The Northwest Division Wants You to Rap Better and Party Harder

Hit up Google and search "Northwest Division," and you come up with two different results: a group of NHL teams, and a group of Vancouver rappers. The Northwest Division in topic here is the latter of the two. Their sophomore album, R.B.P.H (Rap Better Party Harder) contains a hard lyrical exchange from the group's lead emcees, Junk and Hungry, alongside some strong production and a handful of features from Vancity's hip-hop pool, with the exception of Minneapolis rapper Musab.

Junk and Hungry came up in the Canadian battle rap scene where they honed their technical skills, cutting their teeth in a variety of rap battles across Vancouver. In spite of their gritty come-up through the gauntlet of battle rap, Northwest Division maintains a sense of humour about themselves— their album's self-titled video is filled with satirical cocaine use, insinuated murder, and satanic themes.

Although partying is a theme, the drug abused, serial killer vibe just doesn't seem to fit their format; the album shows no sign of devil talk or graphic violence. So what's the connection between the video and their music? Further more, what do serial killers have to do with rap? We sat down with the crew to discuss their battle rap come up, living in Vancouver, and what the deal is with the murder theme in their video.

Noisey: What was it like coming up in Vancouver's battle rap scene?
Hungry: It was a great experience. A lot of fun for the most part, but I remember getting tired of it near the end. We were doing it right when freestyle battles started dying out and KOTD's acapella written format started taking over. It got very competitive very quickly, and since there were only a handful of cats doing it at the time we were both getting asked to do battles multiple times a month. It wasn't a bad thing though because it helped us solidify a name for ourselves within the scene. It got to a point where we both preferred to spend our time and energy writing music, and not rhyming insults. I would say it definitely helped shape our style as emcees and I think we both learned a lot about how important the live performance aspect of rap is - which is something that stuck with us and that we continue to work really hard on.

You recently dropped your freshman album R.B.P.H or Rap Better Party Harder - explain the lifestyle behind the title and what it takes to rap better and party harder?
Hungry: Good question. I would like to think we have always pushed ourselves to have original, interesting flows and clever bars/punch lines and wordplay. Trying to have solid, real lyrics is definitely a focal point of our style. I don't think we necessarily rap better than anybody else. It really isn't about being better than anyone but ourselves in the end. Sometimes I'll be stuck on a verse and then Junk will finish his and I'll hear it and I'm like "damn that shit was fire" and it inspires me to finish mine and maybe even try to go in a bit harder than he did. The "Rap Better" aspect of it really is just a reminder to us, to always strive to be better writers and emcees and never stop trying to improve on our craft. Hopefully at the same time inspiring other artists and emcees to feel the same way.

To me the "Party Harder" just means have more fun. I think sometimes it's easy to forget why we even do music in the first place. For us it's always been because we love it. What is the point of rapping if you aren't having a good time while you're doing it ? We tried to put a kind house party vibe into the record and our live show. I also bartend at a nightclub so pretty much every night at work is a party. Some weeks I end up spending four or five nights in that environment, and aside from serving drinks I feel like a part of my job is to be a good host and try to make sure everyone is having a good time. I think the amount of time I spend there definitely helped inspire that concept. In a nutshell - improve on your skills and better yourself and try to remember it's important to have fun and enjoy life at the same time. Rap Better Party Harder.

The self-titled debut video from R.B.P.H had some mixed reviews because of the cocaine induced, horror film vibe. Was the shock value intentional? Explain the video.
Junk: Intentional? No. It was just what we wanted to do. We aren't concerned with what people may think. It's our art, not theirs. I do understand people's mixed feelings about it and I kind of like the mixed reactions. It means we are making people discuss us and our art which is ultimately a good thing. Do I like serial killers? Love them. Do I like the pain and suffering they have brought to innocent victims and their families? No. But just because I like something that is looked at as evil by some doesn't mean I am. I did have a fascination with killers growing up as a child though, partly due to a stack of serial killer trading cards that I got my hands on. The video is really about capturing our debauchery filled party record with how hard we are murdering every bar we rap. Taking it to the extreme. The serial killer visuals are really a metaphor for "killing shit" as the popular phrase goes. Also it's visually different as opposed to your standard weed smoke, graffiti in alleys with a dude rapping video. Boring.

After you dropped that video you also premiered a limited run of t-shirts with a list of famous serial killers. Can you explain the connection between your music and serial killers?
Junk: We basically made a limited edition piece to go hand in hand with our single. As for the connection? The only one really is that we are using killers as an analogy to what we are doing musically, which is rhyme assassination. Other than that there is none. We don't discuss killers or depict them in our music. If you listen to any of our songs you will know that. Although with all this attention we might just start exploring that avenue.

What kind of reaction did you receive?
Hungry: We received a mixed reaction. Some people were really feeling the idea and concept. A lot of people weren't. We ended up offending a few people, fellow artists that we really respect. So that was unfortunate, but we did win them back over with the next song we released, which was almost the polar opposite of RBPH. I like to think we are versatile like that. At the end of the day it was one run of t-shirts to promote one video. I think we have some other pretty cool ideas for merch and videos and they will all be very different.

You linked with Rhymesayers artist Musab on this album. How did that collab come about?
Junk: Long story short I have been friends with Abstract Rude, fellow Rhymesayers artist and original Project Blowdian member since 05' when my first group and I got the chance to tour across Canada with him. We've maintained a solid relationship since then. So when he called me and asked if we wanted to tour the states with him and Musab last year it was a no brainer. Hungry and I flew to Las Vegas after a disastrous border episode, which included handcuffs, searches and fines but that's a whole other story. Once we were all situated we hopped in the van and begun our working relationship with Musab as well. We really hit it off with him, he was a big fan of our music so it all fell into place. Musab is the motherfucking man. I mean he co-founded Rhymesayers Entertainment. That's amazing as is. I must admit it felt pretty good having him tell us that the only Canadian rap he likes is Drake and Northwest Division.

What do you hope listeners will take from R.B.P.H?
Hungry: We just want people to enjoy the music. We always try to be very honest in our songs and if you know us i think you can hear that. I think it gives you a small glimpse into our lives and what we are about and also a taste of what we are capable of musically. If you love hip-hop and appreciate good beats and rhymes hopefully you will enjoy it.

Kassandra Guagliardi is a writer living in Vancouver. She's on Twitter.

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