A.Y.E. Lives Up To His Name

Before my first meeting with A.Y.E., I had taken his latest album, 90 NOW, for a couple spins and knew that while he was talented, I was apprehensive that I might meet a young man with an ego to match. After all, you can’t be that good at something, and go by a name that’s an acronym for “A Young Extraordinare” without being a little bit arrogant, right? But despite what his name might suggest, and despite the fact that braggadocio and boast are certainly an integral part of this game we call rap, the young artist I met is the furthest thing from cocky.

He is polite, soft-spoken, confident, and yet still humble and gracious about the achievement of 90 NOW. The album took almost a full year to put together, and was completely self-produced, written, mixed and mastered. “I’m a 90s baby through and through,” he says proudly, “and I love 90s hip-hop. I just wanted to make something to bring that sound, that realness back. I love music with substance, where the lyrics have meaning. That’s basically all I was focused on with this.”

90 NOW is an impressive, 11-track nod to the rap days of yore, drawing comparisons between A.Y.E and another young rapper inspired by hip-hop’s golden era. “I don’t mind the comparisons to Joey Badass,” he laughs. “Why would I? He’s really talented.” But he does want the people to know he’s not just a wannabe Badass: “I’m not just following suit. I’m just doing what I know and love. If you do what you love it doesn’t matter what anyone else says.”

Born in Calgary, A.Y.E. (real name Jahimba Hutson) grew up in an environment where music was a fundamental part of everyday life. Watching his father, a member of well-known local reggae band Strugglah, as he was rehearsing and doing shows, A.Y.E. felt drawn to a life of music and creating: “You gotta start somewhere, so I started writing and producing came later. I love the process of having an idea, and being able to make the entire thing come to life – from the beat, to the lyrics, to the actual recording.”

He admits that coming up in a city that has yet to see a rapper really hit hasn’t always been easy. “The scene is small here, and because of that I feel like people are a little bit threatened when people try to make moves – maybe cause they think there’s less to go around?” He credits his city with a lot – “there’s a lot of real talented people here and for the most part everyone is really supportive” – but knows they have a ways to go: “I think we could grow more as a city and community if people learned to give it up to one another a little more. Instead of seeing it as a threat, just know that there’s others putting in work and making moves, and see that as motivation.”

A.Y.E. is quick to praise other local artists such as frequent collaborators Maxjullian and ItsJab, and local legends Dragon Fli Empire: “They put me on, but they’ve also been paving the way for myself and other artists like me for years. They’ve done so much for this scene. I have the utmost respect for them.”

Though he may have just put out an album inspired by the 90s, this 22 year old knows that diversity is key in a world with fleeting attention spans. “My next project will be completely different to 90 NOW,” he says with confidence, before revealing that it will be a reggae-inspired project that will see him revisit the music of his youth. “There’s no way I’m putting all my eggs in one basket. Nowadays you gotta be a bit of a chameleon to stay top of mind for everyone.”

In addition to the reggae project, he already has new work coming down the pipe, including an appearance at Calgary’s Sled Island Festival this June. After the overwhelming positive response to 90 NOW, there’s a surplus of artists looking to collaborate with A.Y.E, both as a rapper and a producer.

While the buzz is something A.Y.E appreciates, he approaches his mounting reputation with the same confident humility that is obviously ingrained in this young man’s personality: “You can never catch your own hype, cause it’ll never work out good for you. I know that the future holds many opportunities for me, but I’ll always stay grounded.”

Josephine Cruz is a writer living in Calgary. She's on Twitter.

---

Chad VanGaalen is a stoner dad.

Calgary's music museum is crazy.

Booty wave music? Booty wave music.