It’s been a big year for rising Canadian-Jamaican artist King Cruff, and the momentum shows no signs of slowing down. Fresh off his first-ever JUNO nomination for Reggae Recording of the Year with his track “Fallback,” Cruff recently hit Vancouver for the awards, thanks to TD, longtime supporters of Canadian music and proud JUNO sponsors helping first-time nominees connect with fans nationwide. It was a full-circle moment for the genre-blending artist, who’s been steadily building a name for himself with his rapid-fire flow, patois-laced bars, and radio-ready sound that weaves together hip-hop, Afrobeats, dancehall, and reggae. On top of that, he was recently featured in Marley 80: Uprising, a stunning photo series shot by O’shane Howard that celebrates the new wave of Canadian-Jamaican talent carrying the torch of Bob Marley’s legacy. We caught up with King Cruff to talk the JUNOS, his debut EP WHAT HAVE I ‘DON released this past November via Tuff Gong Collective/Universal Music Canada, his first time performing at SXSW, and what’s coming next for one of the most exciting new voices in Canada’s music scene.
JG: Let’s start with the big moment, your first JUNO nomination for “Fallback.” Congrats! What went through your mind when you found out you were up for Reggae Recording of the Year?
King Cruff: I mean, it was very exciting. I remember I was sitting on the same couch when I found out the news. I was humbled to receive the nomination. But I’ve been doing a lot of work for the past few years, so it also felt deserved. I always refer to “Fallback” as a dancehall epic, you know. It tells a story. It sounds very cinematic. So for it to get nominated for Reggae Recording of the Year, it just made sense.
JG: Attending the JUNOS must’ve been a surreal experience. What was that like for you?
King Cruff: Even though we didn’t win, it was the best weekend of my life. I got to hang around all my peers in the Canadian music industry. I got to make a lot of new connections. I got to go to Vancouver for the first time, it’s beautiful out there. It reminded me a lot of Jamaica, just with the mountains and the scenery. There were definitely moments where I was sitting there and I had to come to terms with the fact that I belong in this setting. I belong in this place amongst these people because I’ve worked to get here.
JG: Being a first-time JUNO nominee, was there anything special that you got to do to mark the occasion?
King Cruff: As a first-time JUNO nominee, we got to go to the Gala and all of the events. TD, which is a sponsor of the JUNO Awards, had a little shindig for the first-time nominees and I got to connect with other nominees in my category like Skystar and his team, plus some of the TD team. That really commemorated me being there for the first time. They also do this tradition during the Gala where they make all the first-time nominees stand up, which is a little bit like church and how you have to stand up if it’s your first time being there. It was very awesome.
JG: It sounds like it was really welcoming and you’re right, you do deserve to be there. Not just as a rising artist in your own right, but also coming from such a legendary musical lineage as the Marleys. You belong at the JUNOS.
King Cruff: Absolutely. It was great to be out there.
JG: With this nomination under your belt, how has it shifted your perspective on your journey so far and where you see yourself going next?
King Cruff: It’s motivation to work harder. I feel like whenever these types of accolades come in, and we add them to the resume; it’s more gas to the fire because I don’t want this to be the peak. I don’t want this to be the end. It’s a nod. It’s recognition and we keep striving towards more.
JG: I’m sure it must be validating to have your work be rewarded by an industry of your peers.
King Cruff: Yeah. It was cool to be there. I feel like I didn’t realize how supported I was by the community until that weekend when I was running into people that I’ve known for years or people that I’ve seen for years in the scene and haven’t really connected with, and they’re all just telling me I deserve this. Like, we see your work. It was definitely a full-circle moment.
JG: Towards the end of last year, you dropped your debut EP, WHAT HAVE I ‘DON. It is such a powerful and introspective body of work. What was it like putting that together, and what was the emotional process of creating it?
