EP. 102 |🍦 Dan Boniferro from Laylow Brewery🍦

In this episode, Adriel sits down with Dan Boniferro, the innovative mind behind Laylow Brewery. Join us as Dan shares the fascinating journey of Laylow, from its humble beginnings to becoming a staple in the Toronto beer community.

He discusses the inspiration behind their unique beer flavours and the challenges of running a successful brewery.

Dan shares his top five rappers of all time, giving listeners a peek into the music that shapes his creative and entrepreneurial spirit.



You can support Laylow Brewery by donating to their GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/always-laylow

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Old man. Hey everyone, thisis Yo. It's your boy, Funky,
the coolest teen rapper online. What'sup? It's me Alfie. You're
listening to the Cool Table with alistening to You're listening to the Cool Table.
You're listening to the Cool Table.And I'm not sure if you know
this, but right now you're inthe cut with my man Adril Smile.

(00:21):
Good morning, good afternoon, goodevening, and good night. Welcome to
the Cool Table. My name isAdri Smiley Akaadrilsmile dot com aka Adril Smiley
Official aka the Godfather. Now,if you want to hear the radio show,
you can hear us every Wednesday ateleven am Eastern twelve am twelve eighty

(00:41):
am in Toronto met Radio dot Ca. Now in the cut, we challenge
our guests to finish some of icecream before the end of the conversation.
Joining us for the first time,a living legend, Dan from Lelo brought
up don't I don't like you laughinglegend? I mean I don't like you
laughing at living like nice. Thankyou for having me appreciate you, appreciation

(01:04):
to be at the Cool Table.Finally, all of our ice cream for
season three is brought to us byEva's Chimneys. Can you tell us about
the flavor that you chose and whatdo you think your chances are of getting
this ice cream? I, bythe way, finished, So I thought
about this for a while. Ioverthought this a bit. Well, okay,
so I don't know how I'm gonnado, but I like apple pie

(01:27):
and ice cream together. I thoughtabout the brownie and I didn't want to
like, I didn't want to likefall over here at this podcast. So
I think that I'm trying to goless sugar, but I know there's gonna
be sugar in this. But we'regonna see apple pie is like my go
to at Thanksgiving, So it's afamily it's a family show, so let's

(01:51):
do this. Yeah, apple pieI think is probably one of the best
pairings with ice cream in general.Yeah, Like, I think you could
do a part rankings of things yougo with ice cream. Pie is near
the top. It's pretty. Andalso, someone put me on a slice
of cheese on apple pie with theice cream. I know that sounds crazy,
but they'll knock it until you tryit. I'm not jacking that.
That's what I said. A sliceof cheese. It was like, I'm

(02:14):
not doing it, and I waslike, can it be any cheese?
I guess, so can I startgo go, go for it a slice
of cheese. I'm definitely trying that. What's the next family food event coming
up? Family food holiday? What'snext? Well, I guess it's summertime
now, so fourth of July CanadaDay, Canada Day. When we get

(02:38):
that really good? You know whatI'm going I'm going away for a conference
in a couple of weeks. I'massuming some event there will have cheesecake,
and so I'll ask for it.They'll have cheese and charcouterie at all.
I'm just saying it is. It'sone of those things you know, you
don't really realize it works until youand it was amazing. I don't know,

(03:01):
hot apple pie. You literally likethin slice of cheddar, just like
let it melt on top. It'scrazy, that's kind of nuts, but
I I'm sure, I'm sure it'sgreat. I didn't invent it. I'm
just saying I trying to. Itchanged me. I was like, okay,
I'm giving you the credit. Thisis actually really good. I don't
know if I'll finished it. Idon't eat a lot of ice cream.
But you're making a dent at least. Let's let's go back as far as

(03:27):
we can. Okay, let's gopre pre lay Low. Okay, what
were you What were you doing whenyou have the idea for Laylo? Like
where were you at in life?What were you doing at that time?
In that time, like was Man, it was like almost ten years ago,
Like ten years ago, I wasworking in a brewery. But just

(03:49):
like as a GM I never reallyknew much about the beer world. I
just kind of got hired there becausemore of like my marketing and just kind
of social skills of you know,creating a new space and helping the place
off off the map. But Imet a lot of great people there.
But at the same time in mylife, I was a musician, So

(04:11):
I still am a musician, andI was making music for Man forever,
I mean since I was like sixteen, So I kind of like played a
lot with a few bands and playedsome social like solo gigs, and then
that industry in general is just alwayssomething that was like it supplemented time as
an artist, so you know,that was why there were so many creatives

(04:33):
in the kitchen and the bars andyou know, we're all just doing that
to just you know, it's theeasiest job. Like I got a gig,
can you cover? And that waskind of what we all did.
So everyone in there was always doingsomething cool. But yeah, so I
was just doing that. And thenwhen when I started working there, I
kind of started seeing the idea thata lot of these breweries are a very

(04:57):
cookie cutter. They're all very similar. They all listen to Mumford and Sons
and cool Play. And it startedjust kind of seeing the cliches really strongly,
and the and the clientele, andI was like, man, this
place would be so cool if wecould just play some different music. And

(05:21):
then I met my business partner callingat the same brewery that I worked at,
and we would go to a barafter every night we close up and
the bar across street, which I'llshout out hole in the wall it is
called I Love that bar always goodmusic. I was just like, man,
imagine just playing this like at work, like I know, like it
would literally change the whole space.And then we just started going on that

(05:45):
tip of how much we love hiphop, and then you know, we're
like, man, I imagine,imagine we could just play like infamous,
like front to back at the breweryone night and be like, man,
that would like literally be my,that'd be like my I would do that
once a week. I do mobDeep Mondays. And then it just turned
into this talk of like man,like imagine just like full discographies, imagine
like a theme brewery, like yo, what if there was like a hip

(06:08):
hop brewery? And we're like,shit, that's a really cool idea.
And then just kind of forgot aboutit fizzed off. But then I got
fired, call and quit, youknow, and it just kind of happened
really quickly. I mean, it'sone of those things. It's it's so
cliche, but like you have thesedreams and like these ideas that you don't

