By Shannon T. Boodram

A-list hip-hop producer Matthew Samuels, professionally known as Boi-1da, is three hours late for the interview—more like three days, actually. But it’s hard to hold it against him in light of his excuse. The recently turned 25, Grammy Award-winning, Toronto-based celebrity is jet-lagged and party-paralyzed as he laments about his past 48 hours.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t know I would be going away. Drake called me, asked if I could be in Vegas for his birthday, then I was on the plane,” says Samuels who only two hours prior got back to his Ajax, Ont. home, where he lives with his family and daughter.

The story synchs. #HappyBirthdayDrake was in fact trending worldwide on Twitter and honestly, which one of us wouldn’t postpone an interview or two in favour of partying, fine food and quality time celebrating the life of the international rap star with whom you have has worked from basements to private planes. When asked why he didn’t stay in Las Vegas longer, he replies, “Trust me, you don’t want to be in Vegas for more than two days….”

Then again, short trips are not uncommon for Samuels, who has worked with artists like Eminem, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Keri Hilson, and yet still credits his daughter as his favourite person to spend time with in the studio. And, unlike urban musicians of the past, Samuels can’t wait to get back to Toronto rather than escape from it. “Toronto means everything,” he says. “I wouldn’t go anywhere else. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. It’s time for Canada to embrace itself. I am proud to make good music in Canada that Canadians love.”

Making lovable Canadian music, especially in the urban genre, has not been a simple feat—at least that’s what previous record sales illustrate. But times are changing and Samuels is arguably the longhand, leading the pack with platinum records, two Grammies and an ASCAP Award.

But despite everything in Samuel’s world changing in the past five years, things seem to have remained the same in his head. Even back when he was stocking clothes at Winners while listening to a co-worker suggest he look into a career in trades, Samuels insists he knew where his talent and persistence would take him. For the producer it was a case of when not if.

Now that his self-prophecy has materialized and he has accomplished a lifetime of dreams in a quarter century, his story begs the question: What’s next? In two simple words: “More music.” But if you listen closely, the answer is more telling than it eludes. He did not say more rap music, more urban music—just, simply, more music. “I am definitely branching out. I never want to be stagnant in this industry,” says Samuels. “Music has been separated for so long. Now look, everything is becoming pop. Ludacris just did a country song.”

In addition to his work on Drake’s sophomore release, Take Care, Samuels confirms he is working with Canadian alternative sensation Down with Webster. It’s a change of pace by which he is neither intimidated nor uneasy. Spontaneity and variety are commonly used spices for this young man who is likely to be changing luxury cars in Vegas one night and changing his daughter’s diapers in the city he will forever call home, the very next.

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