It was a big surprise, it still kind of is. The cool thing about it was me and the people I work with, people I've been doing this with for five years, got to go out and celebrate together. It was some kind of marker, like, “Hey, let's go celebrate because we've been working together for a very long time and we've reached this point — whatever this means.”

So that was the night of. What did you do the day after?

I said my thank yous. I had to find a half decent looking shirt for the Sunday thing [the closing gala of Juno Week] and I failed. I wore clothes that are normal, but I looked like I was going to sleep in this big puffy sweater.

Did you grow up listening to Canadian rap?

For sure. When I was younger, I felt like we didn't even get that much American hip hop. Dream Warriors, Maestro, as far as I knew, they were the biggest stars in hip hop — period.

A few years ago, a writer named Matthew McKinnon wrote “Border Block,” an article about the invisible partition disallowing Canadian hip hop artists from accessing a U.S. audience. For example, at the time, Avril Lavigne and Nickelback — Canadians — were some of the biggest names in pop music, but someone like Saukrates could hardly get noticed. Do you think this block still exists?

To some extent, probably. But I think it's been removed a little bit because, now, the Internet is the Internet. And kids who came up with it don't care as much about where you come from. If it pops up on a blog they think is cool, then whatever, they just like it. I feel like it's taken a while for hip hop to catch up to that. That is, there was a while when hip hop had spread to every place in the world, every pocket, city and town. But the artists weren't coming out of those places yet. I feel like that is happening more now, and it's just more accepted and understood now, that, yes, there are hip hop artists coming out of Pittsburgh, of course; there are hip hop artists coming out of Toronto, of course — it's not that weird. People there have been fans for 20, 30 years. I think some of those walls are being broken down.

Do you believe there's something unique about being a Canadian hip hop artist?

Yes, but I think what's unique is there is no Canadian sound. Look at  K'naan and what he does versus what Drake does, versus what Kardi [Kardinal Offishall] does versus what Buck 65 does. I have a feeling that people elsewhere [concerned with] what's cool coming out of Canada aren't saying, “That's that Canadian sound?”

You mentioned K'naan and Buck 65, and I would like to add Cadence Weapon and D-Sisive as artists who break hip hop conventions. Is there something distinctly Canadian about that?

Yes, if there's one thread through all the Canadian hip hop artists who have been successful, it's probably that. What all of them do is a little unconventional.

In the United States, Eminem, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Drake, these are the biggest names in hip hop and, inarguably, the biggest names in hip hop in Canada, too. But when it comes to honouring our own, with music prizes or awards or publicity, we, in Canada, tend to reward artists like yourself and some of the others like Buck 65. And below the border, you might be considered “alt rappers.” Why do you think we honour these alternative voices.

I think Canadians can relate to this hybrid culture and music styles. We relate to it more, we understand it more. When we hear a K-os track, it's not like, “Whoa! That's so weird!” No, because I understand all the influences that went into making that.

One opinion I've heard from Arlo Maverick, an Edmonton DJ and member of Politic Live, is that the unconventional styles came as a necessity to get attention from college radio stations, since the majority of Canadian hip hop radio play occurs on community radio.

I don' think so. I don't think it's ever been, at least for myself and artists I know, a conscious decision, like, “This will get me played on CBC or college radio.” It's more like, “This is what I listen to.” When I was in junior high listening to hip hop, I also listened to Hayden and Weezer. So, to make music that people who also listen to that [Hayden and Weezer] music is intuitive. I don't think it's ever been deliberate.