“Canon is a creative individual. Canon is a hard worker. Canon is a people-person who loves creating genuine relationships.”
“I’m a for-real extrovert. When I’m out and about, you might hear me before you see me.” His explosive, energetic nature is how he first got the nickname Canon. “That’s what you’re gonna get when you hear my music.” He describes himself as bold, passionate, unafraid, and unapologetic. “When you think about a cannon, like a cannon, or even a gun… there is no cannon or gun that is apologetic about the trigger.”
Growing up Canon was a huge hip-hop fan. “That’s all I listened to. I loved hip-hop so much, I hated listening to Gospel music, and I grew up in the church.” He says he was born into the hip-hop culture which guided how he walked and talked, and still does. Canon was able to recite rap lyrics before he entered kindergarten and started writing his own raps at age eleven.
“I took all I have and put it into hip-hop.”
This month Canon released a new album, Home. “This is a very hopeful album.” Home means a lot more than a house to Canon. “What comes from home is traditions. What comes from home is history, culture, your native tongue, your language, who you are…” He wants listeners to hear his album and be proud of who they are and where they came from.
“I want them to be excited to say, ‘This is my home, and I love this home with all that God has given me.’”
Canon wants people to not worry about comparing themselves and their surroundings to others, knowing that their home is what God has made of it. Hope is a crucial theme of Home.
“I want them to get hope. I want them to be proud of where they’ve come from and proud to call their home ‘home.’”
His album cover includes a collage of photos from his life including pictures from his grade-school yearbooks, a photo of him and his wife, and a photo of him in the hospital after his near-death accident in 2014. “As I’ve been going through some of my photos, I feel like some of them connected with some of the songs [and their messages] that I was saying.”
Each song is inspired by a different aspect or season of his life.
“I’m walking people through my life experiences that I felt happened and hit home.”
“I want people to identify and say, you know what, there was a time where I had to push through, or there was a time where I didn’t think I was gonna make it, but then I looked to my left and my right and my brothers and sisters were [there to] support me.” These situations inspired songs like “Push Thru” and “We Gone Make It.”
“Ain’t Got to Love Me” features Aaron Cole and Canon’s RMG labelmate Tony Tillman. In past years and months, Canon has been left out of tours with other Christian artists that he believed he should’ve been made a part of. “How come I didn’t get the call for it? My numbers are doing great,” he often thought.
Looking back, he has realized that seeking the approval of others in this situation is futile.
“Ain’t no love lost. In fact, you ain’t got to love me. It’s all good because at the end of the day I’ve got my team. I’ve got my family, my people that support me.”
“Pacman” features Aaron Cole and is a metaphor for how Canon’s life is like a maze that he has had to get through without being stopped. In the video game, “[Pacman is] trying to figure a way out without getting clipped himself. He’s trying to get all his goals before his time is up.” Canon notes that he has many enemies, especially the devil, trying to stop him from following his goals.
Despite such messages, Canon wants to remind listeners that Home is a hopeful album.
“The hope is that you make it out. The hope is that you continue [moving towards] your goals. The hope is that you rise above all opposition that’s coming your way.”
“You Got Me” features Lawren and Xay Hill and is inspired by the music industry, more specifically its bad parts and people. “You [tricked] me, man. The industry is not innocent. When I thought things were a certain way, I realized they are not.” Canon decided to tell listeners about how the music industry really works.
“It’s gonna be rare that you find honest people in the industry. It’s gonna be rare that you find people in the industry without a hidden agenda. It’s gonna be rare that you find people in the industry who really care about you.”
When he first got into the music industry, he thought that people behind the scenes of Christian music would be more honest. “You had me thinking that being a Christian artist, there would be some night-and-day differences. Nope. Not at all.” Canon notes that even Christian artists can be living a double-life, not practicing what they preach. “I’ve seen Christian artists [of whom] you would question their salvation.”
“You’ve got conniving liars here in Christian music and conniving liars in mainstream [music.] You name it bro, you got me.”
Canon traditionally doesn’t have many features on his albums and EPs, except for the occasional verse from one of his RMG labelmates. Home switches up that trend, featuring twelve different artists. “I figured, you know what? I would extend myself and work with other people, other individuals that I’m a fan of.”
Outside of his own music, Canon enjoys spending time with his family, playing video games, and working with other artists. “I love engineering, producing. I love doing artist development. I love working on designs, video editing, post-production.”
“If anything, I pray that people walk away being proud of who they are and proud of where they come from and knowing that God put them there on purpose.”
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