On the heels of his long-awaited release in the form of One Long Dream, Vancouver-reared rapper SonReal has been making his trek across several outlets in support of his drop.
His most recent stop was over at Shade 45 as he paid a visit to 'Sway in The Morning' for an interview, and of course, to take on the famous “Five Fingers of Death” freestyle. Up on the queue were Drake’s “Draft Day,” J. Cole’s “Fire Squad,” Gangstarr’s “Above The Clouds,” Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” and Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones pt. II.”
“Been on top of the world/Mr. Golden Boy, do no wrong/ To Mr. I don’t really know his song/Been Mr. Underdog/Been Mr. Conference call/ Yelling at the CEO/ Been Mr. On the ball/Been Mr. Pick it up/Been wantin’ to keep a rep/ I show up when pressure’s on/Been the one you least expect,” he rips towards the beginning of his freestyle.
In the interview portion of his visit, the Canadian rapper opened up about his journey thus far as an artist, dropping his thoughts and observations on the industry. “Wlive in a time right now where real music just wins,” he states at the 2:39-minute of Part 1 of his sit-down when questioned on whether first-week sales really matter considering the later success of his “Everywhere We Go” single. “Whether it wins first day, first week, two months, 3 years later, real music will win at some point. And I think that a lot of artists right now that are coming out, they might not even have the craziest marketing strategies…but real music’s coming through and we’re see it happen all the time right now."
He also doled out some free marketing advice for newcomers and even revealed his affinity for New York Hip-Hop, naming the likes of Mobb Deep, Nass and Capone-N-Noreaga has proper influences. “New York stuff, that’s what all my friends were listening to,” he begins at the 4:15-minute marker. “I became obsessed with New York rap. Nas is my favorite rapper still. …Before that I was into Punk music...When I made the transition to rap and started listening to everything that was going on out here, I basically just became obsessed."
"I can’t relate to the lifestyle but that’s what was interesting to me," he continued. "It inspired me. I was like 'Yo if these guys can do it from where they’re from, going through all this crazy stuff…maybe I can tell my own story."