With a Canucks-inspired hit song and several rap albums under his belt, North Vancouver native Kyprios is set to wow the crowds at Live at Squamish on Aug. 20 and 21. A powerful presence on stage, Kyprios delivers a seamless blend of rapping, singing and harmonizing, and his passion for words and music is evident in his work.
Writing poetry at a young age proved to be the catalyst that propelled Kyprios to his present-day status as a successful rap artist.
"I wrote poetry at a young age... I think I had some success writing poetry," he said in a recent interview with The Chief. "One of my brothers really got into hip hop... it was cool trying to convert the poetry that I was interested in writing at the time into something that had a beat structure... so I could learn how to put the poetry to a cadence."
He also credits growing up in a musical family as a positive influence. "Music was always in my household. My brother was musical, my mum was musical, and my dad really liked language, so my love for music was really genetic for me," he said.
A founding member of the two-time Juno-nominated band Sweatshop Union, Kyprios has toured all over North America solo and as part of Sweatshop Union with the likes of The Black Eyed Peas, Wyclef Jean, The Roots, Rakim, Living Legends, Swollen Members and Jurassic Five, to name a few. His talent includes a remarkable ability to keep a crowd in silent rapture as he sings an introspective piece, drawing from spoken word, only to suddenly shift and rouse a sea of hands with a rapid fire set of lyrical flows.
Last year he released a solo track that propelled him into a radio competition, the Peak Performance Project, by The Peak radio station in Vancouver. Kyprios eventually went on to win the prestigious competition and recognizes this experience as beneficial for his career.
"We put together a live band and from there we have been able to get some festival gigs and now I've got a 10-piece band that I get to play with," he said, adding that he will be performing at Live at Squamish with his band.
Kyprios admits his songs have conveyed political messages but insists it is all part of his song-writing process.
The Canucks song "How the West Was One" was created as a spur-of-the moment stress-reliever and he was astonished at its propulsion to fame. He and his musician brother Kevin, who is also an avid Canucks fan, were struggling to complete a music project at the time.
"In a desperate attempt to bring some levity to our process, I suggested we make a Canucks tune before he left to Africa for a month," he said. "I had this idea of doing a Spaghetti Western theme... it was supposed to be kind of a labour of love, and then it ended up getting to the Vancouver Canucks and getting to a few people that really liked it and then pushed it, and then before we knew it we were playing at Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals inside Rogers Arena in front of thousands of people. It was great."
Kyprios said he looks forward to performing at Live at Squamish and having the opportunity "to enjoy a whole bunch of artists."
"I played with Metric in 2004 in a little bar, and to watch some of the accomplishments that they have had over the years, it will be great to see them live."
Life continues at top speed for Kyprios as he rattled off his busy itinerary for the next few months. Newly married, he and his wife are off to Europe on their honeymoon two days after Live at Squamish. He still writes poetry and eagerly anticipates the release of his next major album, The Midnight Sun, when he returns from his honeymoon. To top it off, he is working on the music for a new play with Greenthumb, entitled Ash Rizin.
Follow Kyprios' musical endeavours on www.kyprios.com.
