipulates her fiancé back home to fund her lifestyle while meeting others on dating sites, and surrounds herself around other entitled people that encourage her behaviour.

A comment on socioeconomic mobility and narcissism as a social epidemic, the track is a chopped and mixed stew of soca, reggae, electro and hip-hop, elevated by vocalist Oozeela who brings his own Dominican roots to the song.

‘Tap It’ follows Soul Merchant’s lead single, ‘Hashtag,’ a song of protest about racial profiling and police brutality, which drew attention from Exclaim, CBC Radio, The Strombo Show, and CKUA Radio, among others. The EP explores the rapper’s personal reflections on the current state of the world, weaving brainy wit into his wordplay and an amalgam of influences. As with all Maverick releases, each track on the EP comes with a message to spark further conversation.

The Soul Merchant EP arrives on all streaming platforms on next Friday, 9th July…but for now, check out the video for ‘Tap It’

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K-Riz Shares New Video For Single, ‘What A Shame’

After claiming the blog’s Song of the Week title earlier this year for ‘What A Shame’, K-RIZ circles back and shares the video for the single, lifted from his The Room EP released in late 2020.

Directed by JDats, The Room’s producer and a frequent K-Riz collaborator, the video wades through the stages of a breakup, while visualising the heartfelt regret behind the track. Of the tune K-Riz says, “It’s about wanting to take responsibility for relationships breaking down. Rather than making a song about being a victim, I wanted to own my wrongs.”

Why not check out K-Riz’s latest video below…

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