Junia-T Q&A

Junia-T, one half of the renowned Toronto hip-hop duo Smash Brovaz, has taken on a new serious role as a producer lately and is making noise with his distinct smooth sound. The multi-talented Sauga spitter is set to headline this month’s Big Ticket, Toronto’s premier hip-hop monthly event, to show the city what he’s been working on.

YOU’VE BEEN BUSY. TELL US WHAT YOU’VE BEEN UP TO LATELY? The Smash Brovaz album release was a success. It’s still growing across the world. We’re just gearing up for new music for the rest of the year. Aside from that, me as a producer, that is my focus for this year. I’ve been blessed to have a lot of music come out this year that is produced by me. So far, Veronica Domingues’ album is coming out, which is produced all by me, it’s actually an EP. It’s called Just Chill… I’ve really been connecting with dudes on the come up and dudes that are really doing it, which is exciting, to be a part of the beginning phases of that.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE THE ROLE AS THE PRODUCER? I’ve always been producing. I’ve been producing since the first Smash Brovaz album came out like eight years ago. I spent so much time sharpening the performance skills, the writing skills, I was always progressively producing, but I never made myself available as a producer and I feel like I missed out on opportunities to work with some people in the past, because I didn’t really step forward with it… I went to LA and got to really play my music out there and that’s where my eyes really opened. Just seeing their reaction to my style, because I have a very distinct sound in terms of what I prefer to create. As much as there are modern trends in music, it may mildly influence where I’m at creatively, but it doesn’t take away from what my production style is. I was really happy to see people react in a positive way to what I naturally create.

SPEAKING OF YOUR DISTINCT STYLE, WHO IS JUNIA-T AS AN ARTIST AND AS A PRODUCER? As an artist, I’m the emcee’s emcee. I was born in the cypher lyrically… But when it comes to me as a producer, I’m more musically rounded. I think my musical influences show more in my production. I’m the son of a drummer so I was raised around music. I was raised off of some of the best musicians in the city… As a producer, I really like that jazz, soul, neo soul and even that ’80s funk, that was heavily a part of my music diet and reggae too. When I produce, I try and keep it organic, but also that boom bap ’90s rap that I fell in love with hip-hop through. So it’s a mash up of all those sounds.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOUR POSITION IS, OR WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO BE, IN THE CANADIAN MUSIC SCENE? I’d definitely like to be a recognized producer, not just for being a hip-hop producer, but being a producer of great music… I’m just hoping to work with a lot more creative people that just want to make beautiful music without any rules. I’m also doing this beat tape right now, it’s a crazy creative experience because I’m actually working with just musicians so I’m bringing in trumpet players, tuba players, guitarists, keyboardists, violinists and I’m really starting to feel like a real producer. I’m not a beat maker anymore; I’m actually a producer now. It’s just a different workflow… It’s been a more satisfying as a creative experience.

Best Of Big Ticket

The monthly hip-hop hub The Big Ticket celebrated its “best of” event earlier this month at The Velvet Underground, where artists who had left a lasting impression on the city could come back and wow music lovers once again with their beats and rhymes. The night, designed for the hip-hop community, shone a light on Toronto emcees such as Perfeck Strangers, Twelfth Letter, Scott Ramirez and SepTO, who all took a turn to vibe with the packed house and celebrate the culture of rap. The beauty of The Big Ticket event is the respect it shows for the professional business of hip-hop and the art of the culture.
Tommy Spitz returned from his musical hiatus, performing alongside MC T.R.A at the talent-packed event. The self-proclaimed “top 5 in Canada” says his relationship with Big Ticket founder Chris Jackson has stretched past 20 years and that the intimate Big Ticket event acts as the summit of hip-hop culture in Toronto right now.

“[Chris has] kept a certain status with respectable artists performing. He keeps it an environment that anyone can come to. It’s a real hip-hop culture vibe. It’s more about culture than trying to put people on. It really feels like hip-hop in the building,” says Spitz.
A fresh, interactive element to the seven-month old event was added this time around. Citizen Kane’s Spade and Perfeck Stranger’s Dan-e-o interacted with the crowd to present the first ever hip-hop court, where they acted as lawyers, presenting arguments around the question of who won in the highly publicized Nas and Jay-Z beef. They used tracks such as Nas’ “Ether” and Hova’s “Takeover” in their statements and asked the audience to weigh in as the jury. Through a Twitter verdict, hip-hop heads in attendance named Nas the winner of the beef.
Interaction continued throughout the night between performers and audience members, which added an intimate feel to the event and is something KemiKAL enjoyed about performing. The young artist, who is also known as a talented producer, displayed his artistic capabilities as he performed tracks off his recently released album Elevator Music Going Up.

“A lot of artists, they don’t look at the crowd. They don’t say anything to the crowd,” he explains. “You have to give off a vibe that you’re a person like them, you’re just there to entertain for the time being. A lot of people look at it like a play and they have to come up and play their part and they have to stay in this character… and stay in this one dimension. You need to be connecting and let them feel you and let them know that you’re really doing this.”
In a short timespan, Jackson and supporters have left a profound impression on the Toronto hip-hop community, with a monthly event aimed to support local talent and bring professionalism in hip-hop to the forefront.