(06:29):
really think are possible, but youkind of have to kick start things once
like life gets really real and youhave to kind of center in on like
Yo, what do I actually wantto do with my life? And that
was one of the more important conversationsthat I ever had. I always went
back to that, and I talkedto Colin and I was like, Yo,
what if we like for real dothis, Like I don't know what
your plans are. I got ababy on the way. He was like,

(06:50):
yeah, I'm thinking about getting married, and I was like, well,
what do you what do we thinkwe want to do as bothers?
We want to make a living asif you And he's like, you know,
I am kind of curious of lookingfor a space. I said,
honestly, bro, this is howmuch I got. Let's just start looking.
Literally, after Colin left the brewerywe got the keys. Six months

(07:15):
later we started looking aggressively. Itwas really hard to find something, and
it just kind of snowball from there. But it was all based on an
idea of like what if we justplayed our favorite music. I think the
part where you talked about like yougetting fired and that being like the start
of like you thinking like what amI going to do? Man? Yeah,

(07:38):
I think that's such a like aninflection player of some many people,
like even me starting this radio show, like I went through a breakup and
that was like this is like thenext thing I did right away. Yeah,
And I think about it where Ihad this whole document and folder with
like all these cool table ideas andgraphics that I was kind of sitting on,

(08:00):
you know, like you guys talkedabout it before and then once that
thing happens, You're like, Okay, we're making this happen. So it's
like, what what were the firstI guess ideas that you guys had after
you had a spot, Because tome, that's why will always be Laylo
to me, Like, I don'tknow what they're doing there now. It's
weird. I mean it is weirddriving by, but it's like I'll always

(08:22):
be like, there's Laylo. There'slike some like pixie dust, like every
time I drive by, like shit, we'll smoke, yeah, a little
in the air. Yeah, everythingabout that place was so organic. Man.
We never had a real plan,the real the real idea was selfishly,
let's just make a place for ourhomies, a great place for an
excuse to all of us get together, and more so with our like age

(08:46):
grouping, Like I mean, I'mforty this year, but I mean ten
years ago, I was thirty whenwe were opening. And you know,
it was like we like going out, but we didn't like going out out.
Yeah, so we were always like, we just need like a chill
spot. What could we do tolike, you know, not blast music,
but play like new shit that welike and old stuff, a little
brother and foreign exchange and like justhave like a good vibe. So we

(09:09):
were just starting the space off basicwith just let's just make some playlists.
I'll bring my records in. We'djust listen to good tunes. And then
the flip side was we're gonna introducepeople to like cool Belgian world beers.
Yeah, so like we weren't makingbeer. That was not even a plan.
Wow, we had no idea we'dbe making beer. We just started

(09:30):
with like you know, we goto else be on, like let's get
the coolest shit we can find.Yeah, let's just like introduce our friends
to like dope beer that like exists, and then we would try getting like
you know, anyone we met inthe industry while we worked at those other
breweries. We'd be like, canwe carry your beer, Like, let's
try to carry people actually link upand we actually respect and we want to
work with them. Yeah. Itwasn't until like later, like the space

(09:52):
started to evolve, the room startedto shift, like the paintings, like
the walls started to begin painting painted, and then like we had all of
our friends who you know also likeinvested in the city and like the idea
of what we're doing everyone was onboard with. So I think you guys
had that I guess the energy fromthe beginning of like people buying in and

(10:13):
especially the artwork on the wall,Like I think that was a big part
of like huge. If the vibematches what we're going for a loan set,
it is the tone setter, right, Yeah, like the like Brian
is spared to legends, like justpainting that wall the first wall was like
a oh shit, is this already? This already feels special now? And
you and you you know when youcome in because I think about the times

(10:37):
when I've been to Laylow, it'slike you you head in there and you
were like, Okay, this isnot going to be the regular of what
going now is. And so Iwas there anything that you guys changed at
the beginning, because that's something I'mso curious about because you have this idea,
you had this vision like Okay,we're going to have a place that
plays cool music, put people onsome cool beers. But there's anything change

(11:00):
in that first like year or sowhere you're like, maybe we got to
pivot how we think of it.I mean a lot of the changes were
essentially just like trial and error,so a lot of things would be like,
oh, do we want to dothis theme? Do we want to
try this out? But truthfully,like anything that didn't work we just took
down or like painted over it,or you know, if there was a

(11:20):
something that didn't sell well, orbut the idea, I mean, the
that hip hop community was like whatwe based it on, it never left.
It was like for the dancers,the MC's, the creatives, the
painters, it was like literally likethat was all we really wanted. We
just wanted to be in that ecosystemand make it a place where we could
just talk shop. So that neverchanged. Everything else was just kind of

(11:45):
evolving. It never I just don'tthink we ever really peaked until those last
you know, I say, likenine months where it's like this is this
is actually happening. But it tooka long time. And like anyone else's
trying to start a busines this especiallya restaurant, I mean, it's so
it's so it's strenuous. It's justso hard to like figure out what people

(12:05):
want. But you stay true tothe course and it will work. But
it takes a long time to getto that point, and you just got
to adapt to you know, thecity changes, the people change, things,
sounds change, you know, ifanything, it just it just elevated.

(12:26):
It never I never wiped anything out, but everything just kept elevating.
So like I liked having DJs.Now I want to do builds bills with
DJs. After that it evolved tolike live music. I was like,
you know, I want a jazznight now. And then it became like,
you know, I want to makea shirt for anniversary now. And
then it became a clothing line.Yeah, and then you know, and
then the beer was like we're justwe just wanted to sell cool beer.

(12:50):
Then Colin's like, I think Ican make beer. Yeah that's my naxt
question because you guys call yourself theToronto's smallest brewery. Yeah, I thought
that was so funny. We hada coin that and and the little stove.
Yeah that's it was crazy. Itwas like one hundred liter pot and
I mean it was in the kitchenon the stovetop, and people were like,

(13:11):
you know, most of time,people forgot we even made it.
And then uh yeah, they askedfor tour and we was just jokingly be
like, I mean you pop yourhead in the kitchen and it's just there's
just that's it. It's like,okay, you seeing it, but yeah,
it was it was. It wasdifferent. I mean Colin was brewing
not at where we worked, buthe brewed at home as a homebrewer,
and we knew a lot of peoplein the game, so he was just

(13:33):
really curious to try and uh wewe met this guy, Brandon Judd,
who was a head brewer Aveling Breweryand uh in the East end of Toronto,
and he helped us kind of curateand create this like makeshift kind of
jazzed up homebrew system, like amicro nano brewery almost. So we would
brew one beer we called it onceAgain. It was just a joke,

(13:56):
we've never done it before. Wecall it once Again, which was out
to the tribe, and then itsold out like immediately. It was a
paleol and Colin. I told Colin, like, you know, two days
later, I'm like, yo,those three kegs are gone. He's like
it's been three days and like yeah, but bro, no one wants to
drink anything but our beer. Likeshit, maybe I can make uh two.

