Phylle Fresh

When asked about the definition about the word "Fresh", many responses will usually include the words "New, Clean, Cool or Refreshing". Those are more than enough words to sum up Phylle Fresh, a hip hop artist based out of Mississauga, Ontario.

Born Randolph Jones in Toronto, Ontario to Jamaican parents, Fresh discovered music at a very early age. "As far back as I remember I would always use and often get in trouble because I would be playing my father's Bob Marley and Byron Lee records on his turntables and he was afraid of me breaking the tone arm or needle"

At the age of 6, he began to play the piano and gradually picked up more intruments as he grew older. "I always wanted to play the drums, but there was no space in our apartment for a drum set so my mom wouldn't let, so what I did was at school and later when I played the steel pan, and was a part of my high school band, I would often jam on the drums and teach myself. I had gotten good enough that they had asked me to be the drummer for our school gospel choir."

Ironically enough though, Phylle never really knew much about hip hop and rap music as a youngster. "Growing up in the suburbs and starting school at a French Private school ( The Toronto French School) I grew up around everyone BUT black kids, so I was listening to groups like Oasis, Our Lady Peace, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day and Ace of Base before I got into Run-DMC and Naughty by Nature. The first hip hop group that I fell in love with and wanted to be like was Kid'N'Play. The first rap CD I remember having was 36 Chambers by the Wu-Tang Clan, and anyone who knows the first song on that CD, will know why my mom almost made it forbidden for me to listen to it"

It wasn't until the 8th grade during the "Puffy and Mase Era" that Fresh began to pay more attention to rap music." There was something about that whole vibe that was just attractive to me, so I began memorizing the lyrics to their songs and performing them at school, often time filling up the hallways and causing the teachers to panic because they probably thought there was a fight breaking out because of the crowds I drew"

Later on Phylle began writing his own lyrics, however because of outside influence, his early material was filled with tales of violence and drug dealing (none which he was actually doing). "It's funny because I was just emulating all the music I was listening to because I thought THAT'S what rap music was....boy was I wrong. At that time I never knew anything about the Talib Kweli's or Common because they're music and others like them, isn't the type of rap music that gets force fed to the masses "

Ironically a turning point occured when his father found his rhyme pad and confronted him on his choice of subject matter. " My dad said to me if I was doing any of the stuff I was writing about, (obviously not I'm from the suburbs). I said no, I was just writing that because that's what all the other rappers were saying in their music. He told me that if I was serious about it I should let the songs come from YOU and not try to be something I'm not. From then on I did a complete 360 and started to dive deeper in rap and I learned more about the history of it. Not only that but I changed my whole style and began to craft songs about MY life and how I see things. What people have to understand is that as a rapper we have a voice and people actually listen to what we say, so now I'm more conscious of the messages I put out because I love hip hop and unfortunately its perceived negatively by alot of folks, so if I can show people there are artist saying something positive while still having a good time then I'm happy".

Over the years Phylle Fresh has been exposed to a wide array of musical styles and genres and all are very evident in his own music. "People always look at me like I'm crazy when they ask me what I'm listening to at the current time and I give them and answer, it ranges from Gavin Degraw, to Billy Talent, to Destra, to Kanye West, to Little Brother to Vybz Kartel to Benny Benassi and I even go back to Ace of Base just to reminisce."

When it is all said and done, Phylle Fresh is simply a by-product of MASSIVE musical influence. While staying true to his hip hop roots he is a rare breed of rapper that can succesfully blur the lines between hip hop with honest social commentary and an old fashion good time.