WIO-K

Foot Loose

My name is Wio-k and I'm from the city of Toronto.  As a matter fact, I live in Scarborough City, East Toronto. Right now I stay at a place and area we call Markham and Eglinton, and I been there for approximately five years. I grew up on a street called Orton Park with my family of many.  I've always been in East Scarborough as a matter fact.

What was it like growing up in Scarborough?

Growing up for me in Scarborough was easy.  A lot of people like to promote a negative perception of Scarborough, but Scarborough was real easy for me, I didn't grow up around a lot of kids. I mean, I lived up from the hood Orton Park and Lawrence. Growing up in Scarborough, you come to love it.  It’s not an area where you can just live there and get up and move out of, you really come to appreciate and the different areas and the varity of people. Over the years I've seen Scarborough grow, I've never left Scarborough to live anywhere else. I think people who are born and raised here cherish what Scarborough is to them.

When did you start rhyming?  Did Scarborough influence you to start rhyming?

I started rhyming around 8 or 9, but my area didn't influence me to start rhyming. I think hip hop just found its way into me and where I was. I didn't see a lot of kids around me doing hip-hop, I just took to it and ran with it to where it is now.

How long have you been an MC?

I don't really call myself an MC you know, I know a lot of guys like to call themselves MCs.

Do you consider yourself a poet?

Not even a poet, I don't know what I am.

You don't like to be categorized?

I believe that I write what I'm supposed to write and I am who I am. So I just give thanks for being able to write what's on my mind. To love hip hop and reach the people that I reach, it’s a beautiful thing.

If you could step away from the genre of hip hop and choose any other genre, what would it be?

Haa! That's a good question. It would probably most likely be reggae. I didn't grow up in Jamaica, I'm first generation it's not like im a yardie, I'm just here in Toronto. A lot of the yardies here in Toronto get into doing reggae but because I still have that hardcore North American influence, the Canadian influenced hip hop is my first choice but if I was a yard man, I probably straight up would be doing reggae easily!

Did reggae have a big effect on you?

Reggae has had a hardcore affect on me man. I grew up listening to it before I even heard hip hop.  Reggae has had a crazy influence on my life.  I think hip-hop actually got introduced to me by my uncle when he played “The Freaks come out at night”.  We were in the car driving around Parkdale he's like, "yeah this is funk".  From then on, I was just thirsty. When I went out I got the Fat Boys, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool  J, and the Cameo, and you know and it just grew from there.

 

Talk about the video you just shot.

Footloose.  We just shot it in Nottingham, UK. It was an amazing experience.  I hooked up with a film crew called Baby Knotted.  We stayed in London and did it in a couple of days, my first time in the UK. We took the train out to Nottingham one morning and did it up.  Amazing team.  It was lovely being out there, it was incredible. Right now, it’s airing on Much Vibe.

How did you connect with Baby Knotted?

I connected with them on MySpace.  I've made a lot of contacts on MySpace and that sounds like a really cheap way to make connects, but MySpace works! For artist out there and companies, it’s an effective way to network.  You just have to dig.  I sat up nights digging and finding out who's who seeing what they do, and who's doing what in the UK, that's how I found Baby Knotted.

Did you have VideoFACT?

No, it was all funded by ME! I had a little help from the ones and twos on the side. The flight, the hotel, the video being shot the food, running the album.  Ever-ting!

Did you apply for VideoFACT?

No.  For Footloose, I didn't.

Have you ever applied for VideoFACT?

I have.  Sunlight was shot.

How was that experience, was it a good process for you?

Yeah, it was the first time I applied and I got it, so it was amazing.  It was definitely a blessing.  God knew it was my time to do it and he gave it to me.  But after that, don't get me wrong, VideoFACT will turn you down.  I think it even slowed me down. Thinking you have something that's dope, its the dopest thing ever; the dopest idea, the dopest  concept, the dopest tune, and VideoFACT will say, “its not good, we don't want it, we don’t like it what the case is”.  Then your like, damn, what am I going to do now.  Yeah, I remember after Sunlight, I applied for this song called one Dose.  It got rejected but we kept doing it, doing the shows, whatever.

 

As a Canadian artist, what's the toughest struggle?  What's the biggest wall to get over?

The biggest wall for me as a Canadian artist… You know what, there really isn't a wall. I see them, but I don't let them affect me. I know what the walls are, but there's always a way around any problem. When one door closes, another one opens. That's all it has been for me, people are hearing Wio-k now not because of him or her, its because of me. There's no big obstacle, all you need to do is your own work.  You can’t wait for anybody else to do your work for you. If you want people to hear you, if you want people to know who you are, you have to grind it out.  Mmmm hmmm.

Will your video being on Much Vibe spur more opportunity for you?

Ummm, it will, but Much Vibe is small and a lot of people don't have Much Vibe. I'm the guy who can’t even look at his own video, I don't have cable!

Can you talk about the Caribbean influence in Toronto Hip Hop?

The Caribbean influence that Toronto Hip Hop has is real deep, only because of the way we all grew up. The influence is there its an undeniable thing, you don't find a lot of cities where you'll find white guys talking Patois straight up, or a white guy saying "wha gwan", or a Indian man saying "breadrin wha gwan". I have to recognize the Caribbean Jamaican  influence on my music let alone my life. Caribbean West Indian influence in Hip Hop in Toronto is most definitely something that’s going to be there forever. As long as Jamaicans and Trinidadians and all the other island cultures keep coming to live in the city of Toronto, it will always influence the music that a Toronto artist  can make.

So what are you up to now, what’s next?

Currently, Wio-k is setting to shoot the next video off my album.  The album is called, “In Real Life” --  try and get, by now its online.  That’s what I’m keeping busy on now. I’m working on projects.  I just finished a track with Kyza, he's from the UK.  Just keeping busy, just finished a track with Kemo from Vanguards. Working on the second album now and trying to keep my foot in of the door. That’s pretty much it.