{"id":12639,"date":"2024-01-19T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12639"},"modified":"2026-05-09T12:51:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T17:51:40","slug":"interview-len-bowen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2024\/01\/19\/interview-len-bowen\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview :: Len Bowen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Len<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by Angelo Lamsen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos by Khammy P and Len Bowen <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is an interview with Len Bowen, a Rap artist hailing from Winnipeg. Known for his lyrical prowess, Len has crafted a diverse catalogue of songs, ranging from soul-searching meditations to electrifying battle-ready verses. Here, we discuss his latest project, NTHN4GRNTD<\/em>, and dive into what influenced it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Stylus: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: The inspiration behind Nothing for Granted was the challenge of letting people know, first of all, my humble beginnings. Everything I\u2019ve gone through and the support system that I had, being my mother, my friends growing up, my group members from the Shades who still support me even though I\u2019m a solo act at this point, and all of the relationships I\u2019ve built and the ups and downs I\u2019ve gone through to get to this point. That\u2019s really it. It hasn\u2019t been an easy road. Along the way since the pandemic, I\u2019ve got my manager in place now, Wayne Booth, who\u2019s helped accelerate what I\u2019m trying to do dramatically. And the work I did with Fourth Quarter Records early in the pandemic, putting out Flow Nostalgia, one and two EPs, and the years in the making EP following that, which led me to Nothing for Granted. So it\u2019s just been a natural progression and staying consistent with everything I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: How do you go about choosing the tracks for a project like this? How do they all tie in together?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: I wanted to paint a picture. I wanted to make this picture cinematic. I wanted, when you hear the first track to the last track, it painted a picture. So Black Orchid is basically the outset where I\u2019m starting my day, and I\u2019m in a good mood, and I\u2019m kind of reflecting on things I\u2019ve gone through, looking back at days when I was first getting into studios, being young, naive, and hungry, and people seeing that and kind of taking advantage of it for their own personal gain, whether it was making money off me for studio time or a grant or what have you, and just meeting people over the years and growing from experiences to the last track, where I\u2019m basically late to the party talking about the city needing more self-pride and confidence in themselves and cheering for the home team more instead of the visitors. No one\u2019s going to respect Winnipeg unless we respect ourselves. So until we start supporting each other, whether it\u2019s DJs, MCs, rap artists, B-boys, whether the DJs are playing the local artist\u2019s music, or whether everyone\u2019s coming together for one common cause, nobody else is going to respect us. You go to other cities, and it\u2019s like they might as well have their own flag because of how hard they rap it, so we\u2019ve got to get on that page as far as Winnipeg goes. So between the start and the end and everything in between, it\u2019s just really going through different phases, whether it was relationships I\u2019ve had, ups and downs of the game, and just the moral support that I\u2019ve had over the years, not to quit and continue to make music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: Listening back to the songs you picked for this project, were there any that stood out to you afterward, maybe something that surprised you? Like this could be a real hit, this could get millions of streams, or was it just like, this is a good body of work, I like it, boom, let\u2019s put it out.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: Oceans and Beaches, for sure, with the right machine behind it, I think that could be a global hit. I think the production, the hook, the way everything came out, just the lyrics, the sequence, everything just came together and fell into place. I think it just makes sense, and the irony is that the track was ready, the project was dropping in the summertime, and it\u2019s totally geared towards summer and getting people on the dance floor to enjoy themselves and have a good time. Also, Big Dreamer 2, which is basically me coming full circle from the original Big Dreamer that came out on my first EP, Long Story Short, over ten years ago, is like my Rocky V<\/em> story, where I\u2019m sitting there having a conversation with my mother and talking about everything I\u2019m still going through and reflecting on her support through the years and the jewels she\u2019s dropped on me, the advice she\u2019s given me, and also having the perspective from an up-and-coming artist who\u2019s on fire right now from my city as well. So it\u2019s kind of like the OG and the young gun going back and forth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: So yeah. Yeah, I mean, those two songs are really like, as far as a vibe, like two different vibes, but both dope.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: Yeah, two completely different vibes, but still, I mean, Big Dreamer 2 is saying a lot, and I know a lot of people, no matter who you are, can relate to that song in one way or another or at least appreciate the sentiment of the song. And Oceans and Beaches is basically, there\u2019s no song on this project that replicates itself. Whether it\u2019s production or subject matter, every song is a life in itself, and it\u2019s basically giving you eight chapters of my life condensed into a project. So that\u2019s really what I was trying to accomplish, and I think I did that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: That goes into your collaborators. How did you go about choosing your collaborators? I know YSN Fab is on the Big Dreamer 2, and you have JRDN on the Million Dollar Baby. Also, Andrew O of The Lytics. So, how did you go about choosing people to collaborate with?