KUESTIONS WITH KUSH

Kuestions with Kush

“I am Sauga city, period.”

Mississauga is home to many talented music artists, especially when it comes to hip-hop.  Coming out of Mississauga, Ontario, Kush McCloud is an enigmatic and proud contributor to the hip-hop movement in Mississauga and the GTA.  During our interview we covered how he got where he is now, his view on the potential for the movement to grow larger, and his upcoming plans for 2015.

Born in Midland, Ontario, Kush moved to Mississauga before he hit the age of one, so he considers it his home.  “I was born in Midland, it’s a small northern town,” he said, “But I moved to Mississauga before I was one so yeah, technically I was raised there,” he said proudly.   Growing up in the GTA throughout the eighty’s and ninety’s, Kush was able to witness the evolution of rap and found his inspiration from groups such as Heltah Skeltah, Wu-Tang Clan, and Brooklyn Academy.  Kush said he is more of a lyricist as opposed to a beat producer, which is why his inspirations are mainly east-coast.  “Don’t get me wrong, I like the West coast for beats, but I’m a lyricist so I like the east coast,” he said,  “Lyrically, the East Coast is untouchable, Brooklyn pretty much founded Hip-Hop… they pride themselves in lyricism.”  Using this inspiration, Kush set out to establish a name for himself in the local scene.

“At first, I kinda threw myself under the bus.”

In 2005, Kush wrote his first song, and sheltered it.  “I Caught the bug in 2005 and took on the name Omega” he said, “I told myself I was going to do it, and then I never put it out to anyone,” he said.  “In 2008 or 2009, I jumped on twitter and started saying I was an emcee… I got known through twitter,” he said.  After Kush gained followers, they asked him if he had any tracks, and he still had nothing to show for it.  “At that point people were like okay, you should probably start doing that,” he said, “ So I created a make shift studio and I recorded myself and dropped some tracks I had written before.”  His first few songs, “Omega” and “Seconds to go” received positive attention and Kush had attained the proof he needed to progress.  Using his twitter network, Kush started travelling and putting on shows.

“I was taking artists from Toronto and bringing them in to do shows in Oakville.”

After promoting/paying artists at the Oakville venue, Kush made a link in Mississauga following the closing of his previous venue.  “I made a link in Mississauga and established The Sauga Continues,” he said.  The way the event works is similar to his old events: Kush helps promote for the artists playing and pays them for their performance.  “I pride myself in Networking, and now I know everybody,” he said happily.  Seeing all of the local talent in the area is what drives Kush to continue his supportive role in the scene.  “Get involved with what’s going on,” he says, “There’s a lot of talent here, on a production level, on every level.  Get involved.”  Kush has gotten to a comfortable level of oversight and direction in the local movement, allowing him to expand onto better independent projects.

“I got some projects coming up.”

Kush is going into 2015 ready with an album titled “When Kush Comes to Shove” as well as a mixtape, “It’s called The adventures of Reefer Sutherland, its going to be a funny and uplifting mix tape,” he said, “It’s going to involve me getting high and going on little adventures themed after Keifer Sutherland projects.”  The mix tape will focus on projects such as Flatline, 24, Lost boys, Etc…  No date has been given but according to Kush both projects will be coming soon in the year.  Kush has a show where he is opening for emcee Ritz at Rockpile West venue this April. 

“Just google Kush McCloud… I’ve got like nine or ten pages.”

Kush McCloud is available on twitter at @KushMcCloud and Facebook by the same name.  Be sure to check up his Reverb Nation page at http://www.reverbnation.com/kushmccloud as well as my sound cloud page at https://soundcloud.com/liam-graham-10 for the podcast of our full interview for additional information not in the written article.  Also be sure to check out the 5ivefold battle league entertainment page for all things rap/battle rap related at https://www.facebook.com/groups/852060204816466/

Keep Hip-Hop in the North Alive and Rep the #705IVE