About Junk

His name is Junk but he ain't no garbage clown rapper. This man has been surrounded by music from before the cradle. Knowing him means he is rapping to his dying day in a hail of rapid-fire lyrics. His mother followed the emerging punk scene to the streets of London. Round the same time, his old man landed on the scene too. At the time dude was an Italian musician on the verge of massive success with his Italian new age punk band Prozac+. Luck, the universe or whatever the fuck you wanna call it made a pit stop and birthed Junk. Soon after squatting in a derelict house in full punk fashion the pair hooked up and conceived Junk. Now the music industry is taking notice of the filthy, lyrically inclined rapper.

“Music's always been in my scene, so I'd say everywhere I go it's always been music.

Divorces, separation, pain, happiness, Music.”

Born in Germany, Junk remembers music being the only constant in his life. Fast forward to age thirteen. Back in Canada with is Ma, Junk started following his generations social movement in Rap. Along with Death Metal, Junk was captivated by the themes in mold-breaking, music. Listening to the social ills of kids his age, the plight took flight and painted a picture of restlessness, and nonconformity. All of this struck a chord with Junks mental.

“They (Rap artists) get it out to self medicate in a different way. I find true humour and beauty in darkness and pain. Speaking on it and being about it, analyzing it, putting it into bits of musical artistic expression has been my lifelong passion. The work will never judge me and I can just keep going on with it. The nice thing about rap is that there are no barriers to filters. You really just say what you fucking want. Non-authoritarian, anti-conformity type of shit. At least the hip hop I’m into.”

Junk’s innate need to explore writing and music grew and festered in him. He always had this energy burning a hole in his belly. Left unchecked his idle hands turned sour.

“Back in the day, I did a lot of drugs and I come from heavy drug culture. I did a lot experimenting with drugs, LSD, Saliva, Weed, DMT and some other chemical substances."

Young Junk became known for not giving a fuck.

"Back when I was fucking 13 I was trying to come up with rap names. I was trying to summarize what I was. To me and my boys, I was a junkie at so many things. I was a soccer junkie, basketball junkie, just a sports guy junkie. I was into partying, into girls, everything I was into was to the extreme. I am an extreme competitor, an addict at whatever the fuck I did, good or bad. But most of all I was a rap junkie. I was a student of the culture and the lyricists especially.“

Doing drugs and partying shaped the name Junkie juggler. For short they just started calling him Junk. The name stood out cause it’s a strange name. It catches people off guard. The moniker fits well because Junk is known to be self-deprecating and ain't one to sugar coat shit.

Fifteen-year-old Junk started hosting Hip Hop nights in Nelson, BC armed with a name that stuck and the knack for scribbling corrosive thoughts to a notepad. He also formed his first rap groups, Carpe Diem and Northern Images. Confidence started growing exponentially. Junk seized every opportunity to showcase his rap chops. He started to go to raves with burnt Compact discs loaded with instrumentals. DJ Premier and MOBB Deep were at the top of the list.

“I’d have a pocket full of pills. Ecstasy we called it back then. As a kid, I’d slang pills in the middle of nowhere. There’d be four, five, six hundred people there. As I’d slang the ravers would be chopping up lines of coke on their CD cases in their whips. I’d say, ‘Yo you need some shit?’ then I’d make a little transaction. Then say ‘Yo you guys wanna hear me rap?’ They’re all high and shit. I’d pop the CD in their Sony or Alpine deck or whatever. I’d rap for them for an hour and a half you know what I mean. Freestyling or material I had at the time. That was a big way I honed my craft and got my name out there into the underground dark drug culture of the rave scene. Shout out to Raves out in Nelson Haha!"

The next logical step was to run toward his ambition which meant moving to Vancouver in 2008. With the move came a raising of the bar set for himself, tougher competition and the accolades once he crushed em all. JUNK started out in the Vancouver rap scene primarily rocking house parties and battle rapping in the first Vancity division KOTD battles. He’s a four-time winner of Vancouver's Rent Money freestyle competition and the Canadian National champion of the infamous End Of The Weak freestyle competition founded in New York. He was the two-time provincial champion and took a third place finish in the World finals. JUNK beat out thirteen other countries in this prestigious rap competition held in Paris, France. He also formed a successful Duo, Northwest Division, and signed to Vancouver label Stealthbomb Records.

