Socalled Breaks the Mold
Josh Dolgin doesn't look like your regular rapper. And he doesn't sound like one either.
I had a chance to sit down with Socalled before his show at the Legendary Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield QC. Being a Chelsea Qc native, this is his hometown show. While we walked down the street, he paused to say hi to many friends and people that he knew from high school and hadn’t seen in years
Josh has been practicing magic most of his life
We talked about being a Hip Hop artist that doesn't fit the mold, the stories behind the songs and more.
This album, Peoplewatching, tells a story of events that have happened in the last few years in Socalled's life. "Some of the songs are really working through the personal journey I was on, a hard relationship coming to its end, life in Montreal and funny anecdotes of everyday stuff."
The song “Fire on Hutchinson” is very stylistically different from the album and a lot of the work produced under Josh Dolgin's moniker Socalled. "That story made more sense as it was delivered - not a rap song at all"
While we are talking, Josh subtley practices a magic trick. Josh has been practicing magic most of his life - even entertaining at kids’ birthday parties in his pre-teen years.
The conversation veers to Hip Hop and the fact that Peoplewatching has been hitting the earshot hip hop charts. "I want to contact all the hip hop DJs across Canada and send them a copy of the vinyl". The idea of challenging the typical idea of who is a Hip Hop artist is top of mind. He loves making beats and just wants to get them in your ears!
As with most of Josh's work, Peoplewatching is loaded with heavy hitting collaborators - the unstoppable Katie Moore, horn legend Fred Wesley, hip hop MC Narcy (The Narcycist) and a long list of talented musicians from francophone artists Canailles to electro-pop auteur Michael Dubue (HILOTRONS) and New York’s Hip Hop MC C-Rayz Walz (Stronghold) and more!!
Back at the Blacksheep, the multi-instrumentalist picked up his accordion and led a few bandmates off stage. They trio of banjo, bass and accordion wove their way through the crowd, into the bathrooms, out on to the patio. People could not get enough of it- clapping and dancing alongside the musicians.
The show was a sweaty dance party and the crowd stopper might have been his shitzu Poopsie singing to a blues tune Socalled pounded out on the piano if it weren't for the fact that the whole show left the audience wanting more!
Run don't walk to the next Socalled show - you'll be glad you did! Go pick up Peoplewatching – in fact if you don’t have them snag yourself a copy of Sleepover and Ghettoblaster too!
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