Features : Canadian artist OKONI makes opening move into trap with “Lambo”

Montreal, Canada, rapper OKONI has put out about 80 tracks since 2021, all of them trap. They include four albums and four EPs. The single he has chosen to launch him into public is “Lambo” off the EP Days of Trap.

It begins with a trippy, fast-moving piano melody leading up to the bass line. OKONI comes in with the drum beat. His opening line, “Do you see me riding in a lambo,” is making a statement, declaring his drive to greatness.

“Lambo is like running toward a dream, like manifesting something great,” he said. “When I say, ‘Do you see me riding in the lambo,’ I’m talking about the dream of being a rapper.”

He explains that when rappers talk about lambos, they are manifesting a desire, a quest for greatness. “I do not have the lambo yet, but I am manifesting the lambo.”

In “Lambo,” he is having fun in the manifestation, which is another reason he chose “Lambo” as his opener.

“Music,” he said, “is pretty much to have fun. I mainly make music for fun, and ‘Lambo’ is my favorite.”

OKONI got his dream of rap from listening to Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Future. His favorite Lil Wayne is “A Milli.” For Rick Ross, his favorite track is “9 Piece,” and his favorite of Future’s is “Tony Montana.”

He was born in Montreal, moved to Ottawa when he was 10 and now lives in Toronto, where he is studying music production at the Trebas Institute for the study of audio, film and television.

It is the drive that created 80 songs (81, if you count the one he put out in 2018, before he got serious).

“The reason I have so many tracks is because of the pandemic. I really had nothing to do. I was going to work. I stacked up some money, and I put it into my music skills.”

“I really like music, so I put out as much as I can.”

He dropped two singles in 2021. In 2022, he put out an 18-track album, God See You, I Respect You, a 17-track Time Was Here Part 1 and the 16-track Time Was Here Part 2.

He followed up with two five-track EPs, Days of Trap and Days of Trap Part 2.

So far in 2023 he has two four-track EPs, The Dream Says and Misunderstood, and a 12-track album, No Trouble.

What appeals to him about rap, trap in particular, is “the freedom of expression in it.”

“The aggressiveness in it — what they say, how they say it and the swag behind it.”

The audience he seeks is people who like the sound of trap, young people in his age range, 18 to 25, “pretty much anybody who likes hearing lambo music.”

He has his own sound, his own things to say.

“Everybody has a vision, and it takes time to craft it, and right now what I have to say is my character makes me who I am.”

Another part of his vision is that music is a skill of attracting people to something great, “to bring people in and show them something great and to have a good time.”

Plus, “The typical artist’s dream — make it big.”

He aims for variety within his trap. The openings of his tracks are wildly various in style, instrumentation and melody. The flow, he said, differs from track to track. His interest in and study of production also plays a role.

“If you can produce it better, it can bring up better ideas,” he said.

One of those ideas is bringing people together.

“My music is meant to unify people. It’s to listen to, all right? You’ll have the greatest time of your life.”

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