Transit Interview: There’s More to Calgary Than Cowboys

Youthink interviews Calgary hip-hop artist Transit on the eve of the release of his new album, 22.

Calgary hip-hop artist Transit is as busy as rush-hour traffic. Originally from Victoria, BC, Daniel Bennett (aka Transit) moved to Calgary for his education and is currently working towards a degree in psychology. Between releasing his latest album this fall, working with acclaimed Canadian superstar Jann Arden and touring with rapper Shad, Transit still finds the time to work with the Boys and Girls Club, contributing to hip-hop programs for youth.

Despite his hectic schedule, Transit had some time to chat with Youthink about his recent endeavours and his thoughts on the music scene in Calgary.

YT: You’re releasing a new album entitled 22 in the fall. What can fans expect to hear on the new record?
DB: It’s a lot more mature than anything I’ve ever done. I challenged myself a lot more… As a rapper, it’s really easy to get caught up in like this same flow, so the same speed, the same tempo, the same pitch. It’s just easy to fall back on what you’re comfortable with, but I really wanted to challenge myself and try and push my boundaries so that I could come up with a different album than the last one. So I’m actually really impressed with how the album is coming along.

YT: What significance does the number 22 have?
DB: So, my name Transit, I got when I was like 16 years old in Victoria. I was riding the number 22 bus and this guy started talking to me, asking me questions and he was crying and I walked him through a couple things… and he told me that after talking with me that he decided not to kill himself… because he was going to go home and kill himself because his dad was dying in the hospital and he felt no one cared about him and all that kind of stuff. So I told my friends that and they were like, “You have powerful words.” And they started calling me Transit. So that’s where that came from, was the 22 bus. And then also I recently just turned 22, so it kind of signifies like a coming-of-age album, because I put out my first CD six years ago and you know, when you’re 16 you’re not really, you’re in a different headspace.

YT: Your most famous collaboration, Calgary (We’re Not All Cowboys) features Jann Arden. What did you learn from working with her?
DB: Probably the biggest thing I learned from the whole experience was how to be down-to-earth like that. She’s a 19-time-Juno-[nominee] and she’s like humble enough to come to our basement home studio and hang out with us. She calls me every now and then to check up on me, see how my career’s doing and that’s really special because she’s so busy. So I’ve learned that if I ever even reach close to that status, I want to strive to be like that. Also, just the professionalism – she was in and out of the studio in like 20 minutes because she has such a tight schedule. It was just unbelievable to see that kind of precision from an artist.

YT: In the song Calgary (We’re Not All Cowboys), you’re clearly trying to dismiss that stereotype that Calgary is just a Stampede city. How would you like people to view Calgary instead?
DB: Well, I just think people need to stop limiting themselves… Calgary is so known for Stampede that it’s frustrating for anyone trying to do something artsy, there’s just not as much backing, whether it be media coverage, whether it be government support, whether it be stuff like that. It’s a lot harder for anything other than Stampede to really even get showcased. When there’s all these different things going on, like this Bow River Flow, Market Collective, there’s all these different festivals going on that are showcasing diversity. The thing is that Calgary is a city of one million people and not every person here is from here, most people aren’t, most people moved here during the boom or whenever they moved. So we have all these different cultures of people that don’t really sometimes get a chance to showcase that culture. I just think, I mean, I’m from Victoria and Victoria is like a really diverse place and there’s a bunch of different cultures that are showcased over there. I just think it would be cool for Calgary to be known as more than just a country town.

YT: The reason you moved to Calgary was to pursue your education. Has it been hard balancing this with your musical career?
DB: Yeah, I’m like three courses away from my degree.

YT: In?
DB: In Psychology. So I’m taking next fall off to do music. And I’m going to be living off rap, which will be kind of cool experience. Maybe I’ll end up busking or something like that. But it’s been cool, like I tour a bit while I’m in school, so I’ll like be doing homework while on the road while other people are partying or whatever. And so that’s been kind of tough, but school’s been really supportive of it. My teachers have given me assignments, like if I contact them and be, “Oh I’m leaving for tour,” they’ll give me stuff ahead of time. Stuff like that. But it definitely has been hard like you do a show until 3 am and then you’ve got to wake up and write a paper because it’s due in two hours or whatever. Like it’s kind of a rough thing, buts it’s also been great because it’s shaped who I am, it’s made me more of a person, rather than just a rapper. It’s given me all these different aspects that I tie into my music and just growing as a person and as an intellectual, that’s huge for writing. And I think a lot of writers underestimate post-secondary education because, especially in music, they don’t really see the value of it. What is a philosophy class going to teach me about music? Well, a lot of things, because it teaches you different ways to think, a different way to process information. It’s been tough definitely but it’s definitely been worth it.

YT: You connected with people on an entirely different level with your “8 Hour Challenge” YouTube video, challenging yourself to write a Top 40 pop song in eight hours. What do you think it is about that video that made it go viral?
DB: It’s a conversation starter. Most people are passionate about [music] so everyone has an opinion on it. Some people are offended by it and are like, “No, I love pop music!” and others are like,  “No, pop music is garbage.” It’s just a way for people to like really consider what’s being done in the music industry right now, so I think it was a social commentary and people really dug it because they thought it was clever. We wanted people to consider what they were putting into their ears when they were doing it.

YT: How would you say your approach to music differs from the stuff you parody in the video?
DB: That’s a good question. When I write my own songs, I try and be a lot more poetic obviously than the 8 Hour Challenge. It was kind of challenging because I’ve never written like that before. You have to really train yourself to dumb it down. It’s like trying to fail a test [laughs]. You know the answer, but you write D when you know it’s A.

YT: Do you regret declining Gene Simmons’ offer to write pop music for his label after the video went viral?
DB: Well, the thing is that Gene wanted us to do a showcase and wanted us to sing poppy rap and dance music or whatever. It wasn‘t so much of a straight-up record deal on the table, but we definitely could have probed further. But no, I don‘t regret it at all. Like sometimes you’re kind of looking at your student loan and are like, “Wow, I could really pay that off right now with a little help from Gene,” or whoever is offering. I don’t know how serious it would have been – if I would have been able to do something good with it. But after showing Gene our actual music, he wasn’t interested so we’re like, “Whatever, we’re done.”

YT: You also find the time to do some volunteer work with the Boys and Girls Club. What exactly do you do with them and why is it important to you?
DB: I run a hip-hop program... we got donated a recording studio... so Monday nights a bunch of different rappers would meet and we’d record albums together and teach each other. But it’s all free studio time so kids can come in a record their stuff for free, which is a really rare thing… I wish I would’ve had that in high school. I think that it’s a good thing for the scene in general. A lot of artists when they start getting success, they like to hoard that all to themselves… but I’m kind of more focused on developing the whole scene in general and building up these other artists. If there’s one artist making a difference, yeah, that’s good, but if there’s 10, that’s even better. You know, Calgary’s really going to see a transformation if we can build up like a bunch of different MCs of all different cultures and stuff like that.