K-os finds inspiration in the country for mixtape ‘Views from the Stix’

TORONTO – Hip-hop artist K-os is hoping to bring a little equilibrium to Canada’s music scene.

After the runaway success of Drake, Justin Bieber and a handful of other Canadian popstars on the music charts, the Vancouver-based performer thinks there’s a possibility all this global success has gone to the local music industry’s head.

“A bit of me sees Canada going down this road that’s very American when it comes to our pop music,” he says during a phone interview.

“I feel I’m here to balance that and take it back to the sticks,” he says, referencing his recently released mixtape “Views from the Stix.”

The project came together when K-os escaped the bustle of city life to wind down at his family’s countryside home near Whitby, Ont., about an hour outside Toronto.

Their farmhouse ended up being a centre of inspiration and a reminder that not every Canadian performer has to aspire to chart-topping glory.

“Views from the Stix” is a direct nod to Drake’s “Views” album, originally titled “Views from the Six,” an homage to his Toronto stomping grounds. The album name was truncated just prior to its release.

Inspiration for the mixtape also came from the Zen Buddhist philosophies K-os studied over the past few years. He says they’ve allowed him to transcend hesitation over his musical career and better understand his place in the Canadian music scene.

“The thing Buddhism underlined is everything is everything,” he says. “To know one thing you had to know the opposite — the whole yin-yang idea.”

If last year’s label release “Can’t Fly Without Gravity” was a yin, then K-os, born Kevin Brereton, has released the yang with “Views from the Stix.”

While K-os doesn’t call out Drake by name on his mixtape, he deals out verses that could be interpreted as subtle shots at the “Hotline Bling” rapper or other unabashedly mainstream hip-hop artists.

“Smells Like Cream Spirit” counters rappers who talk a good game but don’t live up to the hype, while “On My Kanye” calls out artists with runaway egos.

The mixtape took about three weeks to complete and features collaborations with an array of artists, including Canadian beatmaker Kaytranada, CBC Radio host Shad and veteran Toronto rapper Saukrates.

K-os laid down many of his freestyle verses while soaking in the calm of the sprawling fields outside his family’s home. When his brother and sister-in-law raced off to work each morning with their four kids in tow, K-os used the solitude to create music.

“It made my idea about hip-hop a lot more simple and more, kind of, country-boy,” he says.

He also revisited a few of his old stomping grounds in the same neighbourhood where he spent part of his teenage years.

“It humbles you because you realize that you’ve actually achieved some of the things you have,” he says.

“You get off the whole rat race and go, ‘What am I really doing here? It’s time for some inventory for what makes me happy and what I’m in this music thing for.’”

He hopes other young Canadian musicians ask themselves the same question as they balance the pressures of fame against the art of music.

“Everybody becomes so egocentric, they don’t realize it’s the people around you who really define you — the other rappers, the other actors, the other bookwriters — they help your style and feed you,” he says.

“As artists we need to … sort of drop the whole pose that this is some kind of boxing match.”

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ON THE WEB: “Views from the Stix” is available on K-os’ Soundcloud page: http://bit.ly/1O5kwvt

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