CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — When Vince the Messenger (real name Daniel Butterfield) released the five-track EP Nowhere 2 Grow in March, there was no way to predict what was coming — nationwide lockdowns; quarantines; global protests and shouts of “Black Lives Matter” sparked by the death of George Floyd in the U.S. months later.
But the single, Mood, was a call for recognition of those lives and decrying armchair activists, with Vince repeating the refrain, “activism ain’t a mood/I know you see the issues so it’s more that you could do”, as the song closes.
He doesn’t see the song as prophetic in any way, though.
“I think the timing was honestly kind of just random because, though the whole George Floyd thing sparked all of the attention to the greater issue, the issue was always there.”
And it’s an issue that’s already slipping onto the back burner again, he said.
“Everyone posted, like, the black square to their Instagram feed and then, you know, a few months later, no one’s really talking about it anymore and it’s hard to see what change has actually stuck since then.”
This kind of socially-conscious thought is a common feature of Butterfield’s music and, despite adopting a stage name, so is using himself as a focal point to come at larger issues from a personal place.
It makes sense, as Butterfield thinks of his writing as a therapeutic exercise
“It’s where I go to figure life out. I learn a lot from listening to music, but I also learn a lot about myself from writing music.”
stay inside and bump my latest - https://t.co/chU0E7XA8c
— Vince The Messenger (@messengervince) March 20, 2020
All in the family
Butterfield moved to P.E.I. from Ontario with his mom and brother when he was three, after his parents divorced.
Even with the distance, his dad, who played in rock bands around Toronto, gave Butterfield his first taste of creation, recording songs together on blank cassette tapes.
“He would usually play guitar and I would write lyrics and sing and we’d record it.”
Years later, his older brother got him interested in rapping and hip-hop, introducing him to artists like 50 Cent, Kanye West, Tupac and Biggie, until one day he came into Butterfield’s room and said, “Let’s write raps.”
“I rapped mine for him and he was like ‘oh, this is really cool, you should keep doing this.’ And I kept on doing it.”
Collaboration
Butterfield has been a staple of the Charlottetown hip-hop scene for a few years now. He released his first album, Self Sabotage, in 2018, for which he won the 2019 P.E.I. Music Award for urban recording of the year.
The album was his first big collaboration with DJ and producer Cedric Gallant, who produces under the name Niimo.
The pair met in high school when Butterfield was featuring on a track from another Island artist, Slime da Garbage Mane, at Gallant’s home.
Instantly, Gallant knew Butterfield was someone he wanted to work with, he said.
“Definitely he had something special, he sounded really present. He was great to record and we both had really similar tastes and styles. It was definitely right then we were like, ‘alright, let’s do this next week or something'.”
Nowhere 2 Grow, Trustfall
Butterfield created Nowhere 2 Grow entirely on his own after a late-night recording session he had with Gallant and some School of Performing Arts students, inspired by how everyone was able to spontaneously create.
“After leaving that session, I think it was either the next day or a few days afterwards I was like, ‘I’m going to try producing something on my own’.”
Starting with the beats, Butterfield produced the five tracks in a flurry over a week and released it unto the world with little fanfare.
“I wanted the music to come out as quickly as I was making it, for it to feel like that real and in the moment.”
Less speedy, but no less confident, is the production of his second full-length album titled Trustfall which has been in the works since the release of his first album.
Originally due to come out earlier this year, things — like a global pandemic — kept getting in the way.
While the record is done, Butterfield and Gallant want to give the album a better marketing push than the first, which didn’t get a physical release until a year after it dropped, said Gallant.
“We’re definitely focused on giving this record as much backing as it can.”
Butterfield sees it as a continuation of his growth from Self Sabotage and has plenty of ideas of what that backing will look like, but remains tight-lipped for now.
“I’m planning on a pretty big campaign for the release of it,” said Butterfield, “so just to make sure everything goes smoothly, I pushed it back just to the end of the year, to give myself a little more time to get things together.”
They expect the album to release early next year.
