24-year-old Montreal rapper Wasiu worked with Kaytranada on his first single, and for his second, the 24 year-old teams up with another Soulection alumni, Da-P dabeatX. Many Dreams is a neck-snapping single built around Tupac’s posthumous Biggie collab, Runnin’ (Dying To Live). “We all have dreams and aspirations,” Wasiu explains. “Some of them are altruistic in nature and others selfish and materialistic. This record focuses on the latter. With the overall theme of the album being a relatively dark and heavy depiction of our society, I wanted to include some lighter and fun moments. That being said, this song is simply about the material dreams of a broke rapper aspiring for more.” Press play and enjoy Wasiu’s sweet dreams….
Who is Wasiu?
I’m like God and The Devil. I’m black as fuck, I look like the originator of mankind. To answer the question, I’m from Montréal, Québec. Québec is the only place in The Americas where French is the official language. That makes us a hemispherical minority. Montréal has more Francophones than Anglophones, which is not a problem since 85% of us are bilingual or can speak both but Anglos are a minority. My mother’s a Haitian Protestant Christian, my father’s a Nigerian Muslim, they’re divorced. The largest ethnic group and practiced religion is French and Roman Catholic. Less than 10% of our radio plays rap music. I’m a minority of a minority of a minority of a minority of a minority.
Why is Wasiu?
As minorities, we feel like we don’t fit in, we’re excluded from the picture, and that our voices are never heard so we’re misrepresented. Montréal, and even Québec as a whole, has always been in its own bubble and an outcast from the rest of The Americas. I represent the city that I’m from – we’re both minorities – I know exactly what it feels like to not fit in. I make music to give my city a voice, to give minorities a voice, to give black people a voice, to give me a voice. My experiences are experienced by all minorities. My music is expressed with the intention of force-feeding the world into accepting us for who we are, and seeing the bigger and smaller picture that get unnoticed.
What is Wasiu?
My music is the beauty and the beast. It sounds like a woman’s orgasm, like a baby’s first words, like an entry level worker’s promotion to CEO, like an ice cream truck on a hot summer day, like your lottery ticket number getting picked for 1st prize. My music is empowerment, and defeat. It’s the whole spectrum. My music is a reflection of the human experience and condition, the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the ugliness behind what’s beautiful, the beauty behind what’s ugly, or just the duality nature of the universe.
When is Wasiu?
Time is of the essence, the underdog is always hungry. My time is now, and whether or not the media gives it to me, I’m taking the spotlight. More videos, more songs dropping. I’m always in the studio. I’m wrapping up this album. Got another one with KAYTRANADA, another one with HESK, another one with Nez & Rio, I have two gems from Whoarei, I have a hit on a Childish Major beat that has verses from Key!, Father, and a few others that I’ll keep as a secret for now, and I have a bunch of stuff I need to finalize.
To end it off and summarize how I feel, here’s a quote from 2Pac, who’s also sampled on the hook on Many Dreams… “If I know that in this hotel room they have food every day, and I’m knocking on the door every day to eat, and they open the door, let me see the party, let me see them throwing salami all over, I mean, just throwing food around, but they’re telling me there’s no food. Every day, I’m standing outside trying to sing my way in: We are hungry, please let us in We are hungry, please let us in. After about a week that song is gonna change to: We hungry, we need some food. After two, three weeks, it’s like: Give me the food or I’m breaking down the door. After a year you’re just like: I’m picking the lock. Coming through the door blasting.”
Credits
Photography Monsiieur Coms
Produced by @DaPdabeatX
Mixed/Engineered by @FreezaChin