King Dylan

Is it a reboot or a sequel?

A rebranding? Or a new beginning?

Actually, Dylan Roberts isn’t quite sure.

“Obviously everything I do successively from each project is going to be inspired by what I’ve already done,” he says noncommittally over coffee in a Crowfoot Crossing eatery.

“But it started out as an experiment.”

What it became is Raw, the six-song EP and first acoustic project recorded as his King Dylan persona. It’s a persona that’s built a reputation in this city over the past decade as a solo act and as a member of The D.C. Show — both of which reside in the more pop and hip-hop realms.

And as Roberts later explains, that experiment actually was just him picking away at one of his previously recorded songs, Pretty Girl, on his guitar in his living room to his girlfriend.

She, admittedly more of a country music fan, loved it and he decided to put it to tape, recording it in his home studio, redubbing it Pretty.

Roberts, encouraged by the results, then decided to give the same treatment to five other of his songs from his back catalogue, fan and friend favourites that he took another crack at either because he wanted a do-over on some of the vocals or performances, or, more importantly, because he was proud of what they were at their very core.

“I wanted to show that they were good songs regardless of what format they could have been in,” he says.

“I remember going to a panel in Toronto at Canadian Music Week where Finger Eleven was talking and mentioning how that if you can play the song at a kitchen table with a guitar and it’s still good, then it’s a good song …

“I wanted to prove to myself and whoever is listening that it’s still good even not as produced as the original version.”

The result is a refreshing slice of sunny, strummy folk-pop that should please fans of Jack Johnson, Ed Sheeran and Jason Mraz, with Roberts giving the acoustic business to such songs as past efforts as Sing Sing Sing (now just Sing) and Blind Man (here Blind).



Roberts still has a “rap and hip-hop flow” to his vocals, but he also lets himself sing a little more on Raw, showcasing a set of pipes that actually have some nice shine to them.

As for his guitar skills, he admits those are a work in progress, which is why he asked for a little help from pals Ron Tarrant, a T.O.-based artist who records under the moniker Lost In Film, and Michael Hill, known to most in Calgary for his Septembryo project.

The latter will actually accompany and open for King Dylan during the album’s release party on Saturday night at the Blind Beggar Pub — perhaps the only chance to pick up a physical copy of it, as he only had 100 copies of the disc made. (The rest will be sold online at kingdylan.com and the album is available digitally from iTunes beginning Friday.)

Roberts says the show will be something of a mix of his material, with the typical keyboard treatment given to much of his material and the songs from Raw performed acoustically.

He’s looking forward to seeing how they go over in front of his audience, with early reaction to the video for Sing being remarkably positive. And he notes that the contributors to the record — including his girlfriend, Brittany Baker, who lends her vocals to that aforementioned first single — have all nudged him to further explore his acoustic side.

Roberts admits that some of the new material he has been writing is, at least, partially in that direction, but isn’t quite ready yet to commit to a rebranding or full King Dylan reboot.

“Like I said before, whatever I do is influencing the next project,” he says.

“If it turns out good then I’ll continue with it.”

King Dylan releases his new EP Raw Saturday at the Blind Beggar Pub. - Calgary Herald - Mike Bell

It can be difficult to build a fanbase in Canada among the fickle hip-hop crowd that usually prefers their hip-hop vetted south of the border first. However, Calgary, AB's King Dylan hedges his bets by mixing his rap with alternative rock, incorporating a great deal of live instrumentation into his self-produced beats, while on every song singing the chorus. He's good as both a rapper and singer, so it works well, and the sound quality is clean and professional, which should help this alt-rock-rap hybrid appeal to a larger mainstream audience. Steering clear of the nihilism and braggadocio prevalent in much of rap, his lyrics about love, loss and lies likely won't hurt his mass appeal either. While purists will hate, those who enjoy cross-genre experimentation will find much to enjoy. Ultimately, Dylan's Looking For The Sun is more likely to be found on the radio charts than heard thumping out of car speakers or in clubs. (Independent) - EXCLAIM (Thomas Quinlan)

For the past two decades rockers and rappers have agreed to be frenemies, in part because the hip hop scene dishes out a dark vibe.

