Music

Young Braised is a snack pack rapper

by Mark Teo

When Young Braised—otherwise known as Vancouver MC Jaymes Bowman—earned a viral-ish hit with the Babe Rainbow-produced “Snack City,” he knew that certain assumptions would follow: Some would expect him to be civic-minded, like Classified. Or politely enlightened, like Buck 65. Or ambiguously Christian, like Transit. Thankfully, he’s none of these things.

He’s not content with being another marginal white Canadian rapper. “People don’t need to listen to Canadian music simply because it’s local. Like, we have the Internet—we’re influenced by stuff from all over the place. And I don’t want to make music that sounds traditional.”

And his music’s anything but traditional. That’s why his munchie-obsessed mixtapes, Drunk Muzik and Special Herbs and Slices, channel beats from acts as diverse as Diplomats and MF Doom. It’s why Braised—whether performing solo or as part of Hyperlinx, his duo with producer Full Function—has slotted comfortably on bills with Curren$y, Killer Mike and Yelawolf. And it’s also why he works mainly with ambient electronic types, not hip-hop producers.

Cancon hip-hop it ain’t. If anything, it’s stoner rap for the Weird Canada generation. “I don’t want to be pigeonholed as this serious white rapper, because that’s not what I listen to. I don’t want to be the next Nas either, because the world can already listen to those records.

“If something sounds like a rap beat, I don’t want to rap over it. I want beats that are different, slightly off, and that definitely don’t fit stereotypes. I want to be the future of rap.”

He isn’t being arrogant here. Like several forward-thinking, DIY-types—he cites Das Racist, Hot Sugar and Big Baby Gandhi as his closest contemporaries—Braised says he’s challenging the genre’s conventions. His lyrics mirror the hilarious stream-of-conscious ramblings of his Tumblr. (“Pop culture is my religion,” he deadpans.) So, expect to hear free-association wordplay involving booty-clapping, forgotten NBA players (sup, Chauncey Billups?), Married With Children’s Christina Applegate and, of course, fast food.

“Are we getting to the part of the conversation where we talk snacks?” he laughs. “I’m way too gluttonous, I eat too much. Give me some slushies and ice teas, refried beans in burritos or anything with melted cheese—I throw fish sticks in tortillas with cheese, they’re like fish stick calzones. Snack wave, snack life!”

Listen to Young Braised’s Big Trouble in Little China EP below.