Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with YBK Shakur
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
My earliest music memory comes from me learning to play the drums as a kid. Around 8 years old, my parents signed me up for music lessons at church. I fiddled with the drums, guitar, and piano, but ended up sticking with the drums. It turned out I had an aptitude for it.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
Growing up I played drums in church. I was also a band kid in middle and high school. For 5 of those years I played clarinet and trombone in my school’s concert band. For 4 years I played the drums in my school’s jazz band.
I would not start creating my own music until after I graduated high school in 2018. This passion was born from my love for music as an art – hiphop specifically, where I saw an opportunity to combine classic rhyme schemes I grew up listening to, with melodic instrumentals I grew up playing, influenced by african sounds and rhythm I grew up with, while at the same time painting pictures with my words, sharing my stories with the world. This passion fueled me, gave me a purpose to live.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Currently I am working on a project called “Hood Parables: Vol 1”
This project I believe fully conveys the sound, style, and message I believe my music is about.
I define my sound through a self-created genre coined “Hood Parables” — a form of storytelling that blends street reality, spiritual insight, political consciousness, and lived experience into poetic scripture.
This project represents a major artistic milestone for YBK Shakur. Rather than a collection of singles, Hood Parables: Vol. 1 is a cohesive, narrative-driven album that documents survival, loss, faith, discipline, and personal transformation. The project is rooted in Winnipeg’s South Side, while speaking to broader Black and inner-city experiences across Canada and beyond.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
I believe my upcoming project “Hood Parables” describes my music perfectly. The album blends contemporary hip-hop production with cinematic textures, melodic hooks, and emotionally grounded lyricism. Lyrically, YBK Shakur’s pen moves between philosophy, prophecy, and realism, capturing the internal and external realities of growing up in environments shaped by poverty, violence, and systemic inequality — while awakening to self awareness, responsibility, and purpose.
Think of artists like Pop Smoke, 2Pac, 50 cent, and Dave East, the grittiness to their sound, the uniqueness of their voice, and their storytelling ability. Now also think of artists like Cordae, J.I Prince of NY, A Boogie with the hoody, and Damian Marley. Their melodic hooks, their versatility, and their instrumentals choices. I like to think my sound is a combination of all of these artists.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
“Music as a career is 80% business, 20% art”
This perception changed how I approached my music career because in the era we live in where the entry point of music is accessible to anyone. Anyone can be an independent artist, and potentially be successful at it. And although this is great in the grand scheme of things, there are nuances. Because the entry point is accessible to all, it makes the market oversaturated. Nowadays talent alone does not cut it. Talent has to be matched with business acumen.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
ProTools, Logic, FL studios. Piano, acoustic guitar, drums. Interface, mic, headphones.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
I don’t really listen to indie music unless it’s on the radio
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
For me personally, navigating the industry from a city like Winnipeg that does not really have an established industry for hiphop, it has had its challenges in terms of visibility beyond the local level. This has influenced my approach to my music career because I am not chasing to find a manager, or label in order to get my big break. I am more so focused on social media, and notable local performances to build momentum and visibility.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
I have different songs that convey different messages/emotions. But a lot of my music revolves around the theme of pain and hurt. Sometimes this is from an introspective perspective, and others from a reflective/grateful perspective. So when people listen to my music I want them to feel the emotional rollercoaster of happiness, sadness, betrayal, love, anger, and whatever else I am expressing through that song.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Music is therapy, both for the writer, and the listener. Music is also the universal language. For me music is an extension of myself, whether I make a song to process a difficult moment, or I write a song to express a feeling. I’ve come to understand that when people listen to my music, they feel and hear the pain/emotions I put into my art, and they connect/resonate with that, and that is something I cannot take for granted. My ability to help people feel seen, heard and witnessed.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Madison Square Garden!! I think this is every performers dream whether it be music, or comedy, dance or whatever else
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
2Pac Shakur, Bob Marley, Pop Smoke. Unfortunately, most of my favourite artists are dead.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
Release Hood Parables: Vol 1.
Go on a national tour (Manitoba, Ontario, Vancouver, Quebec)
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
I hope they discover a human being who chooses to elevate himself to the best version of himself. A human who Chooses 2 Inspire. A human who is contributing positively to the culture, and society by large.
If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the interview 🙂
Link
This is a link to the youtube page of a multi-media company I co-founded.
