Meet B.C. hip-hoppers bbno$ and breakthrough artist EKKSTACY.
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But the country’s national music honours also highlight artists working from coast-to-coast-to-coast that aren’t household names — yet.
Anyone scratching their heads asking ‘who’ clearly hasn’t heard the MC’s global 2021 album eat ya veggies or his hit single edamame with 88Rising’s Rich Brien. The tune has passed six-times platinum in Australia, Canada, Finland and Indonesia, and gold in the U.S.
With appearances at Coachella and Late Night With Jimmy Kimmel, it’s well about time that the artist born Alexander Leon Gumuchian, whose moniker reads ‘baby no money,’ became far more familiar to listeners.
Reached on the phone before a Mardi Gras gig in New Orleans, bbno$ had just dropped his new single: Antidepressents.
“It’s the sixth time that I’ve been nominated for a Juno and I do have a marketing strategy coming in that could work,” said bbno$. “But I’m up against The Weeknd and Tate McRae, so yeah. But I think I’m established as a part of Canadian culture and I love the Junos and I’m bringing my parents this year.”
Last summer, bbno$ headlined a showcase of similar artists at the Malkin Bowl. Titled Baby’s Bonanza, the multi-artist show was unique as both a celebration of DIY hip-hop acts, as well as donating proceeds from the gig to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. That kind of civic mindedness is just part and parcel of the artist’s ethos. It’s working.
“I’ve already annihilated my goals for the year, so everything now is just fun and games,” he said. “I keep on dropping songs and my fans keep on eating it up and I’ve never been so blessed. I want to tour the world with my music and that’s why I do so many international collaborations because it gives me a base in other places and makes me new friends.”
From American rapper Yung Gravy and producer Y2K, to the hooky Pho Real with Vietnamese rapper Low G and Anh Phen, bbno$ is building a global brand firmly outside the traditional music industry model.
But when songs like Lalala make 20 international charts and rack up over a billion streams and Recording Industry Association of America triple-platinum certification, maybe those old channels don’t matter much.
“Honestly, I don’t really understand why its working so well, but the new music I’m making is kind of killing 90 birds with one stone and doing amazing live,” he said. “While I don’t know how to describe my music, which I guess maybe is pop dance, I know that I really like what I’m making right now. I guess I’m a creative freak.”
The 29-year-old workaholic musician says his approach is to break the system and make things that matter to him and let the fans find what they like or not. If something doesn’t track, he just heads back to the drawing board and creates something new.
That’s largely the approach of Vancouver’s EKKSTACY, a.k.a. 22-year-old Khyree Zienty, whose breakthrough single I Walk This Earth All By Myself saw the hooky punk/new-wave singer nominated in the Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year category.
His latest album, Ekkstacy, dropped in January 2024 on tastemaking punk/pop label Dine Alone Records. It features collaborations with Australian star the KidLAROI on the single All Right, which has passed 20 million global streams across various platforms. It’s two-plus-minutes of pop purity with a great stop-motion video.
“Dude, I’m very stoked about the Juno nomination and really didn’t expect it,” said EKKSTACY. “I woke up and saw it on Instagram and had to call my manager to confirm it was real. He confirmed it and I’m excited to attend the ceremony.”
Like bbno$, EKKSTACY largely came up outside the traditional music biz releasing his first item on Dec. 26, 2018. Noting that he had over 100 songs on his SoundCloud before he started catching onto his success, the former Amazon employee saw everything change when a friend told him to look at his streaming revenues.
“A friend pointed out to me that I was probably making enough money on Spotify to pay my rent and, when I took a look, there were thousands in there,” he said. “I quit my job that day and wrote I Walk This Earth All By Myself that day. Things have changed drastically since then.”
“I’m really happy with the new music, as I really made it from the heart,” he said. “Out of the four records I’ve made, I kind of hate Ekkstacy, although I had to do it, because I thought I would just burn-out and never have fun again. But it turns out that the new album is a complete change and I really feel the songs.”
A Juno wouldn’t hurt, either.