Two foot-long catfish peer out of a large tank in what would normally be the apartment's dining area.
Their owner, Shane Cockell, sits on a couch facing a large-screen TV. It's blaring a National Geographic show about rare diseases. The room's walls are plastered with posters and magazine pullouts of mixed martial arts fighters and buxom women.
On the coffee table, which is draped in a Confederate flag, sits Cockell's computer. Beside him, on the couch, is the key to his passion - a notebook full of rushed writing.
"A lot of people say my style is more aggressive," Cockell says while twiddling his thumbs on his lap. His colourful tattoos on his arm twitch as his fingers move. "I like fast-paced stuff."
For the past seven months, the Squamish General Hospital security guard and his brother Clayton have been writing and composing their first rap album. Both grew up listening to the high-pitched, attitude-drenched rhymes of rapper Easy-E. The late '80s, early '90s style of rapping has still got Cockell hooked.
"A lot of people are not keeping it real," he says, noting all the technology used to manipulate voices.
Cockell and his brother discovered their musical talent by accident. One day everything just started flowing - Cockell recalls that it was "kind of weird." Growing up in Squamish, Cockell and his brother were distant, but there they were, Clayton setting out beats and Cockell writing and rapping.
"Music has really brought us together," Cockell says.
Last week, they experienced a high and low all within that timeframe. After sending in a music sample, Cockell got an invitation to audition for the television show Canada's Got Talent. But there was a mix-up. Instead of booking the brothers for a time slot in Vancouver, the production had them marked for space in Toronto. While some people would be disheartened at the lost opportunity for their seven minutes of fame, the error has only fueled Cockell's enthusiasm.
He is currently writing a rap for a friend who is a mixed martial arts fighter. At his next fight, the man will walk into the cage with Cockell's song playing. It's an honour, Cockell says. Not too long ago, he did the same for another fighter in New Brunswick.
Cockell's music is also playing out online. Under his rapper name XerxeS, Cockell and his brother currently claim the top spot for hip hop artists in Squamish on the music website Reverbnation.com. There is a constant online battle, Cockell says. Independent musicians try to one-up each other and gain online fans in an attempt to get their music to the masses. So far, the Cockell brothers have garnered 1,128 online fans and their site has logged more than 3,000 visits.
"People get really competitive online," Cockell says. "People try and steal your fans."
While the Internet is a useful tool to get his rapping to a wider audience, Cockell hopes one day there will be more venues in Squamish where he and other hip hop and rap enthusiasts can take to the stage. Until then, he'll keep putting his pen to the paper.
"What I like about rapping is just the ability to write and express yourself," he says.