In this year that could potentially be King Dylan’s break-out season, the Calgary-based alternative hip hop/pop artist has welded the two distinct genres into a new musical hybrid.

The former St. Albert resident has pumped new life into the music scene with his fourth solo release Looking for the Sun. The seven track was released Tuesday just in time for his appearance at the Haven Social Club on Friday, Feb. 22.

“A lot of it is based on my life. There’s Forever is a Lie, a song about my band ending. And then there’s Nothing is Free. It’s about not having enough money. The Good Life talks about suicide. Queen is about the happy side of love and Insignificant is about the sad side of love,” explains Dylan.

While his interview answers are succinct, the music deftly blends pop and hip hop into intricate rhymes, catchy hooks and fun beats.

A Paul Kane graduate, King Dylan is known to school buddies as Dylan Roberts. He spent his formative years training for international level speedskating competitions. But in junior high, Dylan discovered rapping and traded in the dream of pro sports for a life wielding a microphone.

Since his move to Calgary more than a decade ago, the savvy technophile has self-produced seven full-length albums and numerous videos. He’s also spent time in the studio with Juno Award winners Moka Only of Swollen Members.

The hip hopper’s star began ascending after receiving $15,000 through Calgary’s AMP Radio Rockstar contest. He invested a chunk into producing Looking for the Sun and hopes the dividends will pay off at his showcase performance a the Canadian Music Fest 2013 in Toronto on March 20.

In the past couple of years, Dylan has seriously re-evaluated his choices and Looking for the Sun holds a mirror to them. One song, Blind Man, just released Tuesday on YouTube as the first single, acutely represents Dylan’s feelings for the whole album.

“You want to go in a certain direction, but you don’t know how to get there,” he said. “We all have goals, but don’t know the steps to get there – where to go with your music career, with family and happiness.”

Dylan, whose passionate musical foundation is built on rap and hip hop, also spent five years playing bass and piano with rock band Broken Ride. In that time he criss-crossed Canada several times, and worked with producers Dale Penner (Nickelback) and Chris Burke-Gaffney (Chantal Kreviazuk).

The band’s breakup proved to be a golden opportunity to focus on fresh creative enterprises including the 2012 release of Dinosaurs on Broadway, a 16-track CD featuring an interesting mix of influences.

“I borrowed the idea off a tattoo on my arm. It’s a dinosaur outside with a treble clef inside. I’ve had a thing for dinosaurs since elementary and junior high. It’s always been with me. When I started rapping my first song was about dinosaurs,” Dylan said.

“Music and art are a part of my life and dinosaurs help me get into it. When I’m on stage I feel different from anything else and when I’m on stage the dinosaur represents something wild and different.”

As the last decade has passed, the cocky, upstart rapper has matured into a confident polished pop rapper.

“When you get older you realize not everything is going to go your way,” he said. - St. albert Gazette - Anna Boroweicki

King Dylan's self-produced live instrumentation, composed of epic indie rock and classical quartets, anchored by drumbeats borrowed from hip-hop and clubby electronica, quickly becomes cheesy when combined with Dylan's constant (but catchy) indie pop hooks and harmonizing background vocals. Still, Dylan flips flows from slow and meticulous into singsong styles or just out-and-out singing, and his flawless fastball delivery over Dirty South double timer "Adrenaline Cool" proves dude can definitely rap. It's one of the few braggadocio battle tracks on Heart vs. Brain, but like his songs about love, loss, living right and being an individual, the lyrics are primarily positive and fun. Speaking of which, party track "Have Some Fun," featuring his group D.C. Show, is also a highlight, but the spotlight lingers longest on Moka Only's boastful third verse guest spot on "I Still Fly," maybe the most hip-hop moment on the album. Hardcore heads will have a hard time accepting this as hip-hop, but King Dylan will appeal to fans of Cage's new direction, especially if they're looking for something a little lighter. (Piece Out) - EXCLAIM (Thomas Quinlan)

It begins with a beer and a free shot glass.

