Toronto is home to a slew of artists, from the legendary Drake’s to PARTYNEXTDOOR.
Roney could be the next big thing to blow out of the city. With each release, Roney showcases his ability and versatility to create heartfelt music, inspired by real-life experiences and events. Having served damn near 4 years behind bars, Roney is here to tell his story once and for all.
Now, the rising star unleashes his newest, highly-anticipated album titled PAIN.
The acronym stands for Psychological Aid Is Needed, a topic that goes deeper beyond just good music. Having grown up in an underprivileged community, losing endless friends to violence, and seeing his mother go through stage 4 of cancer comes with its own battles to overcome, but thankfully Roney turns to music to be his saving grace.
The 17-track project is spearheaded by lead singles “Coffin” and “Hurt.”
AllHipHop: How would you describe your sound?
Roney: Pretty hardcore. That’s my original sound, but I switch it up a lot. I have a lot of stuff that’s a total different vibe, it’s pretty hard. Very, very hardcore.
AllHipHop: What was a young Roney like growing up in Toronto?
Roney: He was a bad kid man. [laughs] He was doing a lot of s###. I’m from the hood so it’s different, grew up a little different. Running around, playing with my friends, doing whatever. Getting into f###### whatever we could.
AllHipHop: When did music come into play?
Roney: I was about 15 when I first started going to the studio and recording, just as a little thing. A little hobby to do with my friends. When I was 16 or 17, I started releasing videos. I don’t remember the first song I recorded, but I know the first video I dropped was “For You.” Then I dropped “Stay Silent.”
AllHipHop: Did you know what you were doing?
Roney: No. It was more the people around me telling me to do this, getting me hyped up. I went to this program one time when I was 10 years old, my school put me in it. It was a hip-hop literacy program, that’s where I actually recorded my first song. It was reading workshops and all that stuff. We’d read about hip hop, then they got us to write a song, then we recorded the song. I was 10 years old at this time so that was the first one. When I was older and me and my friends were going to do it, I already knew a little bit about it.
AllHipHop: Who were you listening to?
Roney: A lot of Lil Wayne, 50 Cent. A lot of that.
AllHipHop: What’s the inspiration behind your name?
Roney: It’s a part of my real name. My name is Tyrone, so Roney.
AllHipHop: You just released your album PAIN, how are you feeling?
Roney: It’s good, good, good. I’m feeling good. I feel like it was something I had to do because people want to hear a lot of a specific vibe. When I dropped certain songs that were on the PAIN vibe, I knew that people would like to hear that.
AllHipHop: What does PAIN stand for?
Roney: Psychological Aid Is Needed. I did the acronym more to put something to it, but the pain itself is self-explanatory. It’s about the pain I went through in my life. A lot of the things I grew up with, a lot of the deaths I’ve experienced. Family troubles, I didn’t have a dad. I grew up in the hood,I’ve been seeing my friends murdered since I was 15. Grew up in bad houses, sleeping around. All of that, a lot of the stuff that goes on around in the neighborhood.
AllHipHop: Experiencing someone die at age 15, were you traumatized at all?
Roney: Yeah, a little bit. At that moment, nah. It’s more everything else coming to it: going to jail, doing all that stuff. I roll with the punches, but now I know how to express it through the music. Because I don’t really talk to people about this kind of stuff.
AllHipHop: Do you write?
Roney: I write. I freestyle sometimes. Lately I’ve been freestyling a little bit, but for the most part I was always writing.
AllHipHop: How is music therapy for you?
Roney: It’s good because I can say stuff in tracks that I don’t really say. Also too it’s a leisure, a leisure time. It’s something to do a lot, get my mind right. When I’m in the studio, I’m in a flow state. I don’t really hear nothing or see nothing else, I just know that. I know that’s therapeutic for me.
AllHipHop: What does the cover art represent?
Roney: I made sure it was simple. I tried to make it simple, but that broken heart is a custom heart. It’s my brand now. I wanted to brand the heart and show it’s more of a shattered heart with the wine glass dropping down. My graphic guy G-SCO sent me the wine glass dropping down. He did that, then I said “Oh, we should put these hearts going along it. Just end it like that.” It all worked, the pain spilling out.
AllHipHop: Favorite songs on the project and why?
Roney: I’d have to say “Coffin,” probably my all-time favorite because it’s very deep. I touched on a lot of… it was more a song for the people that passed away. I made sure I touched on everybody and everything, aside from whatever politics or whatnot. Made sure that everybody I know, that I ever had love for or have love for got some shine in the video too.