(14:16):
So I was like, let's trytoo. I said, we have
six taps and it just each monthyear. Colin was like, I think,
if I plan this out properly,like we could have six beers on
tap all the time, and uhman, that just sparks so much.
And I think that really created atrue identity for the brand because we were
naming beers after like this hip hopnerd them ship like some people had no

(14:39):
idea we were talking about only youknow. And then and then even when
we re released the beers during COVID, we like branded them towards those those
references. So now it even becameeven more nostalgic. And even that alone
was like we were turning non beerdrinkers into beer drinkers just because they had
like a Pharrell reference like Neptu ora day Lost soul sticker, and like,

(15:01):
oh, I'm getting this, Andit was just like, Yo,
this is actually that conversation we hadyears ago. This is now I think
what we were we didn't know wewanted to get here, but this is
actually what we should be doing.I think what ended up happening is it
almost was like a sense of prideof like, Okay, if you love
hip hop, this is where likealmost like that phrase that BT's had this

(15:22):
where hip hop lives, like thisis like that was where it wasn't.
I think about some of the eventsI've had been to there and the convos
I had. It's like I hadsome of the most profound, like hip
hop conversations and it's so good andit's it's funny because in a sense,
they could happen anywhere, like you'resaying, I don't need to be to

(15:45):
have this conversation, absolutely, butthere was just something about the energy that
kind of fostered. They poked ita little bit. You're just like,
man, like, I don't know, does anyone just want to argue about
something right now? Like what albumis better? Like who is your favorite?
MC? Who is the top five? Like that? And I think
it fostered that because I feel likewe're talking about going out. You can't

(16:06):
do that going out. It's toomuch yelling. And why I thought of
that is because especially with my friendsand my cousins, like we're all big
hip hop heads. Yeah, soit's like we might go out to like
I don't know, a club orwherever and dance and once we leave at
twelve thirty one, we're not goingto bed till two thirty because we're arguing,
you guys, good bye, what'sthe best Little Wayne Verse ever?

(16:30):
And so it's like, in asense almost that is like the after party,
you know, like someone else askedparty, like they want to like
hang out and listen to party nextdoor. Like our after party is like
arguing who is the best? Andwe were kind of that conduit, Like
people showed up at Leilo and likeno later than twelve thirty one o'clock and
then we'd be there till three inthe morning, having these arguments and conversations
every night. But I don't know, it's just like every time it did

(16:52):
happen, it just felt like itwas supposed to happen. It felt like
we were really doing something that wasneeded by the culture. Like hip hop
felt alive in that space. Itwas really cool. It's just eventually,
like every artist, even like peopleI idolize and look up to and musicians
that I've always wanted to meet,you know, like it opened so many

(17:14):
doors for me too. And it'sjust crazy. It's so cliche like field
of dreams, like if you buildit, they will come, but it's
actually, actually it actually really happened, like it did it It's work by
itself. All we did was justpush the narrative for ourselves, just like
no, it's beer and hip hopand France is it. It's a whole
point of the spot. And thenI just like Chad would show up and

(17:37):
AND's Wepton would show up, youknow, Benzo like all like the O
G B Boys. I was justlike, what's happening? This is crazy.
Do you have a favorite performer performancethat comes to mind that when you
were like, oh my, I'mlike proud that we did this year?
Like, man, god, therewere so many. One of my favorite

(18:00):
hands down performances was we decided oneyear we were going to celebrate Dilla,
but we were going to do itfor an entire week, So we had
a Dila themed week for for hisanniversary. But the last night was reverse
and they did this like epic twothree hour like Dila Collaboration live. It's

(18:21):
just all instrumentation and the room performed. Oh wow. So everyone's just rap
and singing, throwing out all thelittle like moments and everyone's like bigging up
everybody, and it's so hard toconcentrate in poor drinks because it was just
so it is so magical. Iremember I remember that perfectly. That that's

(18:45):
pretty and it's like that being amoment that we're talking about is like one
of the best moments almost speaks towhat you guys did, because first of
all, like the amount of peoplewho are watching this who are born in
like two thousand and five and Idon't even know who Dila is. No,
I know, you know. Andthen to have it be like a
room full of people who know whoDila is that was so satisfying, Like

(19:07):
just knowing, like I say thisall the time to people, like we
are such a group of like loanersin a sense, like hip hop was
like on some geek shit. Yeah, for so long, like we were
looking for like cassette CDs, likevinyls, new new equipment to spin,
and like you know, everyone's backpackingand it's like we all found each other
in these concerts in these weird basementsand like people just playing beads and I

(19:33):
don't know, it was like youcouldn't find it. I couldn't find it,
like at that point in my life. So it was kind of cool
to just be like, Okay,let's just like let's just build it.
Yeah, And I like a lot. It's like to have that be what
you intended actually coming to pass.Yeah, very very rare, And I
guess people are probably wondering what ifyou guys have been doing since the physical

(19:56):
spot closed down? Like I thinkthat's something that I remember when, like
I I didn't even know that youguys were closing down until like two days
before. So, like, Ithink the last show I went to was
that showcase Burma had with all theDJs. Yep, that was one of
the last like releases. And yeah, I remember I remember like finding out

(20:18):
that week because was on the showand I was so dumbfounded and the people
who were in my life who werelike talking about being upset about it,
I was like, what you knowabout lailo? What you know about hip
hop? And so to see thatthat was kind of the click to me
of like okay, like this isnot just me and you know what I

