Whenever I get the chance, I make sure to see John River live and support him as best I can. He is a young, humble, modest, and critical artist from Mississauga, whom with I have developed a friendship through community organizations and mutual friends. The last time we ran into each other ahead of his set at Studio Bar during this year’s CMW, I made sure to document our conversation. I’ve never really had the chance to sit down and speak with him for too long so his responses to my questions were as new to me as they are to you.
What was the last project you worked on?
The Storm, which is finished now, it just hasn’t come out yet. It will be out hopefully by early September.
What’s the story behind The Storm? Where did the inspiration come from? Did anything happen between your last project and this project that changed and put your creative energy in a better or worse place?
The Storm is like a big evolution. The first project was called The Calm so the The Storm is like the calm before the storm. Essentially it’s just a lot more sounds. We tried to progress –– from a musical standpoint –– to go a lot deeper and just really make it like a lot fucking doper.
You have been performing a lot over the last couple years, really getting your name out and learning as you go, working on projects and working hard on your craft. How has that helped you grow as a person and of course as an artist?
I think growing as a person really helps make the projects better. The music is a derivative of your own personal character. Performing (and all that shit) helped me a lot because as you said, you have to learn as you go. Some shows there’s five people, some shows there’s five hundred and you’ve got to bust your ass every time regardless –– it’s your craft so you take pride in it.
Doing the due diligence and playing catch up with Témi, F.K.A. Intro from Untitled. This is the 2nd video from his first solo EP, A New Beginning.
Check out the OFFICIAL video for Temi – “Fire”
Official Video for the 2nd single off of the EP “Intro ll A New Beginning” – FIRE
Follow: @temi_music Business Inquiries: temimusicrnb@gmail.com Directed/Produced by: Kiki Love/PJW Produced by: K Fam Written by: August Rigo Starring: Kia’na “Amazing” Loi Location: StudioPlexx MUA: Destiny Flippo
Bumped into this dude a couple weeks back at SoTeeOh’s photo exhibit opening night (dope night btw). Sounds like there’s a few exciting ELMNT projects coming out this year including this collabo with Boko Maru i.e. Part 2 of their Shadowboxing Through Universes series. Good music.
Deep in the rainforests of the Amazon, the Achuar and the Huaorani Indians are assembled for their daily ritual. Every morning, each member of the tribe awakens before dawn, and once gathered together in that twilights hour, as the world explodes into light, they share their dreams.
This is not simply an interesting pastime, an opportunity for storytelling: to the Achuar and the Huaorani, the dream is owned not by the dreamer alone, but collectively by the group, and the individual dreamer is simply the vessel the dream decided to borrow to have a conversation with the whole tribe.
The tribes view the dream as a map for their waking hours. It is a forecaster of what is to come for all of them, In dreams they connect with their ancestors and the rest of the universe. The dream is what is real. It is their waking life that is the falsehood.
Much like storytelling, Free .99 is a cosmic channel curated for the dream-chasers.
Start your 30 day dose of reality for the price of FREE 99.
– Unknown
Tracklist:
1 – Iceberg [Prodf. Junia-T] 2 – Cigarettes [Prod. Chinsaku] 3 – Cheesus Crust Interlude 4 – Cash Fools [Prod. ELMNT] 5 – Death Of Me [Prod. RSNZ] 6 – Will Power Interlude 7 – Happiness in 2055 [Prod. Nooon] 8 – In My Home [Prod. ELMNT] 9 – Summer Nights [Prod. ELMNT]
Can’t believe this but I’m just realizing that the homie Intro from Untitled has been on his solo push for almost a year now. Don’t know if this means the group has officially broken up but hopefully not as we were definitely rooting for those brothas from TIME.
In any case, Intro now goes by Témi (his government name I believe) and he’s got music + visuals for one full EP plus a 2nd EP which is coming out real soon so I’ma start playing catch up right now by posting his first solo joint from last year and getting everything up over the next week or so…
Shouts to Untitled man. They played a major role in marking a new era of Toronto R&B. “All I Need” still bumps.
Check out the OFFICIAL video for Temi – “Brick By Brick”
Produced by: MLB Written by: BJ Bowers
Presented by: www.younghollywoodatlanta.com Directed by: Dominique “DC” Dixon & PJ Woods – YHA Media Production Starring: Sean “Ferrari” Simmons, Thida Penn and Christopher Whitmore Web: www.temimusicrnb.com Follow: @temi_music Business Inquiries: temimusicrnb@gmail.com
Some truth / inspiration from the youngin’ John River. When I see / hear what this dude is doing I just hope it somehow influences his contemporaries to also speak and think critically about things that are going on in the world. Woulda loved to have a kid like this as a guest on OTA Live…
20 year old rapper John River speaks about doubt, self belief, racism and the perceptions of high school dropout. Follow John at: https://twitter.com/johnriverftc
John River, born Matthew Jonathan Derrick-Huie was raised in Mississauga Ontario. John is a 20 year old, well-rounded and musically adept rapper/producer who not only conveys his own message and story through his music, but also that of his peers. John River broke into the music industry in early 2012 at the age of 17 when he released his first single, “Every Evening”. The song generated 50,000 views on his YouTube channel, making it the highest played video on his channel thus far. Since “Every Evening”, he has released 5 other songs and their accompanying videos, which have collected a total of 100,000 views on YouTube. John River’s first project, The Calm, released in November of 2012, was critically acclaimed and received positive feedback from various media outlets. John is currently working on his second project entitled The Storm.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
“Concepteur Etoiles is essentially my tunnel vision perspective on life. I have never allowed any obstacles to obstruct the path to my dreams, no matter the size or significance. I am still here. I am still going. No matter how dark, I always manage to find the light. AuRA.” ~`
