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Music

Getting Back With Roney

The street certified 19 year old Toronto rapper releases his best music yet

Roney, Toronto's gangster rap wunderkind, has been quietly stewing in Regent Park since he released the second installment of his Don't Sleep mixtape series in the summer of 2013. The project was full of the sort of energy that you'd expect from a rapper born in 1994, but contained a scattershot collection of quality songs. After the release of Don't Sleep Vol. 2 and the untimely death of his friend Gaza, Roney focused harder than ever on creating concise, original music in the hopes of getting recognized by more than just the youth of Toronto.

This renewed focus is paying off, as the rollout for Don't Sleep 3 has produced two of the greatest tracks Roney has ever made. First there was the infectious Ying-Yang-Twinfluenced "Water", on which Roney raps about creating Tadoe's favourite beverage through a minimalist production made up of drums and whistles. Now, Roney's video for "Get Back" has come out and it's amazing. The youthful energy is turned up to the max as Roney raps over top of production that sounds like it was lifted from the soundtrack of F-Zero GX. Roney has never sounded as sharp as he does on "Get Back". It's paranoid Red Bull rap, the sort of hyper-paced music that Jason Statham would have listened to in Crank to keep his heart from exploding.

Roney's work ethic is one of the most endearing things about the rapper. At only 19, he's already on his third tape in the series and he's sounding better on each release. This means that by the time he's old enough to buy alcohol in the United States, Roney will have created five installments of Don't Sleep. For those wondering how he's able to grow artistically and constantly improve, the answer is right there in the album name.

@SlavaP