(20:40):
mean, Like this is clearly affectinga lot of people. So I think
a lot of people want to knowwhat you guys have been up to.
I mean, like directly after Ihit so I had like a wall of
fatigue. I don't I don't knowlike how I got through that last month
because we did. I booked somethingevery day. Yeah, that was a
crazy every day. It was likethirty it was it was well end of

(21:03):
November ish to end of December,so it's about thirty days of programming.
I did not miss a night.I was like, this is my baby.
I am not like, I willnot miss a single night here.
I don't care if like it's Tuesdayand it's like we got a DJ book,
don't give me shit. We're gonnabe here, we're gonna have fun,
we're gonna stay late every night,and we're gonna make sure everyone gets
as much laylo as they can beforeit's gone. But I hit major fatigue

(21:29):
and it slapped me like I gotlike I think I did Christmas Eve with
my family, and the very nextday I was just dead. I could
barely move, you know, likewhen you watch like time lapse of shit
all the time that we have thistime lapse of Christmas morning and the kids
are like, you know, ifyou watch it, they're just gift gift
like moving. I swear to onit. I'm just like on the couch

(21:51):
like this. I don't move thewhole time. And it's one of my
favorite videos I ever I'm just completelygone. I'm just like, oh my
god, dad, all right.But yeah, after after the fatigue and
the rest, we were immediately plannedto brew, so we were we were
poised to essentially get our beer outimmediately. There was always a game plan.

(22:11):
So when we decided we're going toclose, we kind of thought about
that during COVID and then we justkind of prolonged it a little bit more
because we were waiting for the rightprice essentially, and we were we kind
of knew what the building and thespace was worth, so we really wanted
to just stick to our guns onthat. But we also needed to know

(22:33):
that we had enough money to producea mass production of beer and also have
a little left over to do somethingwith it, like in the next regard
with merch collaboration and events. Sowe've brewed. We've brewed our first can
with Aveling Brewery, which is inthe East End. We did a ton

(22:56):
of beer. They're in about sixteenbars in the city right now. We're
still like literally selling. I givethat it sounds good to have to do
that with you too, but thisis a Belgian golden ale. Cheers bro.
Everyone who saw me drink tea inthe club the last few weeks.

(23:19):
This is only for Leilo. Okay, respect Now you're all going to get
me to I can do like abeer float here or something like that.
True, a little little float there. Yeah, but so so yeah,
that was the plan you guys hadbefore and then after it's just brewing,
brew the beer, and then onceit's been all out. Now now you're

(23:40):
going to start seeing the roll outof collaboration with all of the spaces that
are carrying our beer. So nowlike we had we just had an event
at Tapestry in Kensington, we didone at It's okay, we have one
coming up with Little Jerry at theend of the month the Pasina and it's
here. It's just like a lotof outdoor jams. They already carry the

(24:02):
beer. It's more just about anexcuse for the Leilo community to get back
together show love to another venue.So yeah, it's kind of dope.
It's like, you know, foreverwe were kind of showcasing artists and you
know, other events and follow allthese DJs. Now we're kind of just
showcasing the venues and the other theother entrepreneurs who are running their spots,
like we don't want their spots togo away. So's it's kind of it's

(24:26):
kind of fun. It's a differentway of looking at it. But you
know, the beer, the beeris the vessel and it allows us to
do everything else we really want todo. Have you guys talked it all
about another venue, another home?I mean, I I would love to.
I'm sure Colin, my partner,would be skeptic. But I think
what we would like to try todo is open a shop. I think

(24:49):
I think a Laylo shop would makeway more sense financially, and also it
would be we'd be able to basicallyalmost turn into like a food court with
not food, but everyone's vinyl,everyone's artwork, a DJ playing a set
once in a while. There's likea tap room or maybe just a fridge
for to go beers, you know, selling books on hip hop, you

(25:10):
know, photography, just like abit of everything. And I can just
close I don't know my hour,or not be there till three or four
in the morning every night, andI think you can still have the vibe
because I think I think I could, Like people are talking a lot right
now about having a third home.You know, you have you go to
work your actual home, and thepandemic took a lot of people's third home

(25:33):
away real and I think Leila wasa lot of people's third home. And
I'm a big vinyl collector, andwhever I go to play the record,
like, the chance of you havingsome inconspicuous music conversation with someone is extremely
high. Yeah, And it's likethat's almost part of why you go instead
of ordering online. Like when Iwas there last means as you were talking

(25:55):
about our love for Jill Scott,and he would have this whole bit about
how Jill Scott is cooking banana breadwhen he gets home, and it's like,
as silly as that is, likethat's why you you have these third
homes where Okay, we both lovemusic, we both love Jill Scott,
so I can understand why this issomething. Yeah, you know, and
I feel like having a physical spacecreates that because I think it's like this,

(26:18):
You're going to bring up certain thingsin this physical space that you're like,
okay, I know that if you'rein here, yeah, you know,
I can bring up what's your favoriteyou can literally stare them down too.
It's like all right, man,like you know, do you like
this track, you know, knowthis one, and then that's when then
the fun starts. Then it's like, do you mind if I plug in
the OX and now let's see whereyou're really at. It's really fun and

(26:42):
I mean that's that's a great wayto meet somebody man in general, like
just to start a friendship like thatand to have that kind of camaraderie of
being able to be open to otherstyles, to be open to other MC's,
you know, just like to havethat. It's not like we're debating
Mike and Lebron here. It's likewe're debating yeah, like true art.

