BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - March 2016

BREVNER
forever hungry and fixated on the future
Growing up in New Westminster,
Matthew Brevner was diligently
preparing for his rap career by the
age of six, writing poetry and studying
reading comprehension through Hooked
on Phonics. His formal introduction to the
genre happened in middle school when
he heard Jay Z’s Volume Three, when he
finally felt represented in music. Hova
resonated with Brevner as the voice of the
underprivileged, defining rap as poetry,
but cool. His high school had a built in
recording studio, so throughout his time
there he was constantly writing and
recording. Life after grade school proved
to be slightly more challenging.
“I wanted to learn how to record my
own music, so I signed up for the four
year program at The Art Institute, but I
dropped out after a semester because
I was like, yo this program is $40,000 a
year, there’s no guaranteed job placement
after because I’m not trying to work at
a fucking radio station and there’s no
equipment so I’d be trained and not have
the tools to use my skills. So I was working
a shitty job at the time and doing
whatever else I had to do on the side to
cover bills, and I bought a very modest
recording set-up and kind of went from
there,” Brevner explains.
Brevner’s biggest thrust into the public
eye came in the form of an opportunity to
co-produce a song for Swollen Members
affiliate Madchild called “Jitters.” Brevner
claims he fronted money to help with
the song and accompanying video but
wasn’t properly compensated following
its release. “The 13 year old in me thought
if I have a number one single on Rap City,
shit was on; I’m helping my mama get
out of debt, it’s lit. Not only was it not
that, but I actually took on a lot of debt
because I didn’t see the money from it. So
I moved to New York temporarily, I was
working with Chinx and French Montana
doing video work for them. I didn’t even
tell them I was a musician at the time. But
then being around those guys, was such
a positive influence for me. It gave me my
hunger back,” says Brevner.
His time in New York did more than
just increase his drive, it gave him a greater
awareness of the subjects he wanted to
approach with his material. “A lot of guys
that were up-and-comers around then,
landing pretty decent gigs and shit, were
talking about stuff that was so foreign to
them, but things you have to talk about
being in that arena. For me I spent my
whole career up until this point avoiding
it. I was a product of that stuff, but I didn’t
want to talk about it because it was too
close to home. I thought ‘I’m going to be
different, I’m going to write love songs.’ So
I came back with the hunger to actually
tell my story and not be afraid what local
guys are going to think about me. I always
thought nobody wanted to hear about
this mixed kid from Vancouver talking
about the street because it’s not cool. But
whether it’s cool or not, that’s what I am.”
Though he still looks uneasily at his
shoes when making comments about
doing what he had to do to “survive”
earlier in his career, it seems all his experiences
up until now have landed him
in a place where he can live in his truth.
A truth which can exist as love songs,
closer to the poems he wrote as a kid,
and one that can also exist as jacked up
rap tracks, a self-aware embrace of both
the meek and the militant in himself.
Brevner released his self titled EP on
February 26, before setting out on his
first headlining tour across Canada. As
he talks of his vision for the future of his
city and his collaborators, the defining
quality of Brevner rises to the surface,
he is incredibly focused on the future.
A fast talker and a big dreamer, Brevner
knows exactly what’s on his horizon, shit
just has to go to plan.
Brevner’s self-titled EP is available now via
mattbrevner.com
Brevner is putting in the work and time and reaping the rewards.
by Maya-Roisin Slater
16 MARCH 2016 •
electronics department