"I just want to be amazing. That's really all I ever wanted, since I was a little kid."
This is one of the last things rapper SonReal tells the Westender on the line from a Freshii's restaurant in Toronto, where he's gulping down green smoothies and kale noodle bowls with his entourage a few hours ahead of a Canadian tour kick-off. Ambitious as it may be, there's not much arrogance in his voice as he lays out this lofty goal. And with a current string of viral video hits and Juno Award nominations under his belt, the Vancouver-based artist has definitely got some bragging rights at the moment.
Of course, the musician born Aaron Hoffman knows full well that his current ride to the top wasn't a given. Though he's rhymed about the influence of New York rapper Nas, SonReal understands that he's not also God's Son. This isn't divine intervention, but hard work paying off. And to hear him tell it, he had a lot of work to do.
"I remember going up to Kelowna and doing an outdoor show called Summer Jam. k-os was there, Red1 from the Rascalz was there, and I think Kardinal Offishal was even there – I opened up super early," he recalls of a years-old fest appearance that turned sour quite quickly. "There were fans with burgers and drinks and stuff, and dudes were throwing their crap at me! I got booed offstage. The sound guy took me off halfway through my set. I was probably so bad. I remember getting shat on."
His underdog spirit prevails, despite the surge in popularity between early efforts like 2008's indie project Good Morning and his Universal Music-backed 2015 EP, For the Town. A steady grind of mixtapes and EPs over the last several years have built up his chops since first working over a cheap Radio Shack microphone in his mom's basement in Vernon, BC.
For the Town, his most recent release, delivers a distinctly Canadian brand of hip-hop positivism, replete with crossover pop vocalizing and a delicate seesawing of a personality that balances over-the-top bravado with a smirking self-castigation. "Whoa Nilly" is smacked-up with big synth melodies, over which SonReal craftily twists his tongue around a narrative that brings him from being ridiculed in the rap game to running the town. The title track, a melodic boom-bap built around an inner soul-soaking organ hook, has him saluting everyone that's stuck by him, and announcing a most-Canadian target of hitting Diamond sales certifications.
The numbers haven't quite jumped that high just yet, but For the Town was recently nominated for Rap Recording of the Year at the upcoming Juno Awards, placing it alongside work from Drake, k-os, Kardinal Offishal, and a collaborative album between Toronto jazz experimenters BADBADNOTGOOD and Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah. While he's proud of For the Town, calling it "better than anything I'd put out thus far," he hints that the best is yet to come.
"Here's the problem with an artist like me: I get better really quick. I've never, ever worked backwards," he boasts. He's got plenty of material saved up to release in the near future, including an album tentatively titled One Long Dream.
In addition to producing tunes, the last couple of years have found the rapper stepping up his presence on the live circuit. A seasoned tour hound, he's gone from playing to ten people in Pittsburgh to being bestowed with painted portraits from fans in Minneapolis, and touring alongside artists like Mac Miller.
By the time SonReal gets back to Vancouver, he'll be wrapping up the "Greatful" tour with Nova Scotia's Classified. The name stems from the title of his tourmate's most recent album, but reflecting over his current position, SonReal admits that the word resonates with him, too.
"I go around with my best friends, and we tour and make money, and we can support ourselves," he reflects humbly. "To be able to do that off of, literally, just saying what's on my mind into a microphone over some music...I think about how grateful I am for everything."
It's the kind of sentiment that makes you want to raise a drink for SonReal, but for a toast rather than to throw at him onstage. Truly, for the rapper, it only gets better from here.
• SonReal plays the Commodore Ballroom with Classified on Feb. 26.
