Junk reminds you that every story has Two Sides in his hard-hitting new single featuring Caskey — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
For his latest undeniable single, the Vancouver battle-rap champion enlists the help of the Florida native and Cash Money rhyme slinger to help deliver a pointed, potent ode to maintaining perspective, making your own decisions and staying true to yourself amid the challenges of life:
“To every story there’s two sides
You can choose the one that you like
But that will not mean that you right
The things that you see make you lose sight.”
Interestingly enough, when it came time for Junk to find a guest for his latest cut, the choice was obvious. “I was getting tattooed in Kelowna, B.C. at Dynamic studios by my guy Ryan “Newz” Scarpino, for his new web series where he tattoos artists and asks them questions about their careers,” Junk says. “One of the questions ending up being: Who would I love to make music with? My answer was with Caskey, and how I had been a really big fan since his super early days. A week later or so Newz called me and said he had a studio session booked for Caskey and I in his home state of Florida. It manifested itself, really. Insane how the universe works. Sometimes you have to speak things into existence.
“Two Sides basically wrote itself — when I pulled up to the studio I had the melody for the hook in my head and just penned the rest of it down,” Junk continues. “In the last couple of years I have really turned my life around with going sober and focusing on my higher self, mind and body. I think Caskey has been in a similar situation over the last few years, so the concept of every story having two sides spawned naturally out of it. It also touches on the fact that people may talk about you in certain ways due to their own perspective, but that isn’t always the right one, there are two sides to every story. Don’t just base your perception of one person off of stories you hear from others.”
Junk has had plenty of time to learn his lessons from life. He started off his career at the age of 14, hosting weekly hip-hop nights at bars and clubs — and winning every local rap competition he entered, ultimately becoming the undisputed freestyle-rap battle champion of Vancouver. In 2011 he won the MTV-hosted End Of The Weak national freestyle competition in Toronto, which secured him a spot to represent Canada in the Paris event, where he placed third in the world. In the same year, he co-created the Vancouver cult rap duo Northwest Division with rapper Hungry. The albums they made garnered a great deal of attention, and earned them opening slots for some of rap’s biggest names: Jack Harlow, Method Man, Redman, Yelawolf, Machine Gun Kelly, Chef Raekwon, Action Bronson, Mobb Deep, Hopsin, Talib Kweli, Hilltop Hoods and Ghostface Killah.
In 2016 Junk signed to underground rap legend Snak The Ripper’s label Stealth Bomb, and released his first solo album I Am No One — which landed in the top 40 on iTunes Canada’s rap charts. He followed up with 2017’s Stupid & Ugly, which has been streamed more than 10 million times. In 2019 Junk and Stealth Bomb labelmate Young Stitch joined forces for the album Lions Eat Goats, which hit No. 1 on the iTunes Canada rap chart, bumping out Eminem. He was also nominated for WCMA’s Breakout Artist of The Year and Best Breakout Artist at the OWL awards. In 2022 he released his album Wake Me Up When It’s Over, nudging Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers from second place to to third for 48 hours.
Check out Two Sides above, hear more from Junk below, and find him at his website, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
