interview: KATRINA PERALTAphotos: ALEX YELIZAROV

Two young lyricists from Vancouver also known as Kai and Atlin have teamed up to rise to the top of the Vancouver music scene and taking it by storm one show at a time.  Although the word “shottas” arises from a Jamaican slang term for gangsters; who are often feared and given a bad rep, this lyrical hip hop duo are certainly anything but.  While one half of the duo quickly accommodates listeners with his cheerful charm, the other balances his counterpart with his chill, calm and collected swagger.The two collaborate as the Shottas; holding down a style that breaks the lines of categorizing musical genres. Their talents bring their separate identities together resulting in mind blowing verses, vocalized over three extremely different musical styles—hip hop, rock and reggae; all mixed in one.From its birth, to their influences, to the upcoming anticipated mix tape, “I am the V” and their present success; get to know these guys as they make their mark in the hip hop scene and take the meaning of  ‘shottas’ to a whole new level.Where are you guys originally from?Kai: I grew up in Burnaby…Vancouver like all over Vancity…Atlin: Pretty much the same thing…Vancouver…How’d you guys meet?Kai: We went to the same school… he was in grade 10 I was in grade 9 and we played ball together and we both ended up leaving.Atlin: We met through his older brother pretty much.Well you both hold talents as solo artists, when did you realize you wanted to collaborate and work together?Kai: I think it was the end of ’08, so about a year and a half now, we were making songs together anyways….recording at the same studio kinda thing so it was almost like, why not, right?Ya of course, put two minds together and it’s even better…Atlin: Ya it worked out, it worked out…So how did you come up with the name “Shottas”?Kai: Shottas is like a pats wow word from Jamaica it means like mobster or  gangster, but we’re not really gangsters,  its just like the aggression part of it right…Atlin: It just hit and it all just came together…Nice, nice…well it seems the aggression goes hand in hand with your drive, you guys have performed at various club venues around Vancity for about a year and a half?Kai: yea we’ve been doin’ shows for about a year now…Do you guys still remember your first show?Kai: We opened up for Moka Only at Pub340, that was one of our first shows…Atlin: Ya that was like…a year ago… So what kind of experience did you take from your first show?Atlin: I kind of got over the nerves right there….doing stuff  like that is like really natural, like I have no problem standing in front of people being like ahhh (waving hands around)Ya, ya like wildin’ out…Kai: Ya and

when you get even like a little bit of positive reinforcement than you’re like good right. You always believe in yourself but when you see someone else believe in you its like “Oh! I knew I was dope!”

Hah…nice….so I’ve also got to sample some of your tracks from your new mix tape, “I am The V”….when’s that being released?Kai: It’s done….it’s just not out yet…it’s just getting mastered right now…its gotta sound perfect..What does “I am The V” mean?Kai: I am the V just means I am Vancouver….the “I” just means….since there’s no “I” in team, we’re such a team that we’re just one person kinda thing but the “V” (holds up two fingers)…it’s two right? So, the “I” is one and the “v” is two right… so… “I am the V.”Atlin: It’s just something different, cause  most people in hip hop are really one dimensional, we just don’t want to be one thing, but we’re not hatin’ on club records, commercial stuff, we’re not even hatin’ on underground, but like if you have a little bit of everything … it’s always better.I guess that’s kind of why you guys mixed in some rock, and reggae with your style…what made you guys want to incorporate rock into your music?Atlin: We just listen to a lot of rock!Kai: We just started out just really wanting live instruments like guitars, bass guitars and so we were like, if we’re going to use live instruments than why not influence the live instruments into hip hop right….cause sometimes we start with a reggae song and it’ll end up being a rap song…or a rock song will end up being a reggae song you know, we just start and have no barriers…Atlin: Kind of like just go with whatever’s going on in that moment.Do you guys write your own music?Kai: Ya we write….but for the beats, we have producers and usually we’ll get a couple musicians  like a guitar player who can play their own stuff and  the guy playing the guitar will play it like this and the drummer would play his part [a certain way] and conduct it that way and once we get the music we just write and do it and we all do it in one day. If we’re gonna start a song one day we’re gonna finish it the same day.You guys are going hard…What influences you to write?Atlin: Everything….like whatever’s going on in the world…Kai: It’s so like sub conscious I guess right, when you go around you use up everything and when you write you just let it all out…Well it seems to be working well…with your growing popularity, how do you guys feel after a year and a half?Kai: We’re just hungry you know. We don’t even feel like we even there yet. We don’t take it for granted…the more successful we get the more humble we get you know? Instead of it being the other way…When we get something, we still realize the competition and every little variable in the world right..Atlin: We just feel lucky. Relieved that people are respecting our rap in such a good way so far…Kai: We haven’t even put out a release yet….so far it’s all just Facebook pages and word of mouth all over the place and its finally startin’ to work ‘cause we’re putting work in it…Atlin: And our personalities too right, when people meet us.Kai: Ya if they don’t like us they ain’t  gonna like our music right…From the studios to the live shows, there’s no denying the Shottas are heavy on their grind.For show dates and more search:‘Shottas’ on Facebook & become a Fan!http://myspace.com/vancitykaihttp://myspace.com/actuallyatlin