Two years after the success of Little PrinceRymz returns to the charge with One more day in paradise, a new album which he presents as the most “accessible” of his discography, co-produced by old accomplice Farfadet and KNY Factory of the duo Banx & Ranx. In interview with The dutythe rapper tells us about the perils of overwork, his “fox life”, his old “wrecking room” and the “little guy’s dream” he finally realized: giving a concert at the Expo farm in Saint-Hyacinthe.
“It’s the biggest event in town,” says Rymz. My parents were separated for a long time, but when they got back together, they moved near the place where the Agricultural Expo is held. The streets are invaded, all the surrounding villages participate, it is also where the young people hang out in the summer, two weeks to feel loose. The whole town is there — it’s sure that if you show up at the Expo, you’ll meet your ex there! »
On July 30, after the cow milking initiation workshop and the tractor pulling competition, the child prodigy from Saint-Hyacinthe, one of the most popular MCs on the Quebec rap scene, finally on the big stage of the Agricultural Expo to make his fans sing. We also hear them on the chorus of the extract Hometownon which Rymz proudly claims its Monteregian origins.
“They had not even contacted me, it was I who called them, admits the rapper. I told them: “Hey, I’d really like to play at the Agricultural Expo, it’s a little guy’s dream and what’s more, I would take the opportunity to shoot my music video”, and they accepted. » The rhythm of Hometown is signed Farfadet, another worthy representative of the “STH” hip-hop scene, like the rapper Rymz, who has lived in Montreal for fifteen years. “I recorded songs with guys from Montreal,” like Imposs, whose gravelly voice embellishes top (Farfadet also appears there), “we are not that different”, even if they grew up in different environments. “Quebec is Quebec, we all live a bit the same things. We end up meeting somewhere. »
In the irrepressible need to go to the end of his dreams and his full potential, for example. This is the “fox life”, the Generation VDRtitle of the collaborative rap-rock project with singer D4vid Lee launched during the last Francos, or the VDR Lifeas he calls the song that closes his new album and on which he pays homage to “the original fox”, Karim Ouellet: “La VDR, it’s trickery, he explains. It’s managing to pull out of the game, even if you’re not the richest, nor the strongest, nor the best placed in life. It’s succeeding in taking a step back to better position yourself, it’s using the cards in your deck to win the game. »
A life of hope, what, message that Rymz launches since its beginnings and which acts as a beacon in the greyness of the situations which it describes in its texts. Rymz has, for 15 years, the serious tone, the painful words, and still on One more day in paradiseeven on more pop songs.
“It was the challenge I set myself for this album, to go elsewhere, musically”, without betraying the tone, the personality built over the albums. “I’ve written tons of harder, deeper songs from it, but I’ve put them aside to instead deliver a more ‘presentable’ album, so to speak, a first for me,” he says. thanking his friend Yannick Rastogi, alias KNY Factory, who wrote the music for his success Adam and Evetaken fromLittle Prince. “It’s one of the songs that had worked the best. Yannick, he does pop in life; I said to him: “You have to bring your touch to my universe.” It gave a more accessible album. »
Artist AND educator
At the start of the album, the song hedonist is undoubtedly the most pop that Rymz has recorded: “I told you from the start, I’m only a hedonist / I chose the life of an artist, you can call me selfish”, he hums in this chorus that does not say everything about Rymz’s life as an artist, who has not drawn a line under his profession as a specialist educator for young people in difficulty.
“Artist and educator, one does not prevent the other and in fact, at home, one cannot live without the other, assures Rymz. And I realize it even more today: I have plenty of fellow educators who are having depressions and burnout these days. I tell them: “Listen, you don’t take enough care of yourself, of the only life you have, you burn yourself out at work, it doesn’t help anyone.” You have to find the balance. And I explain that to young people: it’s possible to live your life being well, not just living for work, or for someone else. »
“So, yes, I lead the life of an artist, but not like in the clichés. I don’t work full time [comme éducateur], but I go back to work regularly and I still keep my madness, my freedom, my youthful side, things that I rarely recognize with my colleagues. That, for me, is freedom. Living like a hedonist, but keeping his feet on the ground by being around young people who need his help, and him the inspiration they give him to write songs like The birds alone, from the new album. “Before, I worked with children; today, I work with teenagers. I find it more poignant, they live with problems that come to me emotionally. »
The album launched, Rymz is planning a tour next spring, with a stopover in Europe, accompanied on stage by his friend D4vid Lee, who can be heard on the song. I slip. “He was my roommate for four great years — we had a pretty special apartment with a demolition room in the basement and equipment for making music. » A demolition room? “Yeah, we were picking up stuff we found on the street — old TVs, toaster — and we used to break them down in the basement, we also had axes and throwing knives. We also jammed, that’s how we got into music. That’s what I like about D4vid, our musical freedom — and he’s a real hedonist too, the guy who follows me in my nonsense, and vice versa. We are like kids! »