SKIZZA: A little bit of background.... Waaay back in 2006, I (Skizza) and one of my best friends in the universe B-Side set about the monumentally self-centered task of making a rap album. The one-and-only Factor G was kind enough to bless us with his studio space, mixing talents, and many fine instrumentals. All of our rap homies helped out and what you have here is the final product.

But see, that's not the whole story, because a really funny thing happened while we were making this album.

We grew up.

Well, that's not necessarily exactly entirely perfectly true. Maybe we just acknowledged the concept of growing up. The seeds of adulthood began to sprout in our young lives, the eventual branches of which would grow out and zig and zag in very different directions. Today about 5,000 kilometers and 3 and a half timezones (learn clocks, Newfoundland!) separate B-Side from the little Saskatoon basement studio we made this record in, and a mountain of experiences, awakenings, pains, and joys separate me from the kid I was when I first stepped into Factor's booth all those years ago. But I think this record was truly the starting point for those journeys.

Through the years this album has mostly only existed as a few scattered copies, hoarded by friends, loved ones, fans. But through the magic of the internet we bring it to you here today.


B-SIDE: You know a kid one day by this gleam in their eyes and maybe they’re outside the 7-11 with a pocketful of lifted chocolate bars and a gutfull of booze and its only 10 AM and they’re laughing at the people on their way to work. And the next time you walk into your bank to talk overdraft protection, a young guy stalks out of the office, coiffed hair, charcoal suit, smiling, looking uncontrollably familiar. It seems to happens that fast.

But it doesn’t, of course: there’s a process, a journey. This album chronicles the people Tyler and I were just as we were packing up to make that journey. I love it because of the nostalgia-inducing collabs with great rappers, producers, scratchers, and friends, but also because it’s a snapshot of two kids staring at the Saskatchewan sun and writing what they see.