The 21-year-old Atlanta-based artist best known for his acrobatic flows, catchy verses, and charismatic cadences, SoFaygo has just announced the November 11th release date for his anticipated debut album, Pink Heartz. The album boasts production credits and features from Pharrell, Lil Uzi Vert, Gunna, Don Toliver, DJ Khaled, and Ken Carson and arrives with a four-pack of singles, including “Blitz”, “Another One”, and “Fasho”––as well as “Hell Yeah” (feat. Ken Carson)which releases along with a Declan Kyle directed music video. After bursting onto the scene in 2020, racking up over 400 million streams with his viral Lil Tecca-produced single, “Knock Knock”, glossing the cover of XXL’s 2022 Freshman issue, and being announced as an Apple Music Up Next Artist, SoFaygo is ready to usher in a new era of superstars in Hip Hop with the release of his debut album, Pink Heartz on 11/11 via Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Records.
Setting the tone for his debut album, SoFaygo‘s new single “Hell Yeah” featuring fellow Atlanta rapper Ken Carson showcases both artists exchanging charismatic and boastful verses over an uptempo, trunk-popping instrumental. The record “Fasho” features Faygo’s dizzying vocal tones over a set of subtle drums and a tempered acoustic composition while the records “Blitz” & “Another One” see Faygo refining and experimenting with the tunefully melodic structures he’s become synonymous with. “Hell Yeah” (feat. Ken Carson) also features in the launch of Beats by Dre’s new campaign starring LeBron James and his son Bronny James. The spot debuted on Beats’ social media channels today ahead of the NBA season opener. SoFaygo‘s forthcoming debut album, Pink Heartz is a kaleidoscope of eclectic styles and sounds that showcase his ambidextrous ability to transition seamlessly from rapid-fire bars to saccharine singing.
On the back of his ‘Save Me’ track soundtracking the new Director X documentary Quiet Minds, Silent Streets, which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September to rave reviews, and with his latest single ‘Steam Fish’ causing quite the stir in Toronto’s rap circles, Jamaican Canadian rap artist and songwriter WAVE MONTEGA is excited to announce the release of his sophomore project titled CATHARSIS, which arrives on October 21 via 8Ball Records, as the long-awaited and highly anticipated follow-up to his now cult-classic debut project Still Wavy.
Written and crafted by Wave Montega, with production from Godflow (Dexta Daps, Tory Lanez) and SinisterOnThaTrack (Clavish, Cory Gunz), and guest appearances from the likes of Tre Mission and The Letter Z, the 16-track Catharsis project sees Montega showcasing his musical versatility as he effortlessly switches between rap, drill, grime, R&B, and dancehall, to provide the perfect backdrop for his rap tales about bando diaries, depression, relationships, betrayals and loss, with standout tracks including ‘Wanna Know’, ‘Lessons’, ‘Wawa’ and title track ‘Catharsis’.
Whether it’s his vulnerable monologue on title track ‘Catharsis’ to open the project and set listeners up for what to expect on the project, or his hard-hitting real rap stories on songs like ‘Ave Baby’ and ‘Painful’, and whether it’s songs like ‘Boom Flick’ and ‘Frozen’ where he is flexing his rap skills, or him wearing his heart on his sleeves about his relationships on songs like ‘Here’s Your Interlude’ and ‘Move On’, Wave Montega has created a project that makes for essential listening with Catharsis, which should be among the best rap albums out of Canada this year.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the Catharsis album, Wave Montega says, “The album manifested itself through some of the hardships and tragedies I went through in the past 4 years. From losing people in my life to the Bando diaries, to past relationships. I got extremely vulnerable and transparent about how I deal with my pain and how it has affected me. Not having people to talk to during my worst times is what made me vent on these beats, with the music being my personal diary. From my darkness I was able to make a masterpiece. This is my catharsis”.