(27:07):
And it's like it's really fun tojust once you put your guard down and
it becomes like this space of likesafety of just like, actually, you
know what, I really like thismusic too, but I've never felt good
enough to actually say in front ofeverybody or something. You know, it's
like, actually, I RB alot, yeah, and like to tell
you a more about RB. It'sbeen like kind of you know, it

(27:29):
started as hip hop, but theroom became just it became just a music
vessel, right, anything, anyelement of hip hop that was available was
kind of the topic of appreciation andgetting put on like I think because you
guys played like a certain time ofmusic, like those songs you're not hearing
in urban outfitters. No, youknow what I mean. So it's like

(27:51):
you're gonna hear songs that you wouldn'thave heard otherwise for a certain person.
And I got to give you guyssome credit. Okay, personally because I
took someone there. Don't want sayit's a date because we seeing each other
for a while, but I tooksomeone there. We were there for an
event, and she was she wasimpressed. Okay, she liked the she
liked the vibe. We usually payattention to who's in the room and I

(28:12):
and I I said, yeah,I'm super cool. Look how cool Lala
is. I'm super cool. Soyou guys did give me a couple a
couple of points there. I wantto talk about the event we have coming
up because June eighth at Cameron House, our first c MW show. The

(28:33):
Cool Table has not done a liveshow. Well, it's not true.
We did episode two hundred, whichwas more like a live broadcast. This
is a real live interview. Weeven done one of these in four years,
so we're pretty we're pretty excited forthat, but I want to talk
a bit about about day King becauseI think this is like the hidden gem
of this show too, and she'sgoing to be opening up, so I

(28:56):
encourage everyone to show up on timeto catch but please tell us a little
bit about day King. Day Kingis Unfortunately she missed the Laylow boat.
We actually met after Lailo closed.Another beautiful thing about Lailo that I love
is I've always always approached by artists. You know, I'd like to play
a show, or my friend playedthe last week, and how do I

(29:18):
get a gig? She found usbecause we were closing and literally, like
I was telling you like that lastmonth, like we had so much talent
every night it was like almost impossibleif you were an artist in Toronto.
Someone posted our feed, like someoneposted and tagged us and we were in
someone else's feed. So she shereached out and she's like, hey,
like, I know you post alot of artists mind listening to my music?

(29:42):
Of course I heard it, andI mean I tell you all,
like if you like snow Alegra orlike Amy Winehouse, Lauren Hill, they
you want to come listen. Today'sit's one of those like it's wholesome.
It's wholesome good music, and she'sshe's prepping for her EP to be released

(30:04):
on the next coming months, anduh yeah, Like I'm just I'm thrilled
because now we've now between the threeof us, it's already like reminding me
of what Lailo was to me,and like it's nice to know, like
it's this, this kind of mannerof operating still works without my brick and

(30:25):
mortar. So yeah, like I'mhere, this is no like days performing
at IT Day and I are collabbingon a T shirt for her merch for
that show. She's a great painter, so we got a really beautiful tea
coming out for that event. Andyeah, like follower the New Day,
New Day music at New Day andshe got one single out, but the

(30:51):
EP is going to be amazing.And I've actually introduced her the more Lailo
family, so I have people,you know, mastering at the moment.
So it's very excited. Yeah,I think what you said about Laylo family
is something that's going to like bearound without the brick and mortar, Like
that's not going going anywhere. Hersound is like so full I call it
and warm. Yeah, it's verychurch like. There is some church too,

(31:15):
which is really beautiful, very soulful. Thank you. Yeah, it's
dope. I'm really I'm really happythat she we were able to get her
on this this bill because it's uh, it's Canadian Music Week. It's a
big deal. No, it's forone hundred percent a big deal. And
I think one thing that this communitythat you've built is growing is like the

(31:37):
people that you have in it andhow they feel about it. I remember
watching you guys Laylow Doc like abouta year ago, and I remember seeing
like people I knew in the dockand being like words like you know Dan,
you know Dan, and the energythey're talking about it with. It

(31:59):
was like, Hey, this isclearly deeper than just a cool place for
us to hang. And I thinkthat that energy is clearly going past the
actual brick and mortar, but Ithink that that energy is clearly felt in
the stuff that you guys do.So I'm honestly excited for what you had
guys have coming in the future.Yeah, I think that this is like
a like a great time, LikeI obviously been waiting for summer, I

(32:22):
mean really waiting for summer. Likeit's beer drinking season. Music just feels
better this time of year. Youguys stand for good music, like I
feel like, if you like goodmusic, this is a place for you.
Now, I have a couple ofquestions that I'll ask everybody on the
show, and we're going to getto those in a second before we wrap
up. But we have to doa top five. We have to do

(32:42):
a top five. You don't leavethis table without doing a top five.
Okay, of what now, wrestlers, that's not a bad one, that's
not a bad You can't you can'tpick New School though, no, no,
Bobby Lashly. But I I wantto do a top a top five
mcs, I know, talk aboutthat, But I want your personal top

(33:05):
five of course, not who youthink is the best. What's a great
answer. So I'm gonna give someof my favorites. Okay, that'd be
helpful. I like to hear yourperception. Okay, So so my favorites
and these this is in no order. Okay. First one, Big Boy
from Outcasts. Anyone who doesn't knowwhat big Boy from Outcast his solo work

(33:27):
incredible. Just to servet that albumwas great. Yeah, so Big Boyfriend
super slept on he's done work withFantogram. There was a lot of indie
artists, so he's the one Ithink people gotta tap in on, especially
because I think now hip hop hasgrown past the traditional hip hop sound where
people are into other music more thanthey were before. And he does a

(33:50):
great job of blending those. Sohe credits his children actually for that.
That makes a lot of sense.They brought home Fantogram that was like,
what's this? You should you shouldwork with him, and he's like,
that makes sense because yeah, theydo a lot of great stuff together.
Secondly, was Khalifa. That's that'sthat's that's an obvious one, A living
legend for sure. With the onething about I seen him, I think

(34:15):
two or three times live. Theone thing about Whiz is he has way
more hits than people realize. Thefirst time I saw him, I was
with a couple of friends who aren'treally hip hop fans. My friend she
had one tickets on the radio,so she brought us and she was like,
I knew like half the songs.That's crazy, and I don't even
like I know is but I don'tlike no deep catalog. Yeah, so

(34:36):
it's like he's one of those wordslike you think you don't know, and
then you see him live and you'relike, oh, I actually know most
of these songs. Wow. AndLoki a spider. I think it's funny
because yeah, he's not known asa spider, but if you compare him
to what's going on right now him, Yeah, he put it told a
lot of these guys. And thenlast but not LEAs this is someone who

(35:00):
not not a low key rapper atall. J Cole. Yeah. J
Cole is is one of one,one of the best. I still think
that no one can really rap withJ Cole. You can rap maybe as
good as him, but better thanhim. I don't think it's really a
thing. And I'm still listening tomy delete later all the time. So
those are my three. I mean, I love that project. Yeah,

(35:22):
and I've been going back to itcostantly, same since all of the But
yeah, he always he always tome, he always comes out the winner.
Man. No, he he isnot flopped at any point, and
he's one. He's actually one ofthe artists who I think it's gonna age
so good because he'll do it gracefully. Absolutely. When you when you listen

(35:43):
to like I listened to some songsoff kod the other day and like,
these are songs we've basically all forgot. That's one of the most forgotten albums.
And when hard track, this songruns free in my mind no reason,
and it's like you hear those songsand you're like he is saying something
and he is spitting. So yeah, big love to j Cole No,
he's definitely all that stuff made mejust realize he is, Like I like

(36:06):
him more than way more than Kendrickand Drake. Okay, so you're doing
in the top three, Well,you're gonna do five that I'm not the
guests here, so you're gonna dofive. But this is your favorite five
now you think is the best rapper? Yeah, but your favorite five?
My number one from day one hasalways been Black Thought from the Roots.

