Back in September of 2015, we found ourselves hanging out in Brooklyn at the Converse Rubber Tracks studio as a group of young Canadian emcees took over the space to record music. The group, the 5-member collective from Winnipeg called the Lytics, were chasing their dream of making music. Made up of brothers Andrew and Anthony “Ashy” Sannie, Alex “B-Flat” Sannie, Mungula “Munga” Londe and DJ Lonnie Ce, the 5 member group spent 48-hour’s in studio session making music. With a little mentorship from Beastie Boys’ Mike D, the group created an infectious anthem “legendary.”
Often citing Pharcyde, De La Soul, Slum village and The Fugees as inspiration, the Lytics have created a sound that is uniquely their own, born out of the geographic isolation of being from Winnipeg. With a musical pallet rooted in Reggae, Soul, Jazz and all things ‘Boom Bap’, their penchant for creating varied soundscapes and exploring different influences is seemingly in their DNA. Their sound is comfortably familiar yet completely unique.
Flash forward to today and the group just released their new EP Hold On, a thoughtful five song sonic rumination, with the lead single “Friction.” The video for which was shot on location in Japan, because, Japan. All of which builds towards the release of their third studio album set for a September release.
If you like hip-hop, you know the kind of music that makes you think and also makes your head nod, then the Lytics are for you. Press play on all the music above, it’s dope, and be sure to follow the boys on their adventure and rise to on their social media.
Follow The Lytics on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
On The Rise is our spotlight series on new and emerging artists. We last featured Cullen Omori. Stay tuned for next week’s On The Rise artist!