What happened to DZ? The hip-hop artist from Fredericton moved to Toronto last May to pursue a music career after releasing his debut album in January — The Beach.
Daniel Zebarth planned to come back in September to finish his business degree at the University of New Brunswick. Instead, he enrolled at Recording Arts Canada, a digital arts school where he’s taking a one-year audio-engineering course.
“I want to show people I’m not just a rapper,” he said.
To be authentic, he wants to be able to do everything — from rapping and singing, to songwriting and producing. He enjoys the technical process of making music — creating beats from scratch and making them sound “nice and sexy”.
Zebarth just got a job in a private studio, a place where independent artists can record their music. He helps run the recording sessions. He produced The Beach which was released on iTunes in January, and has just under 5,000 hits on SoundCloud (a website that allows you to share and promote music). He regularly collaborates with Kyle Varga, another hip-hop artist who lives in Mississauga, 20 minutes from Toronto. Zebarth helped produce “Falsetto,” a song by Varga that appeared on MuchVibe.
The last time the 6-foot-four rapper released a beat was almost a year ago. In the next six months, he hopes to release a free project in collaboration with Varga — free, he says, because he wants more exposure. Since the move to Toronto, he’s been networking with producers and artists including Canadian rapper, Belly.
The 21-year-old is also trying to create a project where he take young people who are in trouble with the law and get them into music. He hopes to begin the project next year.
“We’re going to try to get them off of the street.”
While Zebarth would like to return to Fredericton to finish his business degree, as he only has one year left, he says moving to Toronto was the right choice.
“I miss the people there, but no regrets at all,” he said.