King Cruff: For that project, I feel like it’s ironic that the title of the record is a question because I feel like in the creative process of it, I was asking myself a lot of questions, and a lot of it had to do with the imposter syndrome. The feeling of what am I doing here? Do I belong here? Do I deserve this? Did I just trick everybody? All of these decisions I’ve made have led me to this moment. I feel like the creative process for WHAT HAVE I ‘DON was just trying to find the answer to those questions and revisiting the parts of my life where those questions were asked. Does that make sense?
JG: It does. I’ve seen you refer to the making of the project as exposure therapy, which makes sense with you mining all of your experiences that have gotten you here and laying them all out in the EP.
King Cruff: I appreciate that! It sounds like you really like it, which I’m glad for.
JG: The EP has some amazing collaborators: Skip Marley, Stonebwoy, and top-tier producers like !llmind and Banx & Ranx. How did those connections come together, and what did collaborating with them bring out in your sound?
King Cruff: I feel like that all came together very organically. Everybody on that list, I’ve had in my mind that I wanted to link up with them in some way. There’s a lot of mutual connections. The Skip one is obvious. He’s my cousin. Stonebwoy has been a friend of the family for a while. Also, if you listen to Stonebwoy’s music or go to one of his shows, you realize he loves reggae music. He loves dancehall music, and he is pretty much a dancehall artist himself. Then, with Banx & Ranx, we are represented by the same label, so we’re in the same circles, and we love the same type of music. I’m a big !llmind fan. I used to rap to !llmind beats when I was younger to practice rapping, so I’d wanted to get in with !llmind for a while. Then, literally the same day I went to !llmind’s studio, I got the beat, I went to Skip, and we made that happen. I feel like all of these things are coming together; it’s just manifestation, man. I feel like these are the pieces to the puzzle that are missing, and in some way, somehow, they’ll get there. A big shout-out to Jag.Huligin and Solo Yt as well. They are also on the project. They’re part of the very strong foundation of the King Cruff building if I could make an analogy of sorts.
JG: Oh, 100%. You mentioned, you know, connecting with different artists as well, while you were out at the JUNOS. Could we see some future collaborations on the horizon with people you met there in Vancouver?
King Cruff: Yeah, yeah, I feel like there’s a few people that I met. I’m thinking of someone specific, but I don’t want to say their name. But there are definitely a couple of people that I met that I feel like I keep running into. And we’re inevitably going to get in the studio at some point. I think it’s just a matter of, once again, putting in the work, working hard, and getting the name out there. To the point that Bob Marley said it best: “You a-go tired fi see my face.”
JG: You’ve performed at some iconic shows and shared the stage with legends like Damian Marley, Buju Banton, and Lauryn Hill. How have those live experiences influenced your growth as a performer and storyteller?
King Cruff: It always makes me want to get better. I’ve been watching Uncle Damien and Auntie Lauryn perform for years. Then, with the Jo Mersa show, you’re on the stage with these legends who are just coming in, doing what they do, and servicing the crowd, right? But the way that they perform, there’s an art to it. So I’m just sitting there and I’m just taking notes every single second.
JG: Definitely. And then performing at SXSW for the first time. What was that like for you?
King Cruff: That was great. I know I’ve been saying this a lot, but that was another full-circle moment. I remember being young and watching videos of Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar performing at their first SXSW shows and there’s nobody in the crowd. You know what I mean? That was real day-one hustling. So when I was out there at that moment, it felt that way. We had four shows in four days, plus connecting with people that I’ve been fans of. Now we’re taking away social media, and it’s all about art, and it’s all about being in person, and there’s genuine love and a genuine want to collaborate.
JG: Looking ahead, what’s next for King Cruff? More music, touring, collaborations? What can fans expect from this next chapter?
King Cruff: I would say all of the above. We’ve got some shows, we’ve got some festivals in the summer. We have FEQ in Quebec City. We have some collaborations that I can’t talk about yet, unfortunately. But they’re big. Bigger than big. More music. I feel like a staple in my career has always been just dropping as much music as possible. Making sure the fans never have to say where’s King Cruff. This break between the EP and the music that I have coming out has been the longest break I’ve taken in a while and I’m ready to break that silence. We’re also opening up for The Roots in DC this summer. That’s a big one.