SonReal has finally found his musical style. It’s been a long time coming for Aaron Hoffman, who has used the stage name since he self-released a DIY album for friends in 2008. Eight years later, the Vancouver-based rapper has finally released a major label-released work — called The Name — that he considers the embodiment of SonReal. Before the first of a sold-out, two-night stand at Webster Hall opening for rapper Jon Bellion, we chatted with Hoffman about his career over sushi in Manhattan. 

One thing’s for sure: the 31 year-old pop rapper is more down-to-earth than you might expect from his suave, radio-ready hit “Can I Get A Witness.” He notes that he doesn’t have a natural talent for rap (“I wasn’t good at all [at first]. It took me a long time.”). And he took lots of inspiration from his idols (“One day I would sound like this rapper. The next day, I’d be like ‘I want to sound like him now.’”)

“The biggest thing is I’m just learning how to be myself over the years,” explains Hoffman while we wait for our food. “A lot of people think it’d be really easy – you’re you, so why can’t you just be you? It’s not that easy. When you’re making art, you’re styled by so many things. It’s hard to dig deep and find what it is about you that’s special that differentiates you from everyone else.”

Originally from the small British Columbia city of Vernon, he became interested in rap while skateboarding as a teenager. 

“I used to watch skateboard videos and groups like Nas would be playing on there. I just became fascinated with it. I love people like Common – I love conscious rap to hardcore gangster rap to nerdy backpack rap. I just liked rap. I also just liked music and the whole lifestyle of just music and the whole rock ‘n roll mentality of you can’t tell me what to do.”

Hoffman first decided to try his hand at rapping when he was 15. “You can’t spit without slobbering and you scoring drugs,” he raps to us, remembering the lyrics to his first song. “You get severely cursed. In the department of freestyle unrehearsed. I could’ve ripped you apart in elementary with all the natural skill like an infinite gentry.” Needless to say, his lyrical skills have since improved. 

On The Name, he worked with producer Rocky (Kendrick Lamar) to find the sound of SonReal. And Rocky was the one who convinced him to sing on the EP. “We did it. It was a song called 'All I Got.' It was a really special song. I started realizing he did some of the softest songs on the album. The way he likes to work is he likes to work with live instruments. Start with just the piano and build it slowly from there. It’s really cool."

He shows his spunk, though, on songs like “No Warm Up” and the lead single “Can I Get A Witness.” The latter is a statement to people who think he’s sold out. “It’s me telling my fans look, this is the most purest form of me,’ says Hoffman. “I even brought back all the old characters from my old videos in the [music] video because I wanted to show love to where I come from and where I’m at now."  

After scarfing down two different salmon rolls (Yuzo Miso and Orange Dragon), the rapper explained why music videos are so important to him.

“I always thought that the music video was a visual representation of the song. It should be just as justifiable as the song is. I put so much work into my music. Why wouldn’t I put so much work into the video that represents it? We’ve always just taken it really seriously.”

His most recent video for “Soho,” which was he worked on during a cross-country Canadian tour, shows that he wants to push the boundaries with his visuals. Shot in Regina, Halifax and Prince Edward Island, it features aerial and close-ups of the desolate Canadian terrain (with and without SonReal and his crew rapping). “We had no thought going into it at all,” he says. “I just knew I wanted to shoot a video in beautiful Canada and show people what some of these areas really look like, some of these desolate areas in the middle of Canada.”

Canada is — and always will be — a big part of SonReal’s identity. While artists like The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and Drake have put Canadian pop music on the map, he noted that Canadian musicians are at a disadvantage because of the country's small size. “Just doing music in Canada is a lot more difficult because there’s less people in Canada than there is in the state of California,” says the rapper. “Even to have a million views on a video as a Canadian artist, you’re one of the few in Canada.”

So far, three of his videos have hit the million views mark, and that is something any artist should be proud of.