After almost a year of being off the radar Toronto rapper Mez Mariyé has broken free from the shackles of his own mind to release a liberating new visual. Cultivating his creative vision with the help of director Jason Baskey, Mez introduces “Money, Art, Zen” as a part of a fierce comeback.
Pay careful attention and you’ll notice that his city is in spring, figuratively and creatively speaking. With that come the budding of new artists and the blossoming of others almost every day. Dealing with this type of forever growing garden of talent and competition in his hometown, Mariyé began losing sight of why he began making music in the first place.
“Over the past couple months I’ve been doubting myself a lot and I know artists go through these phases where [they have] writer’s block or whatever it is, but in my case it was just a lack of motivation to really just drop material.”
Following a pep talk with his mentor Norm Sabourin, encouragement from the people he started with and experimenting with other creative practices like photography, Mariyé’s perspective took a dramatic shift, dissolving his doubt and re-charging his drive.
“Mentally I’m in a peaceful space, I’m blocking out all that extra noise and just sticking to my guns. That’s what “Money, Art, Zen” is really tapping into.”
“Mentally I’m in a peaceful space, I’m blocking out all that extra noise and just sticking to my guns. That’s what “Money, Art, Zen” is really tapping into – stress free, getting to it, being confident in myself and being confident in my team.”
The visuals feature Mariyé in different parts of his hometown from the Scarborough Bluffs to the downtown core and speak to his reflection of where he was to where he is now.
The rapper pays homage to the members of his camp, the DSTND collective, who helped him get past his obstacles, by incorporating the appearances of Andrea Cano, who shot the video and Giah Fray, his friend since grade nine.
The video is a testament of his gradual growth as an artist, and though he admits it’s not the strongest song out there, it came from a real place and it’s only a taste of the material he’s gearing up to release in the coming month.
Photo Courtesy of Andrea Cano via Mez Mariyé
Comments are closed.