(36:28):
I mean he just he When Iheard him for the first time very young,
I mean that that just changed mypersonal view of just music in general.
I mean hearing the Roots live withan MC like that who was just
bugging out on any like change orswitch up in the songs. He just
and that was cold like to beginwith. Yeah, now you watch him

(36:52):
on like Jimmy Fallon. I meanhe's literally like a robot, just spitting
out shit like constantly. I've seenvideos of the sets that he does where
he'll rap over like an entire albumdoesn't stop. It's like I just read
his book too, and it's it'sphenomenal. I mean, his life is
crazy. I had somewhat of anidea, but wow, Like, if

(37:12):
anyone has a chance to read thatbook, it's the Upcycled Life. I
think it's called I killed it.I read it in Cuba in like three
days. It's not it's not along read. It's made for people like
myself. And then, uh two, I gotta say I am a I
am a pretty die hard Tribe fan. I can't. It's like so hard

(37:35):
to say fight for Tip, butlike, if I have to, I'll
say Tip just because I just hearinghim even featured on tracks was such a
big deal to me. I reallyloved you Tip as a kid. I
still do and now he's in aheavy into production, but Tip was always
I love unique voices, like anyonethat just stands out from a very vast
style of music, Like if youcan be different, I mean, if

(37:59):
you can just have a something differentto your voice to switch it up.
It separates you from the pack andthere's nobody sounds like Tip. Maybe Magoo,
Yeah that's it, But Tip isI think Tip is one of the
people who I've tried to show myyounger brother he's ten years younger than me,
because I think that if you weren'tthere, it's crazy you're kind of

(38:21):
like, what's so special about him? I know, and I that's something.
He's one of the people that I'mhappy you brought him up because I
think he's one of the people whereit's like, again, if you're not
there, you're kind of being likehe's kind of rapping slow, like he's
not that lyrical, and it's likeit's almost like an undescribable magic he has.
It's just different. Yeah, justdifferent. Then I would have to

(38:45):
say Wu Tang was huge. SoI have to say Meth because Meth was
just a big voice from me andhe was like a fucking superhero too.
Method man for sure. That's likehigh school days for me. I mean,
that's like the pinnacle of like loveand rap, like just anything they

(39:06):
dropped. And then his solo careerwas great. His features are great.
I mean now when he raps,he doesn't even He's claimed he doesn't have
to swear anymore, so now he'sjust dropping just straight gems on everybody.
And again different voice got the rasp. It's kind of like mellow, but
he can just I don't know.I love him and Red. I'm a

(39:27):
big group person, right, like, I love groups. Groups are dead
though I know it's not it's unfortunate, but groups were to me. I
thought groups were the best hip hop, yeah, because it was more concentrated.
Like a lot of these guys,It's like they might not have three
fire verses, but if they gotto do sixteen or back and forth the
back, like to share the track. I mean, I love that shit.

(39:51):
That's why I love Dayla Tribe andBeastie Boys and Far Side like you
know, Slum Village, all thoseguys, A Little Brother, Little Brother
man. I just watched that doc. Unbelievably good. Crazy. Yeah,
they were amazing. So yeah,that's that's three. I probably have to
say, not necessarily any more,what I am excited about this project coming

(40:14):
out, but Common was a verybig deal to me growing up, and
I really like to focus on likethe guys that like really made a true
influence on the way I listened tomusic and how what I looked for because
Common was working with the best producersfirst of all, you know, and
now he's got a project with PeteRock coming out on Friday. Put the

(40:36):
single out, but the whole thing'scoming out. I believe this Friday.
Yeah, man, like water forchocolate and uh, you know, can
I borrow a dollar? The Balbum? Like, they're all good.
They're all good, and like Iunderstand, some people find it like it
can get a little monotone once ina while. I don't think so all.

(40:57):
I literally am always spitting with them. I like the verse. Yeah,
like I used to love Her isprobably the song I would used to
save my life. Oh for sure, if I needed one song that's like,
yeah. Comment Comment is one ofthose artists who I don't understand the
hate he gets because people have calledhim corny'scuse like when they're acting, it's
like, give him a break.So he likes incense like shit. I

(41:19):
interviewed him last year for Silo,Yeah, and literally the same dude you'd
like, you expect him to bethe same dude you expect him to be.
Yeah, And I think that likehe was probably one of the first
rappers to be like, I don'thave to be tough, and I think
there's a freedom in that that alot of people don't see. But he
was like, I already rap betterthan all you guys. I don't need

(41:40):
to be tough on top of it. I can be a nice guy and
still rap better than you. Yeah. But I mean he can but hit
like Resurrection, like that whole album, like it was tough record and and
can I borrow a dollar? Sohe went through his whatever phase. Yeah,
he was evolution, like, comeon, man, get like just
getting better, like literally just becomingand he's still nice, like and he's

(42:02):
still nice with it. I seeclips from him, like freestyling on stage
from twenty twenty three. Yeah,still got it, still with the crowd
control, still with the breath control. Yeah. You know he's gonna do
La Leakers or whatever soon for thisrecord. Yeah, just a matter of
time. I'm excited to see thatwith his uh whatever you call it,
the Paulo Santo burning in his hand. Uh. And then I got one