As one half of Vancouver group Northwest Division (NWD) and as a solo artist with 4 releases, I Am No One(I.A.N), Stupid and Ugly, Audio Heroin, and Together In Pieces under his belt, it is undeniable that Junk is a master of the art of lyricism and true freestyling. Several of JUNK’s singles have been added to popular Spotify playlists such as Canada’s Viral Top 50, Viral Hits Canada, New Music Friday Canada and Northern Bars. In 2017 JUNK released his second studio album "Stupid And Ugly". The album featured Canadian rappers Snak the Ripper and Merkules. "This Is My World" ft. Merkules placed on Spotify playlists such as 'Canada Viral 50', 'New Music Friday', and 'Northern Bars'. In one year, the Stupid And Ugly album amassed over 600k plays on Spotify alone and close to 2 million minutes of streaming. Stupid And Ugly also charted at #9 on the Canadian Rap iTunes charts. JUNK has released music videos for three tracks off the album - "Stupid and Ugly" "Church" and "Bad Human". Stupid And Ugly was picked up by 50 CENT's blog thisis50.com. Amidst the album release, Since the Stupid and Ugly album JUNK has released three singles, "No More" ft. JD Era (Toronto) "Ah-haa", and "Yell in Silence”. in February 2018 JUNK released "My Table" which was added to Spotify Playlist's 'New Music Friday Canada' 'Northern Bars', 'Canada Viral 50', 'Viral Hits Canada' and 'Stompdown Killaz'. The My Table music video was initially released exclusively on HiphopDX. JUNK has also released 12 music videos and countless freestyle remixes on his growing youtube channel. Junk left Stealthbomb and released Audio Heroin completely independently and managed to land a Grammy-nominated Cyhi The Prynce feature.

Junk is an artist on a mission. With tongue-twisting imagery and breakneck speed flows, Junk raises his consciousness above the competition with every sentence he conjures. Since JUNK's signing in 2016, he has been on a quest to showcase his skills worldwide at a rapid pace. JUNK has toured excessively across the world spitting in Israel, Georgia, Norway, Greece, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Czech Republic just to name a few. JUNK's first EP with Stealth Bomb Records titled "I.A.N." lead to two European tours as direct support for Snak The Ripper, as well as directly supporting legendary New York rap group, Onyx.

JUNK also toured across Canada in 2017 on Snak The Ripper's largest Canadian tour to date. Junk has quickly asserted himself a fan favourite especially in Western Canada as a solo artist.
In June 2018, JUNK toured Canada with American rapper, Locksmith (Oakland, CA) over twenty tour dates, to promote his album "AUDIO HEROIN". Combined with an electrifying live show, he is an example of a true artist that embraces his dark creative side while moving the crowd with pinpoint rhythmic precision.

"Every song, I go hard as fuck. I like that parallel of good and bad, almost a ying-yang type of thing.

My name makes me have to prove myself every night.

Audio heroin, that's what I am. That musical dope for your ears. It’s why my name Junk will stick forever.”

Junk is now the master of his own destiny. Independent and releasing content as quickly as weather patterns change in Vancouver. Being in the eye of the storm can be an eerily calm place. Imagine being a quarterback dropping back in the pocket as a wave of 350-pound linemen swarms around you. It’s a suspended calmness. This analogy fits the artist Junk and the making of the 2019 EP Together in Pieces. Junk seems at one with the ebb and flow of each track. His schemes come from learning who he is and wants to become.

Whether double timing or enunciating syllables for effect (and affect), Junk Sentimentally muses having everything he needs on “Already Rich”. Or the social commentary of the title track Junk upholds the beautifully destructive tradition, he has clear cut in rap music. Junk’s lyrics are flowing like boxes in and out of reno-evicted apartments. Together in Pieces features from the depth of his souls' diaphragm type of vocals from Vancouver's' Omar Khan. Complete with a haunting choir-esque sample by Im’Peritiv, the producer of the album.

Every year is a banner one for Junk. He keeps shoving that dope shit and the world keeps eating it up and asking for more. Stay on that Google cause every day is a new release for the artist known as Junk.

Written by: Chris “RVMO” Dzaka

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