Boslen is far from satisfied but he’s enjoying the ride. The Chilliwack, BC native emerged as a breath of fresh air in Canada’s music scene in 2021 when he dropped off DUSK To DAWN. The roots of trap and R&B are evident in his soun but it’s his willingness to push the boundaries that turned him into one of the most exciting artists in Canada.
Following an incredibly successful tour across Canada in May, the rapper came through with his latest body of work, GONZO in June. Boslen explained that the project was birthed from a place of frustration, partially due to the self-imposed pressure. “I am very competitive so I was just competitive against myself and I just wanted more and more. I just was not satisfied,” he explains to HNHH.
DUSK To DAWN already received glowing reviews for his dark atmospheric production and honest songwriting. While it may have been seven months since the release of DUSK To DAWN, Boslen challenged himself even further and created an undeniable body of work with GONZO.
“GONZO to me – I want other people to take what they perceive of the name – but my best take of what it is, you know, being unbound,” he explains of the title. “I think that's the biggest thing. Letting your mind kinda be sporadic and tapping into that little voice in your head that maybe you don't always listen to. Trusting your gut.”
We recently caught up with Boslen to discuss his latest project GONZO, working with Canadian rap legends Rascals, and why Canadian artists shouldn’t feel complacent right now.
How’d this project come about after dropping DUSK to DAWN?
It naturally started probably three weeks before DUSK to DAWN dropped. I was already making my next project. I didn't know it was gonna be called GONZO at the time. I was in Vancouver at the time and I was working on “LEVELS” and I was just really, in a sense, frustrated. I was just kinda frustrated with where I was and it all blended into my music. It all transitioned to this big tornado blender of what we see now, I guess. So, the process was probably like a year, yeah.
You were talking about some of the frustrations. What were those frustrations, and how did you identify them to apply to the music?
It was just personal things, man. Where you are in life. I am very competitive so I was just competitive against myself and I just wanted more and more. I just was not satisfied. Honestly, it's a self-reflection that I am going through right now where you have to enjoy the ride. So I think that's one thing I am trying to learn right now more than anything. Never get too high, never get too low, and just enjoy the ride. And through the process of GONZO, that's what I was like going through. But I was through it in a sense of not really at a high. It was like a wanting to prove myself type of thing. But that naturally led to kinda the conclusion of the project which was “SCARS” where I was very at peace where I was and happy to even be making music in the first place and being grateful, man. Cause “HEIST” and songs like “LEVELS” or “MANIC,” it really shows that edge or pushing someone to a limit, that experimental way where I can take it. But then songs like “GONE” and “SCARS” or even “FIESTA” or “FALLEN STAR,” they are much more on the other side of the scope where it's the side of my personality.
Tell me about the significance of the title. What does that mean to you?
I think the title of every project is the one light at the end of the tunnel. So many thoughts come to you at once when you are focusing on one thing or a project for like a year and having something, just like a conclusion or a thesis statement, that's kinda how I see it. Where you can always draw your ideas like, ‘okay, why am I even writing this sentence? Am I doing it cause it sounds cool or am I doing it cause it means GONZO?’ GONZO to me – I want other people to take what they perceive of the name – but my best take of what it is, you know, being unbound. I think that's the biggest thing. Letting your mind kinda be sporadic and tapping into that little voice in your head that maybe you don't always listen to. Trusting your gut. I think GONZO, back then, in the old days, at least what I read, was delusional or erratic. All those words that are kinda in a negative connotation. And when I was pitching it to my team at first, they were like, ‘it's very negative’ and I'm like, ‘it's not at all.’ I think it's actually a positive. You have to be delusional to do this lifestyle, man. You have to be delusional to believe in yourself. You have to be delusional to chase a career with a blown eardrum. You have to be delusional to – so many things, bro, you can just relate it to. I think that's one thing I'm still trying to find the rational approach in but I don't think they ever will be.
Even with this project, it sounds like you’re diving more into your individuality. Why was it important to keep the EP featureless?
I think I am just gonna save them for the album. I think the album is where you can really take it in so many directions. And if it just doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. And I am never gonna force a feature just because it looks good. There's just no point. If the stars align and I actually genuinely mess with the person and they mess with me and it just works, then it works. But this project, I wasn't reaching. I'm not tryna shove my songs down people's throats. I’m not trying to do that. It's kinda presented if you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. I know it's not for everybody. ‘Cause that's not the intention that I was approaching it at anyway. The title itself is not for everybody. I think features – on DUSK to DAWN, that's where we really like spread our wings with that and it worked in our favor and I was very grateful but for this one, I just wanted it to be focused on the music and what I am trying to do. When it comes to the album, you'll definitely see some names.