Born and raised in Toronto, Wave Montega had a penchant for poetry as a child, but it wasn’t until he was at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina on a basketball scholarship, that the Malton native started pursuing a career in music. Just eight months into that journey, Wave Montega experienced his first breakout moment, with his timeless Toronto anthem ‘Side Bag’, which amassed half a million plays online, and became the springboard for his 2020 debut project Still Wavy. Two years on, and Wave Montega has become one of Toronto’s most exciting new lyricists.
Knoxville-based rapper Notty Taylor has hit the scene with a new project, returning to the scene after a 5 year musical hiatus.
Debuting his music back in 2016 with the release of his project Cutlass, Notty Taylor made it his mission to be heard. He resurfaced recently with his newest project NottyHrs. The underlying message behind the 9-track project is that life is a gamble and has constant up’s and down’s.
“I feel like before you can have the ability to see in the dark, you have to get acclimated to your surroundings,” Notty Taylor says.
Dueled with his his creative ability and being a student of music, Notty has used his knowledge to embody some of his influences such as Drake, Andre 3000 and t.ANT to pour out into his music. His music is a perfect blend of R&B flavor with a twist of rhymes, Notty’s proof of being genre-fluid is a great stepping stone to his emerging musical career.
Remixd Mag spoke to Notty about his upcoming endeavors and his who sonically inspired him to be the artist he is today. Check out the full interview below.
What city are you from/ Where are you based now? I was born and raised in Knoxville, TN, but I’m based in Brooklyn, NY.
What is your artist name? What is your real name? How did you get your artist name? I go by the name of Notty Taylor creatively, but my real name is Brandon. My stage name was actually the nickname of my grandfather. It was a name given to him “in the streets” as they say because he was always into something. He’s one of the most influential people I’ve ever been blessed to spend time with, and this was a cool way to keep him with me.
How would you describe your sound to readers who may not be familiar with you? My sound is a dispensary. Like whatever mood you’re in, whatever type of high you’re looking for, it’s all there. Ideally, the journey I’m on right now has a destination of making sounds that feel like late nights in a city near you.
What’s one reason you are passionate about music and what inspires you? It’s a result of my parents and big sister. I grew up on everything from The Winans, Kirk Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Brandy, Erykah Badu, Luther Vandross and everything in between. Zero rap was played in our childhood. We had to join our church choir and I briefly took drum lessons so that kept us around music. As far as being inspired to do music personally, my biggest influence was Terence “t.ANT” Pitchford. We’re from the same neighborhood, and he was the first person that I knew that had his own clothing line and rapped on his own beats. The first person from back home popping his shit for real, who fully embodied what an artist is.
Who are some of your main musical influences? I’m a fan and student of music overall so there’s many artists and genres that I’ve studied and tried to emulate. The mainstays would be Andre 3000, Drake, Kanye West and t.ANT.
Tell us the name of the project you are currently promoting? What inspired this project?
NOTTYhrs is what’s right now. It’s my latest album length body of work. I think for me to be in this moment right now to even tell this story relates a lot to the idea and metaphor of “Notty Hours”. Life is a gamble. I feel like before you can have the ability to see in the dark, you have to get acclimated to your surroundings. NOTTYhrs taught me how to use NIGHT VISION. How else could you choose a path.
Date that this project dropped or is set to drop?
NOTTYhrs released in February of this year on my birthday. It’s a prelude to another project I’m releasing very soon.
What is this project about in your own words?
People will do anything for what they perceive as everything. Learning from that environment, naturally we’re experimenting because of wanting to fit in with the crowd. Trying to fulfill 2AM desires but knowing you have a greater purpose in life.
What’s next for you? Are you working on any upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
Include some dates if you have them. A couple of Eps and a few singles to close this year out. Merch and visuals are also in the works so you’ve gotta stay tuned. There’s a lot more to come. It’s NOTTOBER.
What message do you hope fans take away from your music and from this project? I just want people to escape reality and have fun with it. I’m dropping you into a world and painting the picture. The biggest message is to not allow cheap thrills and temptation to knock you off your pivot and purpose.
