Tory Lanez, alias Argentina Fargo, is an emerging R&B vocalist/rapper born in Toronto, Canada. Lanez started rapping since the age of 9 and began performing by 16. He devoted himself to not only rapping and singing, but also writing songs, playing instruments, and producing his own work.
Lanez has had the opportunity to work with other artists, working his way up to becoming a well known artist. Songs like “Wind It” featuring Justin Bieber, “Know What’s Up” featuring Kirko Bangz and “Shit Freestyle” featuring Meek Mill has helped make him win thousands of fans and followers, creating his cult fan base—the Swavenation, a “society without borders.”
Having lived in different areas of the States and Canada, and having being exposed to the cultural diversity of each one of those places, has influenced the very genuine sound of his music and his view of the world. His work is constantly improving and evolving—it has become an invitation to jump into his world, live his experiences and enjoy the ride. He’s confident and determined in achieving his goal: to conquer the US audience and making sure that everyone in America knows his name.
How was your experience performing at the Neon Desert Music Festival?
The festival was incredible, it was very fun; first time that I’ve had an audience in such a big space. The audience was from the stage…to like the street lights…to behind the street lights to… it was crazy, it was a very fun festival, and I had an incredible time.
What was your impression of El Paso?
I looked at it as a place that is very cultured, and the hospitality is great. People down there, that southern love, it’s a very loving place. It also has just a lot of things, and it’s so close to Mexico and places like that, so I’ve just always looked at it like every time I come there, its almost like getting kinda like a little piece of Mexico, you know? It’s very cultured and very just live like that. So that’s my impression of it, it’s a great place with great hospitality.
What does music mean to you?
Music…there’s no definition for music, there’s no way to describe music, but if I was to describe it…music is like a beautiful woman that you wanna take out and wanna dance with and wanna get passionate with. Music is everything; music is the thing that you wanna do everything for, just like a woman. Music is love, music is hate, music is a feeling. I feel like music is an art. When it really comes down to it all, music is a very important art of expression of yourself and of your soul. That’s what music is to me.
What’s your inspiration? What moves you and makes you keep going every day?
Honestly, my inspiration before anything is God. I’m a very God fearing man. I believe in morals and I believe in things that are taught in the Bible. I guess besides God, obviously which should be my first choice, I think that the thing that moves me the most is just living everyday life—high drama makes the day go on, you know? I guess living life to the fullest and living the most out of life is what gives me the inspiration to make music.
Who are some of your favorite R&B/Soul singers?
Definitely R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, James Brown—just by the character and story of his life, definitely is one. I like to say people everybody else like Missy The Genuine, Usher—the people who kinda motivate, you know? I’m a listener of all the music and I’m a lover of all the music. So yeah, those kinda people.
You are about to release a new album Lost Cause on Sept. 29, can you tell us a little about the making of the album?
The making of this album basically started with me and this dude named Noah Breakfast—and Noah Breakfast is a dude who is also formally in a group called Chiddy Bang—we basically came together, created some production and we started working on a tape. As I got further in, I realized that everything I was working on was an exact reflection of what I was going through at the time, so I guess I was just trying to correlate that into music. What’s most important about the making of that project, was that it was the first time I learned how to fully express myself. In my10 years of making music, this is the first time that I’ve learned to fully express myself from the bottom of my heart without caring what anybody else had to say or caring about what anybody else is gonna look at or caring about what everybody else is gonna like and not like, you know? This is the first time that I just allow myself to be free with music at this level that I’m being free.
The two tracks I’ve listened to from your new album “Henny in Hand” and “The Mission” are synth heavy slow jams that definitely highlight your vocal abilities, can you tell us a little about the process of creating these tracks with the people you collaborated with?
Noah Breakfast was basically the maker of “Henny in Hand.” Him and his little brother, I think his name is Matti Free. They basically came together and made that record. The sample in that song is actually a vocal sample of mine and it has laid guitars over it and over a sample of my voice and it was just like a really incredible song. “The Mission” is the same thing. Instead of it being with Matti Free, it was just me who produced it and Noah Breakfast as well in co-production by Christian Louie. So us three together we just came with this plan and with this project and just building all of the different instrumentation, was very fun, a lot of times on the piano, a lot of times on the drums getting them correct and picking the most honest and most forward sounding drums and musical instruments that we could. So it’s a very important and unique project that we worked on for both of those records.
How is this album and songs different from your previous work?
If you ever listen to a Tory Lanez song, you’re gonna get a certain feeling’s on it, a certain feeling that’s gonna feel real, it’s gonna feel genuine and it’s gonna feel good, you know? I know that I also have feel good music, so to speak, but this take is more than just feeling good, this is feeling exactly what I was feeling when I wrote this. This is taking your life and listening to basically almost like listening to an audio visual of my life, you know? And it’s like you jumping out of wherever you are at and jumping into my life and living it with me throughout each song; feeling each feeling throughout each song. That’s the difference this one is gonna make you feel everything.
You kickoff your tour on Oct. 2 in Los Angeles, CA, in support of your new album. What city do you look forward to performing most & why?
I’m looking forward to performing in El Paso of course, because it’s always so wild out there and it’s incredible, but also my hometown in Toronto, Canada. That’s the last place I performed in like two years, so it’s gonna be very fun.
Txt: Minerva Jauregui