Rising Vancouver rapper Boslen is ready to do his part to put his city on the map. With a sound and style redolent of Future, Travis Scott, and Drake, Boslen is poised for a breakthrough when his debut album drops in October.
Boslen took some time out from finishing his album to talk to us about his influences, his debut album, why he thinks money is overrated, and some BC hip-hop history for this installment of That’s 5.
The following interview has been lightly edited.
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What influences you?
Boslen
The people that I have around me at the moment influence me probably the most and where I came from. Right now, I’m living in Vancouver, BC; I used to live an hour outside the city, in Chilliwack, and there’s not much really do out there. I came from a single mother home, and we had to sleep on mattresses on the floor and skip meals so she could support me. Through her sacrifices, she instilled in me to focus on stuff and make sure that I always had my head down in any given circumstance. Also, the team I have around me from when I went to U VIC [University of Victoria], like my manager, and then from there, we dropped out of university and built a team behind us. The core circle influences me the most, I’d say.
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What’s the most overrated?
Boslen
I’d probably say money. Money is the most overrated thing right now because if you’re trying to chase a goal or to prove yourself, I find the time that you’re putting in, and like the people that you have around you, it can be done with time itself, not necessarily money. There’s a lot of the opportunities that came my way or the way I’m going right now. It’s not necessarily due to money, but building the connections, the proper connections, and getting the work done, just fucking putting in the 10,000 hours.
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What’s the most underrated?
Boslen
The thing that’s underrated the most is life. I’m pessimistic some times, and I don’t feel like I always give individual moments the appreciation and thought they deserve. I’ve watched countless interviews of other artists that inspire me, and the main thing that they say is you’ve got to live in the moment because once you do make it, all of this just really flashes by. So I think that we don’t really live in the moment enough and that’s underrated.
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What are you most excited about right now?
Boslen
The thing I’m excited about right now is the album. I’m very excited about the album and completing it. This project will be my debut album, and this is my shot for me to show the world my sound and my voice. I’m tapping into a lot of different messages on the album. Not only am I exploring women’s empowerment, but also tapping into the duality of vulnerability and self-empowerment. I’ve never been more excited about a body of work and the time that we’ve spent with it. The album will be coming out in October.
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What’s next for you?
Boslen
The next thing for me is to create moments. In the city of Vancouver, there’s not a lot of people that the vanguards of the city, or even putting on for the city. I find that what I’m trying to do now, post-album is to pave the way for people in the city and even in Canada because I know that there are thousands of kids just like me. So I think the main goal and what’s next for me is inspiring the youth and bringing awareness to the many different things that I believe in, to the city.
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Bonus Question: When hip-hop is discussed globally, Vancouver and British Columbia are rarely, if ever, mentioned. What is the history of hip-hop in Vancouver? And how does Canadian hip-hop fit into hip-hop’s global cultural history?
Boslen
As far back as I can remember, in Vancouver, there was a group called the Rascalz. They won a Juno back in the day. They declined to accept the award to protest the fact that rap, reggae, and dance awards were not a part of the Juno Awards TV broadcast. After the Rascalz you get Madchild, Snak the Ripper, and a whole movement.
At a national level, Canadian hip-hop is similar and different, especially when compared to the US. There’s a lot of different places in the US that a lot of rappers can pull amazing and different stories from their upbringing, and many places have a long history of greats coming from that area, too. And I find that in Canada we’re just a bit too new still. We do have Toronto because of Drake, but Canada is still really young in its hip-hop history when compared to the US. It’s not a negative thing, we have a lot of amazing talent coming out, and coming out from Vancouver, too. I think Vancouver has a beautiful future ahead, and the US paved the way for hip-hop.