And ends with a Jagerbomb and, inexplicably and from out of nowhere, an urban dictionary definition that would make GG Allin blush.

But what would you expect, really, when sitting down with two members of area hip-hop crew The D.C. Show, who are releasing their third album and first in six years titled Drinkcognito. They are, as a collective, four firm friends who met in high school in Edmonton and have decided to keep the party going, on and off, for the past decade-and-a-half.

Musically, that manifests itself in old-school frat-hop that sounds like Eminem fronting The Bloodhound Gang and tackles such deep subjects as drinking, partying, girls, drinking, raggin’ on each other, sex, fame, love and drinking.

It is, as the adage goes, a case of write what you know.

“When we get together, for the past 15 years since we started, we hang out, we drink, we have fun, we listen to rap music ... and we make albums,” says Dylan Roberts (a.k.a. King Dylan) sitting with Graham Furber (a.k.a. GQ).

“It’s like, ‘What are we going to write about?’ ‘Well, what are we doing?’ ‘Oh, we’re drinking.’ ”

They laugh.

“Sometimes a song doesn’t get finished,” Roberts says, “sometimes it does.”

In the case of Drinkcognito, 12 of them did. The recording was done over the past year at Roberts’ local home studio when they had the time and were in the same city — the four are scattered around Alberta now.

He said the songs “came around really naturally,” a product, again, of that bond that stretches back to their teenage years. And you can hear it on the album, with the four of them casually and seamlessly exchanging verses over their less sample-based, more West Coast hip-hop sound that also works in their ’90s rock upbringing.

But still, as well as they work together, you can still get that sense of the individuals that make up the D.C. pack, with Roberts — who’s made a solo name for himself in this city — as the slicker, jock-like character, and Furber coming off as the rough-around-the-edges joker of the bunch.

The other two? Well, Roberts assesses Joseph Mosier (a.k.a. MC Mossberg) as someone who “could kick your ass but at the same time outsmart you,” and Furber says Oren Zacharias (a.k.a. Buttnz) is driven by his “I don’t give a f — k attitude.”

The fact they they’re all different, they say, has never been much of an obstacle in their friendship, and, they think, only makes the band that much stronger.

“You’ve got to be able to get along, we know that from being in a rock band together. If two people hate each other then it just ends up being this massive fight,” Furber says referring, perhaps, to his and Roberts’ time in the Calgary rock band Broken Ride.

“So, yeah, us being all friends helps but the fact that we do love what each other writes it’s phenomenal. I love that.”

That doesn’t mean they’re not above taking shots at one another, as most good friends will, with the track Face Off featuring each MC working a verse written by one of the others — in essence making fun of himself by singing his buddy’s insults.

It speaks to the respect they have for each other’s skills that they could pull that off and Furber says the rest of Drinkognito was a matter of the four pushing one another to step their games up.

“I would write a verse and crumple it up and throw it away — it was on an iPad so I wouldn’t actually do that,” Furber says and the two friends laugh. “But every time you wrote you were writing with such precision because you knew these guys were going to be unreal with their verses ... I think that’s why the album is so strong and consistent is because we all did that.”

And they’re hoping others agree. What started out as a bit of fun is something that they’re now taking incredibly seriously, with Drinkognito representing the four going all-in on The D.C. show. The release party Saturday night at Vagabond Beerworks will officially launch things, although the album has already been out for a week, and even managed to crack the Top 50 on iTunes Hip Hop charts. They’ve also gone crazy on the merch, with deluxe CD packaging, T-shirts and, yes, shot glasses.

If all goes according to plan, they can keep the party going full-time and non-stop.

“The end game is just to do music forever,” Furber says. “It’s life. I know we’re on the same page ... Literally, in our hearts, this is all we want.”

