Following on from their strong 2020 campaign, Canadian duo $VN (pronounced “Seven”) return with “The Code” – a dark and gritty Hip-Hop track to start the year off swinging.
The independent duo, comprised of childhood friends nyXsun and SAGS, attribute their success to the musical breeding grounds of Toronto. However, their sound is unique with long hours spent tweaking productions to ensure a cathartic listening experience for their fans.
On this particular track, the duo took inspiration from the cold, unforgiving nights of the city they inhabit. Collaborating with their longtime friend and fellow producer, shubs, the pair unleash scorching rhymes on top of a hard-hitting, modern production. The song details the code that $VN lives by when it comes to dealing with the people who’ve wronged them in the past: give them “smoke” and don’t look back. The pair flow ruthlessly on the beat, unleashing bottled-up anger on their haters and wrongdoers. The song features an ominous, glitchy synth with a melody that could’ve been written for a horror movie.
On the creative process, SAGS explains, “shubs sent this beat over on a cold winter night and I was just vibing to it. He usually sends multiple beats over so we can feel the sounds out but this time, it was just the one; I guess he knew we would like it! I wrote the hook and verse in an hour, moving fluidly and quickly between melodies, lyrics, and rhyme schemes. I had a lot of pent up aggression in me at the time and you can definitely hear it in the lyrics. nyXsun took it home with that second verse, an emphatic and melodic delivery to uplift the track. We knew that this had to be the first single that fans heard from us in 2021. We’re not playing games this year!”
$VN began releasing self-produced singles in 2018 and have been revered for their contrasting yet complementary vocal styles. With 11 singles already under their belts, their genre-infusing music has charted on SoundCloud’s “New and Hot Canadian R&B”, aired on major Canadian radio stations such as Toronto’s Hip-Hop Flow 93.5, and been featured on popular Spotify and Audiomack playlists. Alongside their musical endeavors, the pair are working on building their brand and collective, MØD.
For 2021, $VN are focused on crafting cinematic soundscapes, collaborating with other artists in their locality, and growing their fanbase globally.
