Yohvn Blvck

As the blistering Antiguan heat cools with the sunset, a teenage Edwin Yohance Hull is setting up mics and PAs on the docks. His birthplace is home to anything but a thriving rap scene. He, and the same fifteen faces, are the scene. Darkness overtakes the Caribbean oasis, and another Rap Night is underway. He performs to a small audience of supportive rap groups–people who helped him get his start. The moment is fleeting, as conversations about Hull and his family moving to Canada are becoming much more serious. He would have to leave the rap community he helped build behind, or at least for now. On the plane to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2013, Hull is unknowingly being launched into a new phase of his identity. He will become known as Yohvn Blvck, and usher in a new era of Canadian rap. “I had to be loud to be heard,” says Blvck. His voice would have to incite the rise of a rap community within a Nova Scotian scene that has been historically prideful of folk and indie rock. Yohvn Blvck’s 2019 debut, Icarus, did just that. Working with producer Jordan Metro, the EP is a dark, yet richly coloured weaving of undeniable influence from Kendrick, Kanye, and Frank Ocean. The laments of long-distance anguish on tracks like “California” highlight Icarus’ conceptual narrative of lost love. “The end of my long-distance relationship with an ex in California made me feel like flying too close to the sun,” says Blvck. The sonic identity of the EP is markedly dark. Throbs of kick and snare are suspended within a mysterious nighttime world that invites movement just as much as it does gloom. It’s a world that’s home to a vast web of memories. Blvck thrives in weaving a lifetime of narratives and emotions, letting the listener derive their own relatability. “It’s your story, not mine,” he says. Icarus’ release was a catalyst for live performance opportunities. The rapidly growing buzz surrounding his live show earned him bookings at Halifax Jazz Fest and Halifax Pop Explosion, as well as UK festivals including FOCUS Wales, Great Escape (Brighton), and Enki Music Festival (London). With each performance, Yohvn Blvck’s continued immersion in a rock-dominated Canadian scene is beginning to show its influence. With genre blends becoming a trademark of his style, Blvck uses a rock-formatted backing band to colour a performance that fuses rap, hip-hop, pop, and R&B. Blvck’s most exciting new collaborator and bandmate is Halifax-based producer Adam Warren, known professionally as waants. Collaborations with waants on tracks like “adding up” (2022) foreshadowed the sound on Yohvn Blvck’s new single, “Running” (2024). The track features the involvement of a production cerberus, with Yohvn Blvck, waants, and Jordan Metro all contributing. Metro’s R&B leanings paired with waants’ rock and pop history come together to epitomize Blvck’s sound. The lush, dark spaciousness of Blvck’s previous work is preserved on “Running,” with chiming guitars creeping around thick rhythms. “Running” serves as the first single to be released ahead of Yohvn Blvck’s upcoming full-length album, Post Nostalgia. The album is produced by Blvck himself, mixed by waants, and mastered by Kristian Montano. It’s a deeper exploration of the web of memories that comprise the serendipitous story of Edwin Hull’s life. “Nostalgia is a trap. It keeps you in a specific place. ‘Post Nostalgia’ is the clarity that comes from realizing things were of a certain time. Nostalgia brings bias. Look at things for what they are.”