Roberts agrees, noting it was a “we’ll see what happens” kind of thing when they got back together a year ago and he put his solo career on hold. “It was a test to begin with, but as we made it ... it was like, ‘Yeah we’re pretty pleased with this,’ ” he says. “We’re just so happy with how it turned out.” - The Calgary Herald - Mike Bell

GQ & King Dylan
Afterlife
By Thomas Quinlan - dec. 2006

With a self-released solo album last year (All Eyes on D) and an album this year with his group the D.C. Show (Smacked By Popular Demand), rapper-producer King Dylan experiments now as part of a duo with label-mate GQ. Dylan starts by giving Afterlife a full sound with organic, feel-good production, opting for live instruments over samples. He usually keeps the tempo up and the production crisp and clean. The duo prefer singing to rapping on a hook, even going so far as to add a fair bit of rock-meets-soul vocals amongst the verses. Together, GQ and KD keep things mostly spiritual and positive, complimenting each other's singing and rapping. The result is an introspective and personal album that is unfortunately missing much of the humour from Dylan’s previous albums. Still, it’s also a more mature offering of hippy-hop, but that’s readily evident from the artwork alone. Maybe it’s time to let hip-hop give you a hug instead of a pound. (Piece Out) - Exclaim magazine

The DC Show
Bizarremageddon!
By Omar Mouallem - Aug 2008

Consisting of four often funny, sometimes serious dudes — MC Mossberg, Smixx, GQ and King Dylan (who is the backbone of the group, acting as rapper, producer, sound engineer, sole instrument player and publicist) — Calgary rap group the DC Show have on their second album comprised a lengthy 18-track release that never repeats itself. Each song is conceptualised, which sometimes makes for unequal teamwork. From verse-to-verse, it sometimes feels like one or two of the four quickly scratched 16 bars to fit the song’s criteria. Individually, they all get their chance to shine on tracks like the feisty “Walk & Bounce,” the honestly human “Addicted,” the poli-economical “Business As Usual” and the love-induced “Just Breathe.” With many surprisingly well-sung choruses, songs from Bizarremageddon! can be catchy, but the density of the project makes many of them forgettable. (Piece Out) - Exclaim magazine

Indie403 is thrilled to present King Dylan as our Featured Artist of the Month!
Overview

If you haven’t had the chance to check out King Dylan, you are seriously missing out on an incredibly talented musician! With a killer live performance and a unique combination of musical styles, King Dylan is a force to be reckoned with in the Calgary Scene. Combining such genres as hip-hop, pop and rock, he has made a name for himself and won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
The Artist, Influences and Style

Throughout his life, King Dylan has always been involved with music. From a young age, he took piano lessons and over the years, he continued to build on his musical capabilities. However when it came time to attend a university, he chose a different route. While also heavily involved in speed-skating, Dylan enrolled at the University of Calgary so he could continue his training in speed-skating while pursuing an education. And while he was involved in musical groups through high school and university, it wasn’t until later on in his education that his passion for music, especially hip-hop, began to surface. He realized, that when he was having difficulty deciding on a degree and being confused with what he wanted in life, he would continuously fall back on music. This discovery came during weeks of getting up early to train for speed-skating in the morning, but still staying up until 4 trying to perfect a song. Dylan took this as a sign that he wanted to focus on music and hasn’t looked back. While he did finish his degree in communications and culture with a minor in art, he has completely immersed himself in a musical career ever since.

To label King Dylan’s style of music, even he has a difficult time defining a genre. The best way to describe him would be hip-hop/pop, but there are many influences in his music. While he will always be an underground hip-hop fan, he also listens to artists such as Tech N9ne, B.O.B, Breaking Benjamin, Adele, Katy Perry, and Bruno Mars – a bit of everything! Combining genres like hip-hop, rock, and pop give him a unique sound that fans of all different genres have come to enjoy. One of his most well-known songs called Sing, Sing, Sing was one of his first songs that explored the boundaries of King Dylan’s original hip-hop style. It was a step outside of the box, and after it turned out to be a huge hit with his fans, he has continued in this direction, creating his music using his love of different genres.

