Pimpton displays his driving ambition on his low-riding, slow-rolling new single Moonroof — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
At first listen, the motormouthed Regina rapper’s latest single sounds like nothing more than a seductive invitation to a cozy nighttime drive. Look no further than that slick come-on of a chorus:
“Open up the moon roof
Let ya hair down baby, we gon’ fade away
We connect like a Bluetooth
Live from the belly of the beast, but in God we pray.”
Pretty romantic imagery, right? But it’s just the shared victory lap for verses in which Pimpton (real name: Kyriel Roberts) boasts eloquently about the perseverance that put him in that car in the first place. Dropping rapid-fire references to everything from Givenchy to The Fantastic Four, he toasts his own greatness in perfect counterpoint to the lulling cruise control of the music.
This stealthily jam-packed jam is the spotlight single from Pimpton’s latest album P.T. & Kholebeatz — his closest collaboration yet with his musical “pen pal” of the last 13 years, Oslo producer Kholebeatz. As album projects go, it’s one of those rare cases in which a contract dispute was good for music. Last year, Pimpton had been hard at work on what was to be his next release, KCMKV3, when some guest artists he had planned to feature got signed to a major label, necessitating a renegotiation of publishing. While that protracted process was working itself out, Pimpton reached out to Kholebeatz and proposed a stopgap: A collaboration on which Kholebeatz would produce every song, while Pimpton wrote, arranged, recorded and mixed.
Kholebeatz conscripted some of his own trusted collaborators to take part, Pimpton enlisted everyone from childhood friends to his touring DJ, and voilà! Eight new tracks dripping with self-belief directed both inward and outward. “Ultimately, the album speaks to the Sisyphean journey all artists must endure on the rise to prominence,” Pimpton says. The message? “Keep going.”
It’s a philosophy that’s been good to the Saskatchewan rapper since he arrived from Trinidad & Tobago and set about combining his Caribbean culture with the contemporary hip-hop stylings of his adopted country. He’s since sold more than 20,000 copies of his previous six independently released albums. Just under four years ago, he wrote and directed Tunnelz, the first visual album by a Saskatchewan artist, which earned him a nomination for Video Director of the Year at the 2021 Western Canadian Music Awards.
Pimpton has performed over 500 shows across North America, including major festivals like SXSW, JunoFEST, BreakOut West, Aftershock Festival, The Cannabis Cup and Canadian Music Week. He’s shared the stage with a host of recognized acts, including Wu-Tang Clan, Young Jeezy, Bone Thugz N Harmony, Xzibit and Warren G. In September 2019, he supported Dizzy Wright and Madchild on a 25-date cross-Canada tour.
This May, Pimpton heads to Rotterdam to showcase at New Skool Rules, the largest urban-music conference and festival in Europe. And since this is his first trip to Europe, he’s also booked a show in Oslo, so he can finally meet Kholebeatz face to face. For all they’ve shared and worked on, they’ve never been in the same room.
Check out Moonroof above, see Pimpton’s tour dates and listen to P.T. & Kholebeatz below, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Pimpton Tour Dates
April 18 | Bulldog Event Center, Winnipeg
April 20 | Exchange, Regina
April 21 | Penrose YXE, Saskatoon
May 15 | Barrio’s, Milan, Italy
May 17 | Palestra Lupo, Catania, Sicily
May 18 | Medusa, Siracusa, Sicily
May 19 | Theme De Yo-Yo, Santa Teresa, Sicily
May 20 | Il Pallone, Bologna, Italy
May 22 | Veedel Club, Cologne, Germany
May 23 | Na Nang Club, Vienna, Austria
May 25 | TBA, Freiburg, Germany
May 31-June 2 | New Skool Rules, Rotterdam, Netherlands
June 7 | Storgata 26, Oslo, Norway
