Toronto’s Best Kept Secret talks topping Billboard charts, new collaborations, work ethic & more

Published

August 27, 2021

Over the past few years, several independent movements have done an incredible job carving out a lane for themselves within the highly saturated Canadian scene. One such movement is Toronto’s Best Kept Secret, who boasts what is easily one of the most impressive catalogues coming out of the GTA.

To give you a sense of their discography, Best Kept Secret has been behind and/or a part of hit records like Hoodie Szn by A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon by Pop Smoke, “Basement on Fire” by Kodak Black, Melly vs. Melvin by YNW Melly, as well as Anuel AA and Ozuna’s number one Billboard hit. Their resume also includes work with Tory Lanez, Danny Wolf, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, YBN Nahmar, Papiyerr, and more. The young company recently announced a publishing partnership with Sony ATV.

After initially connecting with Best Kept Secret back in February 2020, I had the opportunity to catch up with the team to discuss their plans for the future and what they’ve been up to since we last spoke.

Q&A: Best Kept Secret

HipHopCanada: What have been some of your favorite projects that Best Kept Secret has been a part of this year?

Best Kept Secret: I really like the “Run” single, our own record (Pitt Tha Kid) with Lil Wayne and Taliban Dooda. It hit our first milly as an independent artist. So that was probably one of the coolest, the most hands on things that we’ve worked on at the company.

HipHopCanada: Who are some of the artists / main genres right now that you guys are focused on developing?

BKS: We’re focused a lot in the sync world right now. We just came off the show, The Chi. One of our clients is in one of the new season’s episodes. We’re also going to be really focused on diving into more of the pop, K-pop and Latin world as well to take us out of just the hip-hop box. That’s very important for us.

HipHopCanada: What has it been like for Best Kept Secret in terms of going from where you were last year to where things stand now? What has it been like to be able to see your work come back full circle?

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BKS: We stayed in tunnel vision, so we didn’t really take time to smell the roses at all. We thank God for everything and we feel like we still have so much more to accomplish, so much more to do that. You know, success is really determined, you know, value itself. Like I think as a human being, we don’t, we don’t really get caught up on social media or the sport of the clout, you know? Clout is clout.

It’s not, you know, success necessarily, unless that is your definition of success. But for us, we’re very tunnel vision, meaning we don’t really focus on anything that’s been done. We just focus on what’s coming. We thank God for all the blessings we’ve received and we try to be as genuine as we can in this industry. We always try to show love back to people. We always try to help out other people in life. Sometimes, we think that people forget how much we try to help them and everyone else, you know, I think can get caught up in their own, their own world. But we as a company, and as individuals, are just grateful. But we have not hit the accolades that we want to hit yet fully. We have a lot more on the agenda to achieve. We are grateful and we thank God for everything, but we still have a lot more to accomplish. And, and so for that being said, everything feels like we’re on the right track in life. But there’s always a hundred people bigger than you. So, we still got a lot of work to do.

HipHopCanada: What was the transition like to go from the hip-hop world into more of a Spanish influence? What was the work that you guys needed to do to be able to achieve that number one billboard status?

BKS: We went number one on Billboard twice already with Jay Belvin and everything. We then went number one again with the Anual AA record. We’re going to continue to stay focused on those different genres, not just keeping us in a box.

HipHopCanada: Are you able to comment on any big collaborations you guys have coming up?

BKS: Yeah, we got some stuff with Mary J. Blige and we got some stuff on Big Sean’s albums, as well as a Moneybagg Yo placement coming up, stuff like that.

HipHopCanada: That’s crazy. Can you speak on the Moneybagg Yo placement?

BKS: Actually, if you want to know the truth, they’re giving our CEO, written credit on the album.

HipHopCanada: One of the questions I always like to ask anybody that I interview is for a piece of advice that you could give to an entrepreneur. Regardless of whatever they’re doing in the industry.

BKS: Yeah, the main key really make sure you stay tunnel vision, meaning don’t get caught up with what everyone else is doing in life. Don’t make yourself feel like you’re behind the eight ball. You know, when you watch social media… Instagram and these other platforms, it’s a fake flexing world. It’s not real. It’s not real. And people are thrown off when they’re not doing enough or they’re not where they’re supposed to be. And you know, life is about seeing progression, being happy and having your dreams and goals that you’re working towards. And with that being said, you know, stay pure and genuine. No matter how you feel like the other people are treating you or the type of energy that they’re giving you in life, stay true to yourself and stay pure in judgment and life towards everyone around you. It doesn’t mean that you have to give your energy if you don’t want to, but don’t change your energy due to other people’s actions or how people may treat you. If you feel like you’re being slept on, nobody owes you anything in life. So, don’t compete with anyone except yourself. That’s your own competition is yourself. Do not compete with anyone else because that’s where you’ll start to get distracted. Your energy will change, your vibe will change how you treat people will change. Keeping integrity in this world, regardless of the industry, just keeping integrity and being pure goes such a long way.