Combined with a solid knack for writing catchy tunes, King Dylan has kept himself busy performing live shows all over town. In an ever-growing hip-hop scene in Calgary, King Dylan continues to stand out as a “must-see” performer. Watching him on stage, you can certainly tell he loves being up there. Dancing his heart out, getting the audience to jump around with him, kicking the air and wiggling his hips are just some of the highlights you might witness while out for a night with King Dylan. He explains: “I think it’s healthy to make fun of yourself. You can’t be serious all the time. Even if people think I look like an idiot on stage, I try not to get sensitive about things like that.” Once the music starts, he just has to dance!
Dinosaurs on Broadway

His new album, to be release in March, is titled: Dinosaurs on Broadway – an interesting title with a lot of meaning behind it. He explains that the album is about getting older (like a dinosaur), and about being in places he shouldn’t be and causing trouble, yet still putting on an incredibly entertaining show, like dinosaurs on Broadway! The album reflects what King Dylan wants to be doing at this point in his career. It’s a step up from his previous album Disheartened and is sure to have some surprises! It will include a single titled Entertainers; a song with almost a “chorus line” feel to it which will have a music video to accompany it. The re-occurring theme of “dinosaurs” has actually been a point of creativity for Dylan. When asked about it, it turns out his first rap song he ever wrote was about dinosaurs, and he also has found that dinosaurs helped open him up to visual art. So we could say that if it wasn’t for dinosaurs, King Dylan may not be here to perform for us today.
Looking Forward and Upcoming Shows

King Dylan has big plans for the next couple of years. Following the release of Dinosaurs on Broadway, he plans to tour across the country in the summer months and hopes to make it onto the lineup for the North by Northeast Festival in Toronto. While in Calgary, he wants to continue collaborating on new music endeavors with artists of diverse genres, to help bring something different to audiences that normally wouldn’t branch out of a specific genre. Keeping these goals in mind, King Dylan’s determination to stay true to himself is a sure fire way to the top. His advice to young musicians: “save your money, do it properly, and follow your heart. Don’t do anything half ass, and make sure you lo - Indie 403

...Recorded in his basement, All Eyes On D is a coming of age album. It's cocky and all tracks are full focused on King D demanding his place in the spotlight.
While some ghetto-based rappers set a tone of misogyny, homophobia and violence, King D focuses on his own set of values. He disses drugs, suck-the-life-out-of-you relationships, back-stabbing friends, impatient people and popular trends. Yeah, his popping lyrics, tight lines and fast verses would probably receive parental approval. While a lot of (local) rappers are still old school, taking a drum machine, a little bass and a lot of funky yelling, King Dylan has developed a signature style with soulful, catchy melodies. "I define my rap with energy, with flow" ... - St.Albert Gazette

D.C. Show
Smacked by Popular Demand
By Thomas Quinlan - May 2006

When rappers Buttnz and Mossberg and rapper-producer King Dylan are being clever and creative, they succeed with flying colours. Dylan’s production is crisp, clean and professional-sounding — the type of beats likely to get them radio play. Unfortunately, the music can be a little generic at times. The trio of MCs handle themselves well with only a few rough spots here and there. But again, a little bit of an Eminem sound tends to creep in at times, especially with “Coming Down,” which sounds like it could have been an outtake track from 8 Mile. The D.C. Show tend towards concepts, but only about a half-dozen work well: “Sunday Morning,” a perfect song for lazy Sunday listening; “Fight,” a raucous threat of physical violence through verbal braggadocio; “Gone Camping,” a creepy slasher song gone wrong; “No Gold Teeth,” a look at artistic poverty; “Robot Wars,” a funny little back-and-forth that demonstrates the trio's ability to work together while razzing each other; and finally, “Sacks of Rice,” a short play on words that too quickly turns into the boring “Sacrifice.” Smacked By Popular Demand would have been much tighter at half the length, but still has plenty to offer for an enjoyable listen. (Primer) - Exclaim magazine

