Driving me around his hometown of Guelph, Ont., hip-hop phenom Elaquent is talking beats, life and his appearance at the X Avant New Music Festival in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Drake Underground.
“It really highlights the broken scene, as far as the type of wonky hip-hop that I do,” he says of X Avant, while making a right turn onto Wellington Street. “There’s also other aspects of electronic and, maybe non-mainstream music? That might be a better way to flesh it out.”
A budding beatmaker whose new EP, Parallel, is coming out on Oct. 30, Elaquent is diplomatic about whether he fits the bill for the outsider art celebrated by X Avant and his particular set, which is billed as “A Mind/Body Split Pt 2.”
“Yes and no,” he replies, shifting from first to third. “A lot of artists don’t like to be placed into a box, where you’re ‘electronic’ or ‘hip-hop.’ As far as myself and even the other artists playing the festival that I’m familiar with, I think the one thing we have in common is that we all draw inspiration from a number of different sources. For me, the most obvious thing is hip-hop but there’s lots of elements like jazz and neo-soul. And I like my sound sloppy, so you get things like wonky drums that come in a split second too late or early. That’s just me though.”
Listen to "Parallel" by Elaquent
Always up for an adventure, Elaquent steps out of his comfort zone on Parallel. While past releases have relied almost exclusively on samples, the new EP features a more personal touch.
“With this particular record, I challenged myself to compose more and do all the bass and keys all by myself,” he reveals, keeping one eye on his blind spot. “I’m not gonna lie and say there’s 100 per cent no samples but I’d say, this record is 95 per cent what I do with the sounds I have.”
So what should people be prepared for at Elaquent’s “Mind/Body Split” show?
“Neck braces, neck braces,” he says, which isn’t what you want to hear from a guy driving you around town for the first time. “A lot of heavy hip-hop grooves and hard-hitting drums and fast tempos and so forth. Especially from the homie Kaytradamus from Montreal, who’s got an eclectic sound. Ultimately though, yeah, just a lot of grooves.”
Watch this entire interview with Elaquent behind the wheel:
See Elaquent at the X Avant New Music Festival in Toronto at the Drake Underground on Thursday, Oct. 18.
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