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“Your favorite rapper’s shooter,” P-Reign is prepping to drop his new mixtape Off The Books tomorrow, December 3rd. Today, the Toronto native shares “Dipped in Gold” which serves as the first track off of the mixtape featuring some of Atlanta’s finest: Young Thug, T.I. and London On Da Track behind the beat. Stream the track below.

https://soundcloud.com/preign/dippedingold

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Ed Sheeran was on hand to co-host the show, and he spoke a little bit about Canada’s significance to his career. “Canada was one of the first places outside the UK to accept me,” he told the press backstage at the show. Fittingly, Sheeran nabbed two awards that night, Most Buzzworthy International Artist and Best International Artist for his ballad “Thinking Out Loud”.

The MMVA Red Carpet pre-show has also become an essential part of the night. Artists compete to have the most over the top entrances. This year pop-punk band Marianas Trench walked the carpet in jet skis and colourful underwear, meanwhile Jamican singer Omi had a group of cheerleaders in tow.

MUCH also peppered its awards show broadcast with original content from comedian Jus Reign, who is one of the network’s digital content creators. The limelight on artists who’ve proven themselves over the Internet is a testament to how far media has come. MUCH is definitely owed some credit for adapting to that shifting paradigm, and giving Canadian content creators a voice.

Josh Ramsay Matt Webb, Mike Ayley, and Ian Casselman from Marianas Trench

R&B crooner The Weekend, who grew up in a suburb not to far from the award show’s venue, was one the most acclaimed artists of the night. He took home four awards including Most Buzzworthy Canadian and Best Pop Video . As an artist who pretty much always skips interviews and press appearances- as he did at the MMVA’s- it’s remarkable he’s been able to generate so much enthusiasm for his career.

The Weekend accepting his award from Ed Sheeran and model Gigi Hadid

Toronto hip-hop made a strong showing at the awards as well. Rapper P.Reign picked up an award for Best Hip-Hop Video for “DnF”. Drake, who was a guest feature on the original track, made an appearance to present the award. “I never really expected to win awards,”  said Reign, discussing his career in the pressroom. Drake’s fingerprints were on more than just Reign’s award, his past collaborators and OVO label signees Majid Jordan got acclaim for their video for “Forever”, which won Best MUCH Fact Video. That particular nod is reserved for artists supported by a MUCH grant to produce their video.

Drake and P.Reign share a moment at the 2015 MMVA’s

“Who the fuck doesn’t love Canada?” said Nate Ruess , front man from the band fun.,while speaking to the press backstage. Ruess’ sentiments definitely speak to the overwhelming love that the artists showed to Canada and Toronto on Sunday. “We’re definitely at the forefront now with some of the biggest talent,” said Reign, speaking on Canada as a destination for music, and Toronto as a hip-hop city.

The MMVA’s were no doubt another chance for the city to establish its relevance as a hub for culture, original content and great talent. The stacked roster of presenters, performers and artists on Sunday speaks volumes on what to expect from the great white north.

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P Reign links up with PARTYNEXTDOOR and Meek Mill in the visual for “Realest In The City.” In the visual for the Dear America cut Reign and PARTYNEXTDOOR ride around Toronto before making the switch to Los Angeles to meet up with Mill. Watch the story of the realest in the city unfold here.

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Toronto production trio Keys N Krates links with fellow Canadian and RepsUp/OVO rhymer P.Rein for “Yes We Faded.”  Even though we haven’t had much time to live with this release, it’s sustainability and playback appeal is abundantly evident at the 0:01 mark of the record.  It’s intoxicating. (Pun intended) Rapid rattling snares lend way to soft keys and a low-bass, melodic chant that matches P. Reing’s distinguished voice and smooth vocals to a T. Would it be too much to ask for 8-11 more like this on a joint project?  Let’s hope not.

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XXYYXX via Interview

Here’s another remix for you on this grey Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday, Marcel Everett, better known by his DJ name XXYYXX, released a remix of “DnF”, the Toronto-based P Reign‘s arousing track featuring lyrics from Drake and Future.

It was already a sexy track – intense from the beginning as P Reign opens, flowing into Drake’s softer, more intimate verse all the while intercut with vocals from Future. XXYYXX takes the original vibe of the song and intensifies it even further, slowing it down and making it a little bit quieter in using his lo-fi, chill wave production techniques. He strips away some of the layers in the original track, deepening the vocals and adding a winding, climactic stream of sound to the background. The revolving hi-hat that crescendos in the background is just another of the DJ’s sound stamps.

What makes this remix particularly powerful is the end – XXYYXX composed a piano part to accompany the song. As the vocals and layers of electronic sound components fade out, the piano closes out the track. It is this piano part that gives the song a super-boosted feeling of that nostalgia and intimacy seen on the original version of the track.

It’s definitely a funky mix – what do you think of XXYYXX’s style?

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It’s been a trend in the industry to bring out Drake during a musical performance in Toronto.

During his “Paperwork” Canadian tour, T.I brought out Drizzy and his associate P. Reign to perform “DnF,” in front of hundreds at Toronto’s Kool Haus Friday night. Drake told the packed crowd,

This man gave me one of the most important talks of my life at one of the most important times of my life and his life. Those are words that I’ll never forget. 

Check out the performance above.

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