>>PREVIEW
VIRTUE
Sunday, May 7
My Apartment
Think about what you were doing in high school. You were probably worried about passing your classes, trying to find time to hang with your friends and getting hyped about finally getting your driver’s licence. In that sense, Will Kowall is just a typical high school student.
But most 16-year-olds aren’t local rap stars with national connections and two albums under their belt. I guess that’s what happens when you start early.
Kowall, who is known in hip hop communities as Virtue, has been polishing his rhymes since he was in Grade 5. His older siblings turned him on to the classics, like Dre, Snoop and Warren G, but over time he grew to embrace the funky positivity of Hieroglyphics and Jurassic Five.
"I really enjoy writing, so I just tried it and at first I wasn’t really saying anything, but I got a lot out of it," says Kowall. "I could express myself."
In fact he probably over-expressed himself. With an earnest chuckle, Kowall thinks back to one of his early tracks – a six-and-a-half minute hip hop epic that dealt with, among other things, space.
"It was just a weird song that no one understood but me," he says. "I thought it was so cool, but it was way out there."
"These days… I appreciate the importance of the three-and-a-half-minute song. Just getting to the point instead of reading between the lines. I used to try and disguise everything I wrote with similes and metaphors, and I still like writing very poetic, but at the same time it’s so much easier to connect with people when you get to the point and say what you need to say."
Streamlining his sound has served him well. Kowall built his connections in the local community, teaming up with Aptitude from Calgary’s Johnny Sootentai for his first album, as well as reaching out across Canada to work with underground giant DJ Moves.
A fan of collaboration, it’s no surprise that when it came time to record his solo debut, Kowall didn’t do it alone. Taking time out of his classes, he headed to Vancouver to record Growing Pains with Ra Prophet, and the album is stacked with guests including his old friend Aptitude, his current DJ Cadilakid and a handful of others. It acts as a snapshot for Kowall, who wanted to capture his feelings about his own high school experience on record. His slightly nasal rhymes are backed by crisp beats and easy grooves, and even when the album breaks down to introspective piano, as it does on "S.A.M.," Growing Pains doesn’t suffer from the stereotypical teen angst you might expect from a high school MC.
"You know there is no reason that music can’t uplift you or make you see something differently," he says. "There is no reason to focus your hate on the state of the world right now."
It’s that unabashed idealism that is part of Kowall’s charm. Enthusiastic like few people are, his unparalleled passion for the local scene comes across in everything he does. At the same time, Kowall knows that idealism is one of the great joys of youth and he is concerned that it may slip away from him over time.
"I was looking over my old rhyme books and when I was in like Grade 7 and Grade 8, I had way more weird ideas and I had way more philosophical thoughts," he says. "I feel like the older I am getting, imagination is dying and I’m losing a lot of that. But at the same time it’s nothing to fear. Everything in the world changes and progresses.."
Idealism is one thing, but balancing it with pragmatism is something even people twice Kowall’s age haven’t mastered. If that weren’t enough, he’s also big into setting goals. You can expect a followup to Growing Pains to drop some time next year as Kowall finishes his senior year and then, despite many people advising him to take on music full-time, he is heading off to university in the hopes of studying English or journalism. Of course, balancing school and extracurricular activities is difficult and Kowall isn’t planning on rushing Growing Pains.
"It is very hard to find the time to promote it," he says. "It was released in September and I am just doing my CD release party in May, so you can see how slow I have been. My main focus is keeping up in school, cause I’m not that great at it, but at the same time I want music to be my full focus, so it’s tough to get the time." |
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