Phoenix Pagliaccci

There is a ton of talent in the city, but few have the range of ability to add rapper, singer and songwriter to the résumé, let alone, to earn that respect as a female. But Toronto’s own Phoenix Pagliacci is carving her own path in the music scene and holding her own by building a buzz in the city with many local performances and her latest mixtape Books, Bucks and Beats Vol. 2: Rise Of Baby Buddha. The Toronto artist participated in last month’s Big Ticket cypher, which caught the attention of event founder, Chris Jackson, who asked Phoenix to showcase her talents at the upcoming Big Ticket event at the Velvet Underground on February 8. The humble artist is looking forward to her bright future, but took a moment to look back and reflect on how she began in the industry, paying homage to those responsible for her budding career as she anticipates what is to come at her upcoming show and beyond.
WHAT CAN THOSE WHO ATTEND THE BIG TICKET EXPECT FROM YOUR PERFORMANCE? They can expect energy, they can expect comedy, they can expect interaction and expect to be impressed.
WHAT DOES THE BIG TICKET SHOWCASE ADD TO THE TORONTO MUSIC SCENE, IN YOUR OPINION? The Big Ticket showcase is an awesome opportunity for a lot of local artists who don’t get performance opportunities, who don’t get opportunities to really showcase their talent, or maybe they have some new stuff that they don’t really know how to get out there, or market themselves and work with an awesome DJ. DJ Law is one of Toronto’s finest, hands down. It gives an opportunity for these artists to really have their 15 minutes
IN WHAT DIRECTION DO YOU THINK THE TORONTO HIP-HOP SCENE IS HEADING TOWARDS? Only up from here. A lot of artists are putting Toronto on the map and a lot of artists are being consistent in bringing in other artists and the quality is only increasing, so I see Toronto going up from here.
WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU FIT IN TO THAT? I don’t often like to play the female card, but it works in my favour, because there’s not too many Toronto female artists being put on the map right now. Shout out to Melanie Fiona of course and Andreena Mill, Michie Mee and Jully Black for setting the trend for Toronto female artists, but as a rapper, as well as a songwriter and singer, I think that that lane needs to be a little more paved and I’m willing to do that.
WHAT WAS STARTING OUT IN THE TORONTO HIP-HOP SCENE LIKE FOR YOU? I was fortunate enough to network to the point where, I met some people who did have showcase opportunities and were willing to give me a chance to showcase my own stuff. People like Tika Simone, she looks out for a lot of Toronto artists and really goes through and combs through the city for these artists and gives them the space to practice, the people to get in touch with for music and I was fortunate enough, by working with other artists, to get to know people who were willing to put myself out there. I started out singing backup for artists such as PG, Lokz, doing features on other artists’ stuff and kinda caught a few ears and they pointed me in the right direction.
WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR MUSIC? That I’m very honest, very creative, I have a great sense of humour and a lot of times in hip-hop, that’s not really what people are looking for, but I definitely bring that out in my music and I try and reach different people. My music is more of a conversation and so when you listen, I like to hear something back from you.