(42:24):
more shoot one more, which isalways the hardest one. But I always
just try to reflect on the peoplethat mean the most to me. And
then the ones that like I havethat influence, so I probably have to
say Mo's death. Yeah, andI know it's not I always say this.
I know it's not a deep catalog, but man, if he just
kept going the way he was likeBlack, if you do Black on both

(42:46):
sides like that is one of myfavorite albums of all time. It's like
basically saying, who's your top fivefemale mcs or artists. Yeah, I
would say Lauren Hill, but it'slike one project. Yeah, but it's
still Lauren. I think Black andSides stands with Miseducation one percent. It's
like one of my all time favoriterecords. He's if it's doing a list

(43:07):
of people I wish put out moremusic. He is, especially because I
say it's for like to me,I give him and Fonte the credit for
the singing rapping, yeah, morethan Kanye, because if you hear the
like the parts where he's singing I'mBlack on both sides, it's so like

(43:28):
smooth and flawless, and you're notlike, who's no, it's nice.
It just it just flows and heflows between the two of them so easily.
The only other people like I wouldsay that are like most influential would
be the Far Side, who I'veseen. I've probably seen the most of
all hip hop groups live and slimKid was like that introduction of singing like
yeah, like in and out dopeflow and just being able to like go

(43:53):
back and forth was like one ofthose things. But yeah, obviously Fonte
is on my list, Like he'snot my top five, but he's literally
number six. He's got to bemy sixth man. Now your five is
strong. So you had math Blackthought myth most def Q Tip and I
say most, Yeah, who's yourYou had a group? I think,

(44:15):
oh yeah, well, well Isaid Tip, So I said, Uhi,
math method Man, uh math incommon. That five is going to
It's very uh, it's very likesoul Aquarians with a little with method Man
essentially truthfully couldn't hide the fact thatI loved R and B as much as

(44:38):
but that that five is going toeto tote a lot of people. I
think that's like, uh, Ithink everyone in that five has a classic.
Yeah, everyone in that five couldreally really wrap and two of them
could really hurt your feelings. Yeah, like three of them could probably make
you feel okay, Like thanks manfor not going so hard the Methan black
thought say your name was? AndI think that five age the best.

(45:02):
That five is all nineties. It'strue. And I'm not a big New
Age guy either, Like I loveCole again, I love Cole. I
would say Cole is probably my favoriteof the New Age. Yeah yeah,
but there's not that many like coollike Oh, I like Joey Joey,
and I think Joey's best work isstill coming. Yeah. Yeah. I
think Joey's in an interesting spot becausehe's like still cool to the young kids,

(45:28):
but he's not at all making thatkind of music. No, I
think he's I think he is ridiculouslyplaying the game he's and he's doing well.
Yeah, I think he will.He will start making music he wants
to make soon. But I dothink he's like he knows what he's supposed
to do to just bring in thatcapitol. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's
not as him at all. Ithink it's genius because I listened to some

(45:49):
of his music and I'm like,I get it. This is this record
is not for me because I'm therefor nineteen ninety nine and I'm there for
pro Era all the time. Twothousand and is last thousand was amazing?
Was that was like this is nineteenninety nine. That's probably one of the
best like follow ups to something I'veseen in so long. We listen to
that a lot at work, likethat was a record we rinsed now that
that was and like when he didthat cover or show me Yep, I

(46:13):
couldn't believe it because that's a songI showed my little brother. I put
him on to men I trust,and I thought that I had played the
wrong album. When the song started, I said, am I on the
wrong album? So to see howwell he did with that now, Joey
is I think if when we doanother interview, we got to do we
got to find a way to doa new School five New School five.

(46:36):
Yeah, I think that'd be toughto do because I think even like even
Joey and Cole are from a differentera. Like I saw Joey live in
twenty thirteen. Yeah he's been aroundfor a while. Yeah, he's been
around for a while. I meanhe's one of their older heads now.
So I feel like it's it's toughto find a new because you know what,
like the issue with the new schooland I'm going to leave this here
because I feel like we're going toI can't do it. But the issue

(46:59):
with the new school is that whatis considered good at rapping, yeah,
is so much lower. Yeah,the bars, the bars, the bars
on the floor. And I thinkabout someone like q Tip, Like when
I was growing up, q Tipwasn't known as like lyrical, miracle,
spiritual. He was good, yep, but it wasn't like you wouldn't compare
q Tip to most death, Likethese are two different levels of rapping.

(47:19):
Q Tip now would be in thetop ten percent. And like that is
part of the issue. When it'slike there's someone like a little baby and
everyone's like, no, he canreally really rap. It's like he's good
at what he does, but reallyreally rap is a stretch. There's also
just like authenticity, you know what'swhat is that? Yeah, exactly?

(47:40):
I know there are a lot ofNewcastle. I like Code of the Friend.
I like Marlon is nice, LikeMarlin is nice too. You know
what else is like new that's justlike you know, making waves, Like
there are a few I like.I like Dav's even though he's older.
I like Davis. Yeah, yeah, there are some, there are some
a few it's just yeah, it'sit's very uh. You gotta go,

(48:04):
you gotta care, and you gottawant to search for it. I mean,
that's the beauty of music. Yougotta There are so many talented people
out there. It's like, youknow, even on the come up in
our city. Now, there's alot, there's a lot. This is
a question that we ask everyone onthe show. And I don't make the
rules. I want to make thatclear when I ask you this question.
This is not coming from me.It's coming from the universe. This is
just me being a journalist gathering theinformation. Okay, So when people get

(48:28):
a hundred million dollars, yeah,they get an exoting animal. That's just
how the game goes, right,right, An, that's how they behave
Okay, Mike Tyson with his tiger, Michael Jackson with his monkey, Justin
Bieber with his monkey. Yeah.So when you get one hundred million dollars,
what animal are you going to addinto your life? One hundred mili

(48:49):
Is that the going rate for animal? It seems like that's what it is
like. Once you get past thatlevel, it's like, okay, let
me get from well, I'm tryingto think of my kids and who they
would have. Yeah, actually takesome responsibility because I don't want big ships.
I don't want to have to pickup any ship fair. So you
know what, I probably get likelike a penguin and get a tank to

