When I first met John River, he was an upbeat kid who wanted to change the world through music. I admired his optimism just as much as I did his innocence – a kid on a mission to be the first crab out of the Toronto bucket who didn’t pull anyone else down. After coming on to the scene in 2012 with his EP The Calm, John quickly took over media outlets like Hip-Hop Canada, while catching the ear of fellow indie artists like Los, ANTHM and Kembe X. The following year, John River made headlines once again by showing his perseverance in meeting the cast of the Dreamville label – long story short, John followed some cars trying to find J. Cole with no luck, waited in an airport for hours on end to no avail, sold some items in order to take a bus to New York overnight, found out where Ibrahim (president of Dreamville) lived through Ib’s cousin, went to his home and convinced him that he wasn’t a stalker, and then spit a verse. (You can read the entire story here!)
That same year, I had invited John to come down to the A3C Festival in Atlanta and take part in the showcase. Still not yet 21, he managed to find his way through the city, network like hell, and even have me wake up his sick publicist at the early hours of the morning to come down to the hotel lobby to meet someone – who that someone was, I forget. However, his dedication shined through.
Fast-forward to 2015, and John is still full of optimism and perseverance, but on a different level. A little older, a little wise, and a little jaded by the hip hop industry (it happens to the best of us), he’s found his footing – but not without a few bumps along the way. He told me about the struggles of simply getting his album together, the very public Twitter fingers PartyNextDoor shot at him, and the very unfortunate recent passing of fellow Mississauga artist Redway, to whom he paid tribute with “BLVD.”
Whether it’s talking about gun violence or paying tribute to those who are making it in his hometown of Mississauga, John is a voice to be known – so, naturally, we decided to sit down with the now 20-year old to see his view of life.
