K-OS on what makes Vancouver special and working with Drake | Daily Hive

K-OS on what makes Vancouver artistically special and his upcoming project with Drake

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K-OS is a Canadian music icon, and the singer/rapper recently popped by the Daily Hive office for an exclusive sit-down interview about living in Vancouver, about hip hop and about his upcoming album, which superstar Drake is involved with.

If you’re not familiar with his work, K-OS is a trailblazer in the Canadian music scene. While he had some bangers like “Superstar” and “Heaven Only Knows” on his Exit album, he gained more mainstream success with his follow-up album Joyful Rebellion, which featured tracks like “Man I Used To Be” and the iconic “Crabbuckit.”

K-OS actually spends time living here and also in Ontario, where he’s from.

His Vancouver experience

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K-OS, whose real name is Kevin Brereton, initially moved to Vancouver in 2009 following the release of his album Atlantis, which features the hit track “Sunday Morning.”

Someone close to K-OS told him, “Dude, you’re in hotels, I can tell how much time you’re spending in Vancouver. It makes sense to get a place there.”

“I loved Vancouver,” K-OS told Daily Hive. “It was so healthy for me.”

However, he felt like moving here would ruin it. Eventually, he found himself interacting with a real estate agent named Dave Markham, who showed him three places. He was shown a loft in Gastown and bought it right away.

“I’m still an Ontario boy, but Vancouver is the place I come to kind of get away from the Toronto vibe,” he said.

We asked K-OS what he likes about Vancouver compared to Toronto.

“When I came to Vancouver, the demos and the music I made were more progressive,” he said.

He found that Vancouver was more original, and that people are strange and different and don’t really care.

“There’s no real music scene here that you have to be dedicated to.”

He added that he believes that’s why there’s a great history of visual artists in Vancouver, because people can be themselves and not feel judged. He doesn’t feel it’s the same in Toronto, where it’s easy to feel embarrassed.

“You can just let your flag fly,” he said, feeling like Vancouver allows you to be yourself more than Toronto.

Speaking of Vancouver, he said, “People might kill me for this, I think it’s more of an artistically provocative city.”

Being “drafted” as a young emcee

Something somewhat fascinating about the start of his career is the fact that K-OS was discovered by a former NBA player named John Salley.

“He said something to me one time. He compared the music industry to being drafted.”

K-OS said that Salley came into his career right when labels wanted to sign him.

“I go, ‘How do you know about all this stuff?’ He’s like, ‘Because I was drafted.'”

K-OS wondered what that had to do with anything, and Salley told him, “You’re being drafted right now.”

“I know that with every record I put out, there’s always going to be new people coming into the league, whether it was the Drakes, the Weeknds, the Biebers. I was always prepared because I looked at it kind of like the NBA. Now I’m the veteran player,” K-OS said.

He explained that Salley helped him understand the bigger picture about the music industry.

The hurdles of being different

Something K-OS did differently than a lot of emcees back in the day was singing. While rappers (like Eminem, Drake and even Kendrick Lamar) singing on their own tracks is pretty commonplace now, it wasn’t necessarily that way when he burst on the scene.

“I got flak for it. And in Toronto, there were all these underground wrappers. I think because they knew it was going to change things, it was like a subversive thing.”

He felt that some other rappers wanted to try to kill it.

“But I did get support from a lot of people that mattered. I was originally a singer who started to rap. So I had the singing in my back pocket. But I really wanted to be a rapper, so it was a very interesting thing to develop.”

He mentioned other artists who had done it, like Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, and Missy Elliott.

Another way that things were different for K-OS was, in his words, “being the only Black guy everywhere.”

“At some point, if you’re integrated enough, they forget you were there, and you get to see people acting like white people without them worrying about what you thought.”

He acknowledged it was a privileged lifestyle, and that not every Black person would be able to experience it that way.

“I chose to focus on the Canadiana and the greatness of it, and I think that’s why so many other Canadian artists and people liked what I did, because, like, ‘this guy’s actually portraying us.'”

He added, “The key is to always have fun, and in the fun, people forget all the bulls**t. That’s what being an entertainer is all about, in my opinion.”

What’s next?

Blue Jays/X

Drake, who appears to be a big K-OS supporter, is essentially acting as the executive producer for his next album.

K-OS shared that Drake basically said, “I’m going to give you this money to go make a record, but please make a K-OS record.”

Drake is encouraging K-OS to be K-OS.

“Sometimes it takes your younger brother or someone who was witnessing you more in that stage of, ‘Oh my God, you’re amazing,’ for them to point out things you were doing that you forgot about.”

While K-OS isn’t currently touring, he will be performing at the Toronto FIFA Fan Festival, and suggests he might have more to share about performing in Vancouver later this year.

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