AllHipHop: Why is it important for you to touch on Toronto gun violence?
Roney: It’s very important. Me, I express what I’m going through but I never figured to tell people “This what you gotta be out here doing.” I say it so at the end of the day, if somebody’s going to listen to somebody, they’re going to listen to somebody who’s been through it before they listen to somebody that’s talking outside of it. How I came up on my rap s### too, that’s what it was. I was really out there like that. I keep it going, let them know “I’m a part of you guys, but I’m somebody who elevated it and took it to another level. I moved out, so everybody else can do it too.” That’s for sure.
AllHipHop: How was it shooting the music video for “Coffin”?
Roney: It was good. I had a couple ideas, but I wanted to keep it a little bit simple. I wrote the whole plan out for the video, it was good. It took 2 days. I shot it with Colton Davis, it was pretty good. It got executed better than I thought to be honest.
AllHipHop: Why is that?
Roney: It looked more cinematic than I had visioned because of what we were doing. It was very simple and basic. I thought it was going to be a whatever video, but just very touching. It turned out to be a touching video that looks really good.
AllHipHop: Best memory from the video shoot?
Roney: Shooting with the slideshow. Doing the slideshow, that was pretty cool. Seeing all my homies that passed. It was a lot, but that was pretty cool.
AllHipHop: 3 things you need in the studio at all times?
Roney: A bottle of water, weed, and my phone. I’m smoking on some gas right now. [laughs]
AllHipHop: How is the independent grind?
Roney: It’s good, I feel it’s good. I feel it’s less stressful. There’s a lot of that stress, and that s###’s not really making noise than whatever you can stress. I was signed a little bit to a little record label. That’s 2018, but I ended up getting out of the deal.
AllHipHop: What is a major label?
Roney: No it wasn’t a major label, but they had control like a major label. It gave me a glimpse of how it could be so to do that, I’d want to take a lot of money. It’d have to be a serious deal because the whole not being able to drop stuff… because I’m really active. I go in the studio, I do 4 or 5 songs. I want to sometimes wake up today and say “Hey, I want to drop this song.” Or finish this song today or tomorrow. On a label deal, you can’t really do that because you be f###### up their other artists. They have their whole timelines, so it’s great. I like it.
AllHipHop: What do you want fans to get from your story?
Roney: That I made it out, or at least I’m on my way. I’m right there. I’m literally right there. I want them to get the real, this is the real truth. I want them to know okay, this guy’s been through all of this. Some people aren’t going through as much as that, you can do good too. Don’t worry about it, don’t let all of the little psychological things get to you. Just move forward, because I’m pushing. Things are happening bad around me and I’m still working. I want people to know that and keep working.
AllHipHop: How did you celebrate your birthday?
Roney: I saw family, got a little spot with family. We kicked it, it was sick.
AllHipHop: What’re you most excited for next?
Roney: About to drop another album soon. I’m trying to do it for December so we’ll see how that goes. Doing videos, recording. I just shot a video on my birthday, then I shot one the day before. I’m trying to push it, push it, push it. Get up to the States soon enough, keep that push going. Go to the UK, make it happen.
AllHipHop: How’s Canada been with the lockdown? How did it impact you?
Roney: It’s not so bad. It didn’t really impact me much to be honest, with the whole restaurant thing and all that. I go to a lot of restaurants, but I’m fine with not really. They had all these rules. It’s a weird thing because one second it’s lockdown and masks, the next second it’s not. Other than that, everything’s alright.
AllHipHop: Any goals for yourself at this point in your career?
Roney: Yeah, I want to start signing artists. It’s already in the works.
AllHipHop: What kind of artists are you into?
Roney: Whatever to be honest. I like all types of music, but I more want to sign somebody that’s like my music. For right now, at least the beginning. But if a crazy country singer is trying to get signed and I can make it happen, I’ll try to make it happen for sure.
AllHipHop: What are you going to call your label?
Roney: Actually I have a label with my manager, we’ve been releasing music independently through it, it’s called 2x Music Group. The name has been there by default but I will probably just keep it this way.
AllHipHop: Anything else that the people may need to know about you?
Roney: I’ve got a lot of projects dropping. I’m the hardest working rapper. If you need anything, any song, any vibe, you comment that and I can make it happen. I’m for the people. I’m probably the most versatile, definitely in Canada 100%. Worldwide, I’m definitely up there. It’s just a matter of getting it out there to the right people.
AllHipHop: Stream P.A.I.N. on Spotify or Apple Music