Spotlight ready

like City Fidelia, who is also working to put Ottawa on the map, longevity is something he’s striving for — and that makes keeping fans on their toes that much more important to him.

“I want to be a pioneer,” he says. “I feel like there’s going to be a wave of artists in the next five years, and [Ottawa will] have one or two that get pretty big dues. It’d be dope to be one of those artists.”

While Kongo Kane was produced entirely by his in-house producer, Rekkzone, Woods notes that he’s begun to get deeper into the world of production, even having his manager shop his beats to artists, though he explains that he doesn’t foresee himself becoming a full-scale producer.

A limited-edition vinyl release of Kongo Kane will feature two bonus songs that Woods produced himself

— including one in French.

“It’s hard and it sounds like an American trap track, but in French,” he says with an unmistakable tone of excitement. “It’s something new.”

Like the confidence that exudes from his new music, Woods’ aura has a calm and collected energy as he describes how he sees himself fitting into the tapestry. “Ottawa doesn’t have its own distinctive sound like Toronto does,” he says. “I’m not even sure that I’m the person who will crack that code,” he adds with a laugh. “There’s probably some young kid in his room who is already figuring that out.”

Even if his eclectic, international sound isn’t the one that will ultimately define the nation’s capital, it’s clear that he’s poised to continue steering the city’s hip-hop vocabulary in exciting new directions. hometown

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