"We're back with a vengeance," says King Dylan, MC for the Alberta-based outfit The D.C. Show, "but no one really cares." That's the price you pay for being an indie hip hop act.
Think back to the turn of the millenium. When everyone was knee-deep in Y2K panic, three MC's from St.Albert started poking fun at it. Christening themselves The Doomsday Cartel (aka The D.C. Show), King Dylan, Buttnz and MC Mossberg started throwing down on their own label, Piece Out Records.
For Dylan, the story goes back further, to the late '80s, when his older brother turned him onto hip hop. A love of classic West Coast sounds and a need to create made him step to the mic.
"I have always been a fan of either writing stories or music in some way... and since I'm not that great of a singer, I thought rap was perfect," he says. "I used to take piano lessons and i decided that I didn't like jacking other peopl's beats, so i started making my own."
The rest of his crew still kicks it in St.Albert, but Dylan moved to Calgary a few years back to attend university. That isn't all that has changed in the six-year history of the D.C. Show. Dylan perfected his rhymes, honed his production skills and released a solo album in late 2005. On the larger scale, hip hop has become the mainstream, a rap scene has developed in Alberta and a guy named Eminem rose to the top only to release an album (Encore) that left Hip Hop heads uniformly unimpressed.
All of this fules the material on The D.C. Show's debut disc, Smacked By Popular Demand. With ominous keyboard lines and three-MC assault, The D.C. Show is trying to get people on their feet and then get them thinking about how they got there.
"I think a lot of people are misguided by what they hear on TV and radio," sayd Dylan, adding thug life has been blown out of proportion and now gangsta rappers everywhere are smacking bitches and livin' hard.
"What frustrates me is that those are the only kinds (of rap) that are getting attention and... being signed by record labels," says Dylan. "It's like overkill. They are playing it out as much as they can and milking whatever they can out of people who think they want to hear about how many rims you have."
That said, The D.C. Show isn't just issue-oriented. Jams like "Too Young" and "Stand" clearly have something to say, but when Dylan takes the piss out of hip hop by calling their own cred into question because they have "No Gold Teeth," it's clear The D.C. Show doesn't take itself too seriously.
"That's why we kept the names - Doomsday Cartel and D.C. Show - because there is like two sides to the music. Doomsday Cartel is more serious and D.C. Show is the energetic fun side." - FFWD Weekly - Jason Lewis

King Dylan never made a secret of his ambitions to become a high-flying rap pro. Some tag the rapper's style and lyrics as confident, others brand him as cocky.
But the Paul Kane High School graduate's super cool self-assurance has gone a long way in his refusal to accept any defeat in the cutthroat music industry. In fact, King Dylan (aka Dylan Roberts) has taken steps to increase his stock in the industry by pairing up with GQ, a hard-driving musician, to form the Calgary-based Piece Out Records.
GQ (Graham Furber) also spent time at Paul Kane until Grade 10 before moving to Grande Prairie and adopting the distinct rap moniker.
The newly minted producers are introducing their partnership to the local music scene with a label launch on Sept. 22nd at Bar Wild in Edmonton.
In addition to GQ and King Dylan, other brash urban rappers adding their own flavour to the mix include St.Albert's own Buttnz and MC Mossberg as well as Calgary rapper Smixx.
The evening is further spiced up with four one-of-a-kind rapper/hip hop artists combining their controversial talents as The Fantastic Tour. From the environs of Cow Town, the special guest rappers are Ricca Razor Sharp, Mantrakid, The EquAzn and DJ Jetleg.
"They're energetic. Their songs are appealing and they're easy to dance to."
Under the new label, the two novice producers have already recorded Afterlife, a 17-track album of their own original raps planned for release the first week of October.
"We are starting out with our music, including all the guys in the group. We eventually plan to have a few different acts," explained King Dylan.
This is not the first time King Dylan has recorded projects with school friends. In May 2006 the three underground collaborators released (The D.C. Show) Smacked By Popular Demand, a two-year recording project with fellow rappers MC Mossberg (Joe Mosier) and Buttnz (Oren Zacharias).
In realistic suburban street-speak, the rappers articulated social, the rappers articulated social, political and human issues that might not otherwise have been expressed.
"This new album has more of a rock feel. Graham plays guitar and all the songs have some as well as my rapper."
For my more information visit www.pieceoutrecords.com - St.Albert Gazette - Anna Borowiecki