KILLY

Killy achieved fast fame with the singsongy, devil-may-care track "Killamonjaro" (2017), a platinum hit in his native Canada. Rather remarkably, Killy had started rapping only two years before its release, and he has since built on that success with the charting albums Surrender Your Soul (2018) and Light Path 8 (2019), along with a handful of Juno Award nominations and additional gold and platinum singles. Khalil "Killy" Tatem fell for hip-hop while attending secondary school in his native Toronto. He started rapping in 2015 and within a year, he'd uploaded his first tracks, the most popular of which proved to be "Señorita." Independent progress on SoundCloud led to a major distribution deal for Killy's Secret Sound Club label. The Gray Jacques-produced "Killamonjaro," the first single released through the arrangement, propelled the rapper to commercial stardom in 2017 and was eventually certified platinum in Canada. The next March, following a slew of anticipation-building singles highlighted by the gold-certified 100 Tones collaboration "Distance," Killy offered Surrender Your Soul, which peaked on the Canadian albums chart at number 18 and spawned another platinum hit, "No Sad No Bad." The Killstreak EP was out only six months later and yielded the gold "Anti Everybody." Killy was then up for Juno Awards in three categories: Rap Recording of the Year (for Surrender Your Soul), Breakthrough Artist of the Year, and Fan Choice Award. He returned in June 2019, merely three months after the Juno ceremony, with Light Path 8. Distributed by Epic instead of Universal, the rapper's second album boasted a more diverse cast of producers ranging from Jam City to Scott Storch, and landed at number 24. Supplemental singles such as "Vendetta," "VV's," "Sailor Moon," and "Oh No" were issued well into 2020. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi