When people think of prominent artists in the hip-hop scene for Canada, Drake, PartyNextDoor, and the Weeknd are artists that easily come to anyone's mind. Last week, I saw another artist that hails from Canada but not from an area many people would expect. While the country has solidified itself as a hotbed for hip-hop music, people only pay attention to the east side of the region. Hailing from British Columbia, just north of the state of Washington, SonReal is ready to show you why he's putting the other side of Canada and himself into the discussion as another area of interest for music.
I didn't know too much about SonReal coming into the show but listening to his tracks on Spotify, I could easily tell he was talented. What I saw that made me a fan even before the show however, was a video of a father-daughter fan duo perform outside the House of Blues when he was soundchecking. He commented on how grateful to have fans like that and even jammed along with them. While hip-hop artists are regular people just like us, most of them either have a certain mystique to them or always flex on social media that most of us wishing we could do the same. That video and what I would later see when he performed was a sharp contrast to what i'm used to seeing.
Watching SonReal was basically like cheap therapy to me. I've been in a bit of a dark place for a few months but seeing him perform alleviated my mood. He played songs like "Healing" and "Problems" really showed how he wasn't afraid to be vulnerable and was willing to talk about his mental issues. His introspective lyrics made you feel connected to him in a sense. Once he played "Can I Get a Witness", you can tell the fans were into his positivity and performed with his heart on his sleeve.
SonReal was unreal with his performance and you could tell he was feeding off the energy of his fans. The Voodoo Room really worked well for SonReal as well since it gave a bigger sense of intimacy between him and his fans. After seeing him, I couldn't help but listen to his recent album, The Aaron LP. If you want to see SonReal then I really cannot recommend him enough.
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