Urban Vault caught up with Canadian Hip Hop duo Nameless & Piracy to ask them about their recently rereleased their track HAPPY NEW YEAR, produced by Detroit’s Marv Won and more…

Toronto rap artists NameLess & Piracy present ‘Happy New Year’, the lead single from ‘Elevation’, the duo’s collaboration album with Detroit emcee/producer Marv Won, who produces and features on the track.

The duo released their first mixtape ‘Wake Up Call‘ in 2017, and are preparing to release the ‘Groundwork’ EP on April 20th (watch the video trailer) featuring X from team backpack and Ness Lee, which will be followed on April 27th by ‘Kin6dom’, set to feature Marv, Ness, Chilla Jones, Mickey Factz, Quest Mcody, and Cambatta.

“Nothing but elevation from here on out,” NameLess says about the new single. “That track sparked something bigger than even we had expected. A whole lot more with Marv is on the way. GroundWork and Kin6dom are just the beginning to a huge year for us”.

How did you get your stage names?

NameLess: My name came from me not caring about names to be honest. It started as Nameless, cause I didn’t want a name, but knew I needed one. Eventually, I decided to make it actually mean something, so I capitalized the ‘L’. Now it means that I just couldn’t care about a ‘name’ any ‘less’. It should be more about the music quality and less about co-signs and name power. That’s what keeps so many incredible artists underground when they really shouldn’t be.

Piracy: I chose my name when i was hanging out at Tim Horton’s with NameLess. I wanted to pick a name that started with P and thought of several trash ones before coming to the conclusion that this was harder than i thought. Somehow I thought of Piracy and it just stuck.

What made you guys decide to become rappers?

NameLess: Well school was definitely not my thing, but for some reason, I would always do really well in all English classes. I was a big reader back in the day too, which eventually got me writing stories and stuff like that. Stories turned into poems, and eventually into songs. Writing is just a great way to clear your mind and vent. Whether it even has any substance or not, it still acted like a therapy session.

Piracy: Music always played a big part in my life, helping me get through different situations like helping me focus, getting me through stressful moments and difficult stages and events. I like any genre and songs that evoke emotion or gives a message. I decided that music could help kids and people the same way music helped me so I became a rapper.

What’s the first rap song each of you ever heard? Describe the moment.

NameLess: First rap song I heard was ‘My Name Is’ by Eminem. I was so young and as immature as possible so Eminem was perfect for me at that time. No one was rhyming like he was, bouncing around the pockets like that. I had no idea what a ‘bar’ even was at that point, but I knew there was something special about him as a rapper. Despite what anyone says about him now, he can still out rap almost everyone, and that isn’t going to change.

Piracy: The first track I ever heard was ‘Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It’ by Ice Cube on his album Raw Footage. Being the shy kid I was, I was bullied often and racism was thrown at me where I live. When I heard this track it gave me a sense of confidence and just the feeling of self-empowerment. It got me into rap.

How did ‘Happy New Year’ come together?

We met Marv at a King of the Dot event. All we did was ask if he was down for a feature. He sends his verse back within like 3 days, and the track turned out crazy. It’s called ‘I Don’t Mind’, on our album Kin6dom. One thing led to another and all of a sudden we had a huge list of beats from him. One of which was ‘Happy New Year’. It was a really natural build, nothing was forced at all. The relationship with Marv is still great and there will definitely be a whole lot more coming with him. Shout out to Marv for giving us a chance to start it all off too. One of the few who was completely ready and willing to hear what we had to say when we were just two random fans at an event. We owe a lot to Marv.

What are your predictions for 2018, as far as your own music and the music world in general?

2018 is an insane year for us. Starting with ‘GroundWork’ EP and ‘Kin6dom’. Most people after 2 releases would start to slow down but we are just getting started. I don’t want to give too much away but we have a mixtape hosted by a big name battle rapper, packed with features too. Then we have an album which was produced entirely by Marv Won, another mixtape, and possibly near the end of the year a couple solo releases, we’ll see. With there being such a divide in generations within Hip Hop, I think what we need is everything coming together. As a culture, we need to find a balance between the two. We’re well on our way to helping that situation as best we can. Also hopefully we can voice our opinions without having people get in their feelings. Everyone builds their own fan base however they want to, just rap well while you do it. Finally, stop posting about people you don’t like. Post who you do like and maybe the others won’t be so well known. Maybe people just like complaining. Either way, check out ‘Happy New Year’, ‘GroundWork’, and ‘Kin6dom’.

Thank you for your time and may you carry on making dope, fresh music…

Nameless & Piracy – Happy New Year via Spotify

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