(49:13):
pay for the tank, and maybetwo penguins for like a jam. That
would be fun as hell actually,and they can do any weather. That's
one of the better answers I've heard. I actually liked that one a lot.
I go to the zoo a lot. The zoo get that day passed.
I want that sponsorship. The zoois amazing. The penguins for sure,
though, because they're entertaining, they'readorable. Probably not that hard to

(49:36):
take care of. I mean,mm hmm. Good movies. Have you
seen the movie Tusk? No,Chris, have you seen the movie Tusk?
Okay, so both of y'all writethis down seas movie because this is
one of the same movies I've everseen. What is this? But basically
this dude got lost s and thiswall saved his life, and he is

(49:59):
basically a cereal in the present andcutting off people's like arms and legs and
putting them into like a walrus's body, and they have to like be a
walrus. It's way worse than It'sway worse than I'm even explaining it.
But it's a fucked up movie.How old is this? I think like
twenty fifteen. You know, it'sit's a wild, wild movie. Like

(50:21):
you see the person's like face inthe like walrus's body and he takes out
their tongue and they have to likeeat the like food of walrus eats bro
it is. It is insane.The scene when the guy like finds out
he's a walrus and wakes up fromlike all the shit he's been through.
He like sinks to the bottom ofthe pool and sees like all the walrus
carcasses from the other victims. No, it's it's a fucked up movie.

(50:45):
But I saw it, So you'regonna like bring up like an adorable animal
movie. Talking about the kids,it's like, oh, tusk sounds as
cute, Like you said zoo whenI thought of this zoo in his house.
So yeah, watch tusks. I'venever heard to. Yes, I
recently watched it last week. Tryto say for putting me on, but

(51:06):
because I went through that, Ifeel like we ought to go through it
together. So add it to yourlist. Appreciate that. Yeah, I'm
here to help. Yeah, man, help check it. Let's take a
look at the ice cream. Seewhere you're at, right, I mean,
it's mostly just melted at this point. I was gonna maybe poor a
little beer in it, just tosee if I can get a float.
Yeah, I think I think youmight as well. But you've made it
pretty far. Like it's basically done. Oh it's done. Look at that.

(51:30):
Okay, I just want to getthe float. Yeah, it works
a little evil float. Oh mygod, not bad. Not since I
had a beard. I definitely didn'thave adult teeth. Yeah, like,
oh my god, it's actually reallygood. It's actually really good. I'm
happy. I'm happy you made itthis far. I appreciate everyone listening to

(51:52):
the podcast. Find us on Instagramat the Cool Table Live on YouTube at
the Cool Table Live. Of course. The radio show is every Wednesday at
eleven am Eastern twelve eighty am inToronto, CJTM MET Radio dot CA.
Before we get out of here,we have the segment on the radio show
called Wednesday Wisdom. We asked fora motivational quote or saying either you remind

(52:15):
yourself of or the people around you. So what's that saying for you that's
always kind of running through your head. I have one guy say it.
I used to go to a summercamp when I was a kid, and
he said it once and I don'teven know why I doesn't. I don't
even remember his name, but hesaid, if it's going to be,
it's up to me. And itjust was so simple, and it kind
of I stick with me my wholelife. Anytime I just kind of have

(52:39):
a thought or like, well,I don't know if I can do it,
I'm like, well, if youreally want to do it, you
just gotta. You got to putin the effort. And if I want
to keep this this train alive calledlalo I Literally, it's just me putting
in the work every day. It'snot a it's not a thing you can
you can just expect to keep breathingby itself. You gotta put it in

(53:00):
work. If you want to seesomething out, you got to see it
through to the to the very end. Uh. And that's the That's the
love of art and being creative isthat the job's never done. Job's not
done. It's always it's going tobe. It's up to me. I
like that if it's going to be, it's up to me. And I
like the journey of you're talking aboutof like it continues. It's a job

(53:20):
that's never done because I think thatthat's what I've seen a lot working with
artists is it's almost like you thinkthis is going to be this tape,
this finish line. Yeah, AndI try and remind artists, I said,
whoever you think is the best atwhat they do is still doing it.
There's the rare case of someone likeRihanna who just leaves music completely basically
this else. But it's like Beyonceis still on tour, you know,

(53:42):
Celine diann is still is still inVegas, like all all the best usually
do it for a lot like one, two, three steps ahead of everything
else as well. I think it'slike with art in general, if any
of any of any kind, whateveryou release, once it's once you've let
it out, it's kind of overfor you specifically, it's not yours anymore.

(54:05):
It's living on with other people.But for you like it. You'll
be proud of it and you'll loveit, but eventually you'll be like,
I'm over it, and it's nowI want to. I want to.
I want to shift what I do, but I want to make something.
I just I want to change mypath a little bitter. I want to
figure out how I can take whatI did before, and I want to
how do I elevate it? Howdo I make it a bigger thing?

(54:28):
How do I make this piece bigger? You know? Even songs right,
a track that goes out? Man? You know, the music game is
so frustrating. It's like you canjust have one track or you have like
hundreds and you're just sitting on them. It's just crazy. Yeah, and
it's it's that release, you know, it's like it's not yours anymore.
Allow it to be shared with thepublic. Yeah, happened. Yeah.
I think I think this whole journeyof like making art and being someone who's

(54:52):
involved with art in general is somethingthat is ongoing and your relationship with it
is always going to change. Andthat's something that I think I've had to
like see myself, but looking atpeople who I either look up to or
are very successful and seeing that,like, you know, look at Lebron
in his twenty first season, likehe still has to find a way to

(55:14):
enjoy. Got to wake up andlove the game. So yeah, I
think about that lot was like,this is not going to end, but
it will get fun in a differentway and then find other and then find
other joys in life as well.Like I think it's just finding those other
creative vessels. I mean, I'mstill making music. I'm producing and recording
with Junior Tea right now. Youknow, it's like just it doesn't have

(55:35):
to always be one thing. Youcan you can be a creative in any
regard. I think it's just owningthat word creative. Yeah, yeah,
this is this is this episode.It's for all the creatives. I want
to thank you again for joining us. This has been an amazing episode.
I hope to see all of youJune eighth at Cameron Halby Canadian Music Week.
We have any amazing show for youeverything O Shan Day, King Durrell

(56:00):
and a special guest. But untilnext time, know yourself, Know you're worth m