2019 has been an incredible year for hip-hop and one of the best rap releases of the year belongs to Toronto MC Keysha Freshh. If you've been paying attention, it's not really a surprise that Freshh is releasing such on-point hip-hop right now. With a slew of other releases and her incredible work with The Sorority, Freshh is a proven veteran. Field Trip is a deep blast of bangers, perfect in the car or on in your room with those good headphones. Talking to me shortly before heading out west to BC for the final tour with her comrades in The Sorority, Freshh explained the genesis of this chapter in her career. “Field Trip was basically inspired by me wanting to tell a story that I felt was necessary to tell about my life at the time and where I was. It also felt like I was going on a journey at that part of my life. Basically writing the music, putting it all together and working on the album and every part of the album really was a special moment for me and that’s what made the whole process important.” The importance of her moment is evident in music. Field Trip sounds vital, important and aware. The sound on the album is a luscious balance of warm and heavy. Freshh's MCing, the main event, is unimpeachable. Check out the bars on “Hero,” one of the most alarmingly honest tracks of the year. Or the relentless battle rap of “Blah Blah.” Even if you haven't heard anything else she's done, a couple of listens through Field Trip and you'd be convinced that Keysha Freshh on the mic is hella serious business. If there's one thing we support over here at Rags Music, it's top-shelf hip-hop. So I was more than a little bit excited when Freshh was able to throw some of her time to answer the latest round of 5 Questions with Rags.

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

The first album that I had was Mecca and the Soul Brother (Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth). The first album that I bought with my own money was Beware of Dogs by Bow Wow, that was on a CD. First vinyl I owned was Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded. It was given to me by my cousin.

Chali 2na makes his near-annual Victoria appearance this Friday (June 30) and an appearance from the Verbal Herman Munster is always a reason to look back at why and how this giant of hip-hop has remained such an unmissable act wherever he appears. Ask me on any given day for my top 3 Mcs and Chali 2na will be somewhere on that list. Obviously the beginning is Jurassic 5, but it's his never-ending stream of consistently great, inventive solo work and guest appearances that has made him such a mainstay on the headphones and stereos in my life. As much as any MC on the planet, 2na has kept up with modern sounds in the ever-shifting hip-hop landscape, never hollowly imitating them but always taking the pieces that suit his sound and style, making them his own. More impressive than almost anything he's done, is his willingness to embrace EDM, in all of its forms. His ubiquitous presence in electronic music has kept him at the forefront of the genre and his status as a hip-hop legend has helped introduced new music fans to the roots of the music that helped spawn all of this. It's a logical progression and one that I'm shocked more rappers haven't leaned into. But luckily for everyone who likes those real goods, Chali 2na remains everywhere, smothering everything he touches with that good, classic hip-hop flavour. Now I'll take a look back at a dozen of the homies best, most diverse tracks and appearances (Or at least my favourites) to present a mere glimpse of the versatility of one of the GOATs.

“I listen to the whole of Hip-Hop. I don’t segregate between it because I know and understand where it all was spawned and I give everybody their space to be an artist, where a lot of fans are probably like “What?! You listen to Snoop Dogg?!” But yeah, I listen to it all...I feel like I’ve done a lot Hip-Hop wise and now it’s a journey through music more than it is just Hip-Hop. Changing the band and all that, I’m just trying to tap into music. If it’s good music, I’m just trying to be a part of it.” - Chali 2na, interview with Rags Music, 2014

N.A.S.A – There's a Party feat. George Clinton and Chali 2na

This might be an odd one to start this list off, but it made its way onto a lot of my playlists after Chali explained to me the significance of the song. “You know, to be perfectly honest, it’s not one of my best guest appearances, but the fact that he is who is… I did a song called ‘There’s a Party' on the NASA album, ‘Spirit of Apollo’, a song with George Clinton and I’m so proud of that. Just the experience of doing that song with him is just priceless, you can’t trade that for the world. Like I said, it may not be one of my best songs but it’s definitely a milestone for me.”

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5 Questions with Rags #76 - Keysha Freshh

Let's all take a few minutes to appreciate Chali 2na. (And listen to some of his finest guest spots.)