Drawing influence from Toronto street rap, sleazy rock’n’roll, drugged-out trap, and swag-era bravado, rapper and occasional model Dyltwosix has earned a cult following with a uniquely Canadian brand of rap (“twosix” being a colloquial Canuck term for 750 ml bottles of liquor). Throughout his 2019 debut Geeked Again and 2022 LP Brazen Child, produced in-house by Stardog label associate Loukeman, Twosix’s radically honest pen followed a loosely biographic narrative of personal growth over countless nights spent geeked. Lyrics comparing his constant state of intoxication to Trailer Park Boys characters and recalling the panic of checking his Toronto Dominion bank account the next day proved that relatably Canadian experience hardly ends with Drake. Across his most recent EP, 2024’s Live Life Brazenly, Twosix seemingly found a healthier balance between his proclivity for ice-cold Sleeman beers and his current Zyzz-worshipping weightlifter lifestyle.
On the reflective new track “Lived and Ive Learned,” he picks up right where he left off, declaring, “I’m jumping out the gym, straight up to the club” over a synth-heavy beat from regular collaborators Loukeman and Ian Mills. His never-fully-serious demeanor and borderline absurd bars carry a similar appeal to acts like Surf Gang or Xaviersobased—except his verses are loaded with Canada-specific references to Tim Horton’s, Crown Royal whisky, and gym chain GoodLife Fitness. Quickly swapping between poetic retrospection and one-off lines about partying (“I’ve been on the edge so many times it’s like I love to lose it/I been doing some crazy shit for the world’s amusement”), he packs in too many hilarious quotables for one listen.
