By Chox-Mak
Hip-HopVibe.com Staff Writer
The city of Toronto has become one of the biggest hip hop cities. It’s always had a strong culture, but the 2010s have seen the city become major, in hip hop, for many reasons. Not only was it Drake, but it was also DeMar DeRozan becoming a superstar, for the Raptors.
Mayze is an artist coming up in the middle of all of this. No question, he is influenced by Drake, DeRozan, Tory Lanez, The Weeknd, and all the other Toronto icons. Just like everyone who strives for greatness, he wants his face on this Mt. Rushmore of icons from his city.
Recently, Mayze sat down with Hip-HopVibe.com for the latest edition of the On The Rise segment. The rising star has big plans and he has some dope music out. Take a second to get to know this promising artist.
Read the entire interview below:
As a Toronto native, how did you feel about DeRozan getting traded? It felt terrible, and confusing. I know he feels betrayed, if i was in his shoes I would. He was truly a highlight to the city and a role model for the youth in our communities. Me and my friends spoke about this a lot, but it all ends up the same way your just left saying “what can you do”. I wish him all the best though. He’s going to be a star regardless and we’ll never forget what he did for us. I’m excited to see what happens this season nonetheless.
Being from the Six, do you believe you have to incorporate melodies into your raps, because of guys like Drake and Tory Lanez? I don’t ever feel like I have to, but I want to. When The Weeknd dropped Trilogy it influenced me more than anything when it comes to putting together melodies. Plus, the satisfaction of coming up with a simple catchy melody is an amazing feeling, almost addictive.
Drake and Tory have definitely inspired me too however – those guys really dominate the whole singing rapping thing. I also learned that girls resonate when you have some down-tempo songs in your catalog, I definitely would hate to perform shows filled with dudes. Women are really the tastemakers when it comes to music. You can act hard all you want, but if the girl you like wants to hear “Keke do you love me? are you riding” you’re bumping that sh*t too.
On the flip side, do you feel pressure to to distinguish yourself from them, as most Toronto artists are under their shadow, in one way or another? Drake is the biggest artist in the world right now dominating everything he touches. I definitely feel pressure to stand out, but it’s not consciously. My music is different and always will be. I can’t do what Drake or Tory does, if I did it would feel unnatural and I’d sound like I’m trying way too hard. I might make music that gives you the same feeling or that might use the same cadence but it’ll never be the same.
I have my own sound, my own story and the journey is just way too different than those guys. One thing about Toronto is that frustrates me is we’re known for being unsupportive of local artists. It’s hard to get a buzz locally it’s easier to go to the states and get love than here. We call it the screwface because that’s really how it is. Drake definitely cooled it down a bit but now it’s like if you sing and rap your automatically just another guy who’s trying to be him – so it’s the almost the same level of hate with a different narrative. It’s weird, but if you’re from Toronto you definitely relate.
Can you tell us about your “X’d Out” freestyle? That song is honestly me having fun at the studio not caring about structure, length, or choruses etc. I just found the beat on YouTube through this talented producer named AG Beats, and I fell in love with the groove. That beat is not your typical trap type of sound but the tempo, bass and snare is trappy enough to make you feel that way. When I heard it, I just mumbled one or two bars over it and it just became a nice short song from there. Songs like that are effortless for me, where I’m just rapping with no restrictions. I decided for the remaining of the year I’m going to be dropping a song every Thursday as part of my Rekless Thursday series.
Will this track be included on your next project? Most likely not, there is way too much content that I have in stash when it comes to the next project.
What should fans expect from you on your next body of work? I have no idea what I’m even going to be doing for the next body of work, to be honest. You can expect bars for sure, that’s on everything. Sonically, there are a couple topics I wanna touch on and few concepts I have in mind that I’ve halfway started but we’ll have to see where things go. I know I wanna speak on my generation for sure. I don’t want to make a mistake and release a body of work which falls on deaf ears, so I’m taking things slow for now and growing my fan base first.
How do you believe you will forever change the game? I’m going to sing like Michael Jackson with a dragon tattoo on my face, and every now and then give you some ridiculous fire bars.
Where can fans connect with you on social media? I post a lot on Instagram and Snapchat. Every now and then, I’ll post a tweet that has absolutely no importance for anything, too. Catch me @MayzePics on Instagram, @iMayze on Snapchat and @MayzeTweets on Twitter.
Watch the “Organized Chaos” video preview below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiBQsz-FLqU/?taken-by=mayzepics
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