After a stint with Duck Down Music, working with Drake early in his career and helping No Malice craft the soundtrack for his End of Malice film, Promise has had his fair share of experiences in the rap world.
He worked with the fellow Toronto rapper when they both appeared on Degrassi in the early 2000s. He recalls knowing the teenager who played Jimmy Brooks, who last week released his fourth studio album, VIEWS, would be a star.
“I always knew he’d be successful because he’s good and he had all the right things together,” Promise says in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “He had a following. He had money of his own. He had a fanbase because he was already a teen star and stuff like that. But I didn’t know he’d be the number one artist in the world. I didn’t know it would be like that or happen so fast.”
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Instead of trying to compete for the title of 6 God or chasing his own platinum record, Promise has found a home with Good Fruit Co., an independent label that announced his signing in March. The company was founded to represent Asian-American artists, but Promise has fit right in as he finds the group’s authenticity more important than cultural barriers or dollar amounts.
“I’ve been on big stuff before,” he says. “I’ve been in studio with gold recording artists and stuff like that, and that’s fun and that’s cool and that looks nice on Instagram and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, these guys to me, we haven’t even known each other for a full year yet, and yet we’re like family. It just feels good.”
Promise reached out to one of the label’s artists, J Han, on Instagram after seeing one of his music videos and appreciating his energy. The two connected and then J Han invited Promise on tour.
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“I had the best time with them,” he says. “It was amazing. I was just blown away at their work ethic. So we built our relationship and our friendship over that two weeks and it just felt like we’ve always been working together, we’ve always been together and from that sprung the idea of making it official and moving forward doing some official projects.”
His first project on Good Fruit is the Tellavision EP, a five-track project that has a dual meaning.
“It’s based on television and media, the mainstream media and the stories they’re trying to tell and they’re trying to implement their ways into the youth,” he says. “So I wanted to depict that all in the picture of the front where there’s a baby and the baby’s face is basically a television. Also, it’s spelled ‘Tell-A-Vision,’ meaning sharing your story. It’s also based on that. That’s kind of a general call out to people to share their own stories, share their testimonies, also what I do in my music, I’m very big on storytelling, not purposefully, it just seems to be something that I do a lot.”
Tellavision marks a new chapter for Promise’s sound. He seeks to blend his songwriting, which is actually his primary job, with his raps. The song “Cliches and Trends” stands out to the Toronto rapper as the best on the EP for its powerful meaning and blend of sounds. While encouraging listeners to live in their purpose without blindly following popular culture, he offers a challenge to the current music industry with the lyric, “We are alive, but are we awake?”
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“There’s a certain type of music that’s like drug music,” he says, referring to artists such as Young Thug and Future. “You don’t even understand it unless you are intoxicated. Those people who are in that trance are like zombies. Are you alive or are you awake? Do you even know what this song is saying? Are you listening to the lyrics?… Yeah we’re breathing, but are we really alive and awake to what’s going on? Do we see what’s going on? Do you hear what you’re listening to, what you’re feeding yourself? What you’re feeding your kids? Do you understand what’s happening?… It’s just a feeling. It’s just a ‘Oh yeah, I love this.’ But you don’t know what they’re saying. And if you really knew what they were saying, would you still like it?”
Seeing the success of this type of music gives Good Fruit’s newest signee a sense of purpose in trying to bring an alternative for people to listen to. Part of the way he is bringing something new to the industry is by furthering the duality of the EP’s title with what Promise names as his favorite song, “Why Don’t You.”
“It’s so different than anything I’ve ever done or anything that anyone would expect from Promise, so that’s one reason I like it,” he says of the track. “It’s so different, the style of beat, the fact that I’m pretty much singing the whole song then I come and rap a little bit in the end, it sounds so aggressive, but it’s really not an aggressive song in nature. It’s a love song. So it’s not, ‘I’m mad at you.’ It’s, ‘I’m hurting. Why don’t you let me just love you?’ It’s a pain and joy in the same.”
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This song is a moment for Promise to give listeners a glimpse into his faith. The love does not only apply to human relationships (he is a father of three), but it is a reflection of how he sees God’s love for people.
“People like to paint Jesus is their homeboy or he’s a meek carpenter who just loves me all the time and is only gonna talk nice to me,” he says. “But if you’re a parent or if you know parenting, you know that you can be hurt and upset with somebody, but totally love them and lay down your life for them.”
Promise Works With No Malice And Duck Down
To help with Tellavision‘s theme of sharing personal stories, No Malice appears on “Who You Are.” Promise worked on Movin’ Weight, the soundtrack for the former Clipse rapper’s End of Malice documentary. Promise says that writing with No Malice and hearing his testimony helped him broaden his vision of the music industry.
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“I can only imagine, when you’re at that level, he’s a platinum recording artist, was signed to Pharrell’s label with his brother Pusha T, at the top of Hip Hop pretty much,” he says, “I’m kinda like on a low level and I can see certain things in the industry that are like, ‘Whoa, that is bad. That’s dark.’ So I can only imagine when you get so popular and so far and so deep into the industry, the demons that attack you with that level of influence that they had. So I got to hear all of that, all his testimony and everything, that was cool. That kinda helped the writing process and forming more ideas for the soundtrack.”
Another soundtrack that was an important moment in Promise’s career was when he was featured on was NBA 2K11 with members of Duck Down Music. His one-album contract with the label and experience touring gave him a sense of legitimacy.
“It was cool and it really helped bring authenticity to my brand and my career and just kind of give me that Hip Hop stamp,” Promise explains. “That, ok, not only does he rap, he’s a real Hip Hop artist.”
He has fond memories of the late Sean Price, especially since they both went by the nickname “P.” One recollection that Promise holds dear is when Price stormed into his hotel room because he was so excited the new artist was joining them on tour.
“He’s like, ‘Yo, P, you didn’t tell me you were gonna be here,’” Promise says Price told him. “In my mind I was like, ‘Am I supposed to text everybody and let them know?’ I don’t know, if you looked at the flier, my name’s there. It felt good ‘cause it was like he’s acknowledging me and our friendship.”
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Later on, the legend gave him a rare public co-sign that was captured on video.
“He was like, ‘I don’t really endorse dudes too much, but this dude right here, my man Promise,’ he was just talking about the music and the performance and how he liked it or whatever,” the rapper says. “That was cool that was heartfelt. I’ve gotten quotes from people before, but not a lot of in person endorsements like that. That wasn’t even asked of him. He just did that.”
Promise says that Price’s harsh public persona is not what he was like in real life. He cherishes remembering him as a family man.
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“He loved his daughter. He loved his wife,” Promise recalls. “Stuff like that you don’t know because his rap character is very abrasive. But behind the records, he was a great guy, a funny guy, a gentle guy. As manly as he was, he had a side that was nice and not so rough. For those who know that side, they know that, but a lot of fans don’t know that. He was a genuine guy. He grew up in a rough place so that affects how you live or how you are, but he was a good guy.”
In a similar way, Promise emphasizes that even though he enjoys music and writing, he puts his family and faith first. His musical journey has brought him many places and it will continue to do so as Good Fruit is planning a tour to Korea and Japan. Through it all, Promise says that he has learned to live in the moment and enjoy each chapter.
“These are just stepping stones, I make sure that everybody always knows that,” he says. “Anybody that I’ve worked with or that I’m working with now, it’s either, if I’m not here forever, I don’t know. I don’t know what God has in store for me for next year even. I might be with somebody else. I might be doing a third project with Good Fruit. I don’t know yet. But right now I’m trying to do things one at a time and just give it my all each time and see where God takes it.”