“SCARS” closes out the project. It feels like the most personal record you’ve released. How was writing this song compared to other songs on the project?
“SCARS,” man, I think that was like the most natural. Honestly. It's always funny ‘cause I always think about this moment when I think of the song. I was listening to it last night, I am back in Chilliwack visiting my family. A lot of back roads. A lot of farmland. No buildings higher than two stories in Chilliwack, it’s very farmland. I was just driving around and listening to it. I recall the moment I made it and it's amazing ‘cause we still have the footage. I was in LA. Normally, when I make music, I write or I normally go to the mic and I try to find a melody and build off that. But this one, I was really just taking my time. It all kinda just fell out it was as if I was just talking. And that moment was like the coolest thing I discovered as being an artist where I know a lot of people can relate to. I think one person that's doing it very well right now is Jack Harlow. You listen to his lyrics and it's just like he's talking to you. It's not like he's rapping or trying to make a melody. I think “SCARS” I really tapped into that and I am trying to build that right now actually in my next project where it's just more talking. I went up to the mic for 20 minutes and just talked. I just closed my eyes and just talked. And all of it just fell out. I was just talking about a lot of things, a lot of themes, and after that, we put it together. Right when it was complete, the first time I heard it, I just bawled my eyes out because it didn't feel like song. It felt like a conversation, which was really refreshing.
Is this something you think you're gonna be exploring a little bit more further on the album?
100% man. I think like, I was just researching Jay-Z. I was watching three-hour interviews all day this morning and yesterday, researching Kanye. So many people that just – the leaders of this industry, the leaders of being able to have that conversational [approach], I think that's much more timeless. It's interesting ‘cause I am going through this new epiphany right now, I’d say, while I'm so calm in my life. Being in Chilliwack, around my mother again. And I am just very, at a sense, where I'm like, ‘Ok, what do I want to say?’ And the conversational approach is a lot of fun because you are not bound to anything. There's no rules, you're not even trying to rhyme.
How does it feel to be part of this class of Canadian artists who are really putting on right now?
I’d give you a generic answer, a cookie-cutter answer, and be like, ‘I am grateful, man. You know, it’s great.’ Or I could say my truth. We all have a responsibility right now, man. I think I’m like not satisfied, at all. I think there's a long way to go and a lot of things we have to do in order to truly push this class of Canadian artists. Because if we just settle with where we are at – and I am not calling anybody this, by any means. I’m just speaking. If we settle for mediocracy, then Canadian music won't evolve to that next place where it definitely should be. There's without a doubt right now, the most amazing artists in the industry who are coming from Canada that are leading the way and it's refreshing and it's actually very, very inspiring to see it. The amount of artists, the amount of songwriters, the amount of producers – not just artists – its insane. I just hope that nobody is satisfied. I think even the days where people are like, ‘Canadian music is at an all-time high right now.’ We should still be doubting ourselves. We should still be questioning our work ethic and questioning these things. We need to make a dent, we need to take over and I think the job’s not finished.
I feel like Vancouver has a very long history in Hip Hop and R&B even down to the producers. I want to know from your standpoint, who do you think people should be look out for right now from BC? Aside from yourself.
There's an artist named SHARUK. He's very talented, his songwriting is incredible. I listen to him quite a bit actually. Very, like, digestible music. Another artist named ParisPlayedYou, he's killing it right now. Prado, she's also an Indigenous artist which is amazing. bbno$, of course, Illyminiachi, Eric Reprid, Quintana. I think these artists are really killing it from BC right now. Oh, yeah, there’s this one artist named Mcevoy. He's been around for a long time but he's a producer, an artist, a songwriter. See, those kinds of individuals, I have a bit more respect for just because they are limitless. They produce, they write, they do all these things. Every artist I named is, of course, incredible, you should check them out, but Mcevoy has been killing it, man. I look up to him a lot. That's naturally what I am trying to do, as well.
One thing I was impressed with your last project, you got the Rascals on that. They also famously boycotted the JUNOS for not including Hip Hop in the televised broadcast and had such an impact on getting Hip Hop on that stage during the ceremony moving forward. What kind of conversations have you had with them?