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: The majority of the collaborations on the project are relationships I\u2019ve built over the years with artists. I\u2019ve known JRDN for years before he blew up and won the Juno. And we\u2019ve worked together in the past on previous projects I\u2019ve released. So it was basically reaching out to people that I have a rapport with because I wanted it to feel, I wanted it to be organic. There are only a couple of artists on the project that I really haven\u2019t worked with before. Aeson Eastwood and YSN Fab, but I built a rapport pretty quickly with them, and we got it done. Basically, when I\u2019m making music, I see the outcome, and I\u2019m pretty good at curating. So it was a situation where I had tracks where I was telling stories, tracks where I\u2019m just giving you bars. But, the majority of the project is story-based. And I wanted there to be a lot of dynamic in the sense where you weren\u2019t hearing me over and over again. And that\u2019s what I tried to do: create a rollercoaster ride of emotions, vocal tones, and production. And where I saw this artist fitting into a particular track, I honestly just reached out. I told them the concept. I gave them the beat, whether they were on a verse or a hook. And I\u2019m really good at painting the picture. So, nine out of ten times, the outcome is what you hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: Moving into lyricism, after you\u2019ve written the rhymes and everything, do you ever think back, are people going to get this? Do you ever wonder if it will take a while for people to understand what you’re actually saying?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: I already know when I\u2019m writing a song whether people are going to get it right away or they might have to listen to it a few times before they catch everything. So I just make sure when I\u2019m writing, I\u2019m being honest with myself, and I try not to do anything too deliberate. I want it to be organic and natural, and if a track is straightforward, so be it. If a track is more lyrically complex and you have to listen to it a few times, so be it. And the great thing about that is it keeps people coming back and listening to what they didn\u2019t catch the first time. So, I just unintentionally have a healthy balance of both on this project. I\u2019ve been doing this long enough that when I do a track, I kind of know where I\u2019m going with it. So it just so happens to turn out like that. I might do a track where you might think the lyrics are straightforward because of how I\u2019ve delivered it and not catch a clever line or double entendre or metaphor or cliche or analogy the first time. I treat writing for music as if I were writing for a script or a movie where there\u2019s such a thing as lazy writing. Where the outcome is predictive, and I\u2019m doing the same thing when I make music. I can lead you in a direction and think it\u2019s going to end like this, and it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: With that approach of Martin Scorsese, as in you\u2019re the director and this is the story you want to tell. Do you think that there are any issues with people writing and rapping like that but have not lived that specific life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: I\u2019m from the era where it\u2019s all about your street cred, and if you say it, you should have done it, lived it, or experienced it in one way or another. Fortunately, Hip Hop and Rap have gotten so big to the point where it\u2019s pop music, and unfortunately, fake is the new real. So people look at this as entertainment. People are okay if you don\u2019t write your own lyrics. People are okay if you don\u2019t live the life that you portray in your music because it\u2019s just entertainment. It is entertainment, but if you want to take it back to the foundation of Hip Hop and what this is really about, as far as the emceeing aspect goes, it\u2019s about being clever, it\u2019s about battling, it\u2019s about saying something dope. It\u2019s about being a voice for oppressed people, but it\u2019s also about being who you say you are. So from that aspect, yes, but it\u2019s a grey area now because the genre is so big where it\u2019s entertainment, and it\u2019s acceptable to just literally be a character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: Now, production on this project. Who produced the album, and how was the process of choosing the right producer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: So the project is exclusively produced by TOUGH DUMPLIN, a.k.a. MC Collision of the legendary group Nefarious. I\u2019ve known TOUGH DUMPLIN for years. We\u2019ve worked together in the past on songs like Slip Away, which was a collaboration with my old group, The Shades, and Mood Ruff, that made the soundtrack for the movie How She Move, which was a dance movie out of Toronto. He\u2019s done tracks where he\u2019s produced for The Shades and been featured on songs with The Shades, as well as myself, Len Bowen, as a solo artist. So we always kept in touch and, again, going back to building relationships. I\u2019ve known him for a long time. I first met him when he came to Winnipeg for an old hip hop festival out here called Peg City Holla that was put on by Mood Ruff. And we just kept in touch over the years, and the opportunity presented itself for us to work together on a full length project. So he did everything on there as far as the production goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: The meaning behind the title. Can you walk us through the choice of that and how it\u2019s spelled?