In the unforgiving world of music, especially hip hop, hard work and chance are two of the most important factors. Very few artists get anything close to a free ride with most plugging away at their craft for years without catching a lucky break.
Canadian producer Marco Polo was never one to rest on his laurels. Coming from Toronto, making it in hip hop was never going to be easy, and as he explains down the line from NYC the experience was quite daunting.
“It was very, very intimidating. I was scared shitless to leave pretty much everything behind, but there was a lot of excitement too, because I wanted to do this music thing so bad. Everyone that I wanted to work with was in New York and the only way for me to get heard was to make the leap, so it was a mixture of fear and excitement.”
And while the plaudits didn’t come straight away, it didn’t take long for his music to find its way into the hands of the right people. “I met Masta Ace in a studio in New York where I used to work. He came in with The Beatnuts and at the end of the session I gave him a beat CD and like two or three weeks later he called me to use a couple of beats, and one of the tracks ended up on Ace’s ‘A Long Hot Summer’.”
Getting that break opened up all sorts of opportunities for Marco, like being able to release his solo album ‘Port Authority’, and its upcoming sequel ‘Port Authority 2’. It was obviously more than just your average collaboration, with a working relationship now stretching almost ten years that will find the two on our shores soon.
“The live show is awesome,” he gushes. “Masta Ace is one of the best live performers you will ever see in hip hop. His show is calculated from the very first moment he steps on stage to the very last lyric he spits. We have everything formulated without any of the bullshit. We have a vibe and we’re organised, making things