That's a great question, man. I was introduced to them by my manager months before I even made the track. I wasn't even planning on making a track with them. I just wanted to meet them and shake their hand and give them their flowers because what they did, like you said, it’s very inspiring for Vancouver and the culture there. I was very grateful.
One of the main things [they told me] was just remembering to trust yourself. I think that was one of the main things, man. Trusting myself. I’d ask them because they have seen so many trends come and go and they've seen it all go up and go down and the one thing that they really were stern on was staying with their sound and not falling into the industry and all the bells and whistles that come around. That's what really builds longevity. So I was very grateful to hear that. I was probably two years ago when I heard that but that was like shifting my mentality so much because I was at a learning stage then. As I am now, of course, but I really needed that advice. Shout out to the Rascals man. They're the realest.
And is that something that kind of resonated with you when you started working on GONZO?
It definitely played a part. I'd be lying if it wasn't in the back of my head. But what really played the part for the making of GONZO was really my drive to just make something unheard of, in a sense. I guess you can compare “GONE” to like, ‘oh it sounds like this or that,’ sure, but a lot of these songs on the project, you can't just pinpoint it. And even “GONE” itself, how it progresses, you can necessarily pinpoint what it was. And that was born from me making “LEVELS.” ‘Cause “LEVELS” was so anthemic for me. It was so empowering in saying “my God, oh God, this is on a God level.” Like, who says that? [Laughs] It’s like delusional to think that you’re God level. It's just funny but it's truthfully how I felt man. I love that. It's so empowering. Saying I can never be controlled. Those types of things. Something I can die with in my grave. It felt like the kids need that, bro. That's what really fueled GONZO. That drive, that anger, man.
You mentioned in another interview that you and your manager would go to dorm parties to gauge reactions to new tracks when you first began making music. Some of the records on this project you were playing it at some of show live shows before the project dropped. How did that process of testing out unreleased evolve?
Honestly, the biggest thing that changed was me not caring about opinions. And no disrespect. I just laugh because my managers would hate me if I said that but it's the truth. Because man, I made this music for me. I respect all opinions, thank you for listening. Thank you for taking the time to listen. But truthfully, I don't need any opinions. I don't need it. I don't want it to be swayed. Too many cooks in the kitchen could mess up an artist's mind. I think there’s specific individuals that I trust, that I really trust their sound, their taste in music. But when I A&R it – and I am not talking about the shows – I am really talking about playing it for anybody, like the songs that are unreleased. Music is so subjective nowadays, you can take anything from it. It's easy to be swayed. You're never gonna please everybody so you might as well please yourself. When it comes to the shows, man, it was tearjerking. It was a very emotional experience, especially “SCARS” and “GONE.” I remember the days – nobody got to see those days, when you are alone in the studio for 10 hours, you haven't eaten all day. You're missing your niece's birthday, You're sacrificing so much of your time, you haven't slept in days, you're slaving for this music. And just gutwrenching, you're trying to dig deep and write, write. And nobody got to see it. Really just sharing those experiences and seeing these kids sing it, it was, I don't know. I can't really put it into words. I am just very grateful for what happened on that tour so far. It's unfortunate we had to postpone it but we gonna be back soon and relive the experiences now that the project is out. I don't know if I answered that correctly but I tried my best.
What do you think the song of the summer is so far? What have you been playing the past few months that you think is going to have the summer on lock?
Like any song in the world?
Anything.
I might have to go to Drake with “Sticky.” That song is hard, bro. “You know how sticky it gets, she love how I’m making her…” it's so hard. That song, or, you know, I used to never listen to that house music like that four-on-the-floor stuff then I went to Coachella and I saw Black Coffee and it just so happens he did the Drake project. I love that type of music, anything in that genre. 070 Shake, it’s like hella underrated but Invited is one of the best projects I’ve heard all year. I still listen to Baby Keem like, “16,” “lost souls.” One of those tracks for sure.
What can fans expect from you for the remainder of the year?
Lots of shows. I hope people get to see this music live. I want to be like a 360 artist so writing, producing, performing live. All around getting to see that. You're gonna honestly see this year who Boslen is and why I do what I do. Who Corbin is. Like the decisions I make and why I make the decisions. More music, of course. I am going to be dropping more singles ASAP. And tapping into different, not just music. I think I wanted to be tapping in into different brands like fashion, architecture, gaming, starting my own community, building my own community. Those type of things. Really just branching out as far as I can this year. Not even putting a cap on it but just shooting for the stars, bro.