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: There\u2019s no vowels. So it\u2019s broken down, and NTHN4GRNTD<\/em> is taking nothing for granted on my road to get to this point. Building relationships with artists, friends, strangers, anything that\u2019s happened to me along the way that\u2019s gotten me here, whether it was an opportunity or a disappointment, knowing everything happened for a reason. The four, the number four, instead of spelling the word out, F-O-U-R, it\u2019s kind of a numerology thing. I was born on November 4th. My mother was born on June 14th. My dad was born on June 24th. The apartment that I grew up in 16 years of my life in Central, I lived on the fourth floor, apartment 409. The number four has basically followed me around my entire life. And I wanted to implement that in the project somehow or some way. I was looking for titles, and I had a few, but nothing really felt right. Then all of a sudden, nothing for granted came to me because I knew before this project started, honestly, how good it was going to be. I told TOUGH DUMPLIN before I picked a beat, before I even had a topic that this was going to be great. I put it in the air. And when it was finished, I was like, I don\u2019t want to have a title that is basically blowing my own horn before people hear it. I wanted to remain humble and hope that people give it a chance because, at the end of the day, I\u2019m coming from Winnipeg, Canada, where it\u2019s tough enough to make headway in the city, never mind outside of the city. And I\u2019m trying with this project. I worked harder on this thing than I\u2019ve worked in a long time on anything else. Not that I didn\u2019t work hard, but I really isolated myself to create this body of work. And I think it\u2019s overdue for Winnipeg, whether it\u2019s myself or another artist or group, to be a part of the conversation on a national level. You know what I mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: Absolutely. So, like you said earlier, you\u2019ve been doing this for a really long time, especially considering how short of a lifespan careers are in hip hop or people just rapping it. Let\u2019s just say rappers in Winnipeg, right? They rap for a couple of years. Nothing hits. They quit. They move on with their lives. How have you stayed relevant within the city? How do you keep continuing to rap? Because there\u2019s so much discouragement out there, like after five years, after ten years, after 15 years of rapping.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: Just never giving up on myself, putting out consistent quality in the music that I make, and not lying to myself about where I am as far as making music. Always looking at it objectively. I go to the same people every time I make music, and I share with them, which is my group, the Shades, Bigs, and Bad Manners. Once I get the call sign from them, you know, my cousin out in New York, Rohan, who\u2019s basically my brother, who I\u2019ve been going back and forth from here to Brooklyn for like 17 summers straight practically. My older cousins, Chubby D, and Ryan Facey, are people that I consider family and their opinion of my music. I respect their opinion on another level of what I\u2019m doing, and there\u2019s no one to yes man around me. So if something\u2019s whack or could be better, they\u2019re going to let me know. This is like a discipline to me that I\u2019ve been doing for so long. It\u2019s a muscle that I\u2019ve developed, and I always listen to my previous body of work to ensure whatever I put out next is better. Because if it\u2019s not better, there\u2019s no point in putting it out. So that\u2019s the added pressure that I put on myself every time I make new music that I\u2019m going to share with people in the form of a project. So not a lot of people are willing to do that, and life, let\u2019s be real, for as long as I\u2019ve been doing it, life gets in the way. It could be your health, it could be your relationship with your spouse, it could be your job. A lot of things can happen to people over the years that make them walk away from this. But I\u2019ve been fortunate to be able to balance life with the music. Maybe because I\u2019d be lying to myself if I acted like this was just a hobby because it\u2019s not to me, and it\u2019s not about the money. I do it because it\u2019s a huge part of who I am. It\u2019s an extension of my personality, and that\u2019s why I continue to do it. Whether other people\u2019s motives or agendas were different, whether they were doing it for clout, to be popular, to make some money, whatever the case may be. Those weren\u2019t mine, and maybe that\u2019s the reason I\u2019m still around. Or maybe I just don\u2019t know what to say; maybe my mental stamina is just different from others. But whatever the reason people walk away, it\u2019s their own personal reason, and I\u2019m on my own personal journey with my music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S: Alright, that\u2019s all the questions. Any shoutouts you want to give or message you want to put out there? Any last things you want to mention?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Len Bowen: Shoutout to my team, my manager Wayne Booth, 4th Quarter Anthony, and The Shades. I wouldn\u2019t be who I am as an artist if it wasn\u2019t for my brothers, Baking Bad Manners. Shoutout to TOUGH DUMPLIN for working with me on this project and helping me grow as an artist and take my music to another level that I didn\u2019t think was possible. And to everybody in the city, just remember this is a brotherhood, and we\u2019ve got to start working together and not against each other and growing as a community. And supporting unconditionally is the first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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