Lyve Kaos really loves Toronto.

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Pick almost any track on his album with DJ Dlux, Project Lion, or better yet, talk to him for even a few minutes and it becomes obvious – this dude loves the city where he was born.

“I think overall it needs to be known what a great city it is,” he explains. “It’s such a sleeper, you know? And the people here don’t really realize it.”

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Born Ajay Thuraisingham, Lyve moved to Miami with his family when he was about a year old and that is where he grew up. He has since moved back to the Big Smoke, where he claims there is a better independent music scene, especially for hip hop acts.

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A true school MC, Lyve cut his teeth in the Miami battle scene, gaining confidence and mastering his craft. That route, however, could only get an emerging MC so far.

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“I was doing these shows, and you see the same people,” he says. “Over here it’s a little bit more collaborative. There it was very competitive – you’re always fighting for the time slots, the right opening acts, things like that. But you reach a certain ceiling at some point.”

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He also used to be part of a collective, and has put out tracks with some hip-hop heavy hitters. A die-hard Wu Tang Clan fan, Lyve got the chance to work with Cappadonna, as well as with the man himself, KRS-One.

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While he quickly explains that he misses the fun and the inspiration that comes from collaboration, the freedom of being on his own gives him more opportunities lyrically.

“I love the independence of being able to write what I want to write,” he says. “I feel like I get into a different kind of zone and I dig deeper and I’m able to hit topics and issues that I deal with inside a lot better alone, or just having a beat from Dlux.”

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Spend some time listening to Lyve, and one can quickly see that he has capitalized on the chance to explore various themes. No longer reliant on the braggadocio that comes with battling, he has become a more conscious rapper – often lyrically not far from the likes of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, or even Shad – fighting now for what he considers to be crucial to good art: authenticity.

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“I ventured out of battling because I didn’t want to be pigeonholed as one of those battle rappers who can’t write music,” he says. “[But] every now and then I feel the need to just drop one of those 100-bar verses.”

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“Human beings are so multidimensional – [rappers are] not just meant to be cornered into street rap, or political rap, or conscious rap. We all have different dimensions to us.”

He is not all talk either. A former Big Brother, Lyve found his voice and connection with youth when he started opening up about his incarceration. It was through this honesty that he was able to really bond with the kids, and it is something that he is not afraid to open up about in his verses either – while never glorifying it like so many others.

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“I wish I could influence younger people so they don’t make the same mistakes I did,” he says. “And it’s a tough line to walk, because you have to be authentic about certain things – certain principles and characteristics, the good that comes out of that lifestyle – but at the same time, walk a fine line of steering people away from [the negative] and not preaching.”

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It is this positive outlook that shapes Lyve’s future. Promising to “get it going” in the Trump era, he is certain that the political climate has great potential and promise.

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 “You’ve got to look on the bright side of things,” he says. “This is the time to unify, this is the time to organize, this is the time to really speak everyone’s minds and get this stuff on the plate and on the surface. Use it for that, don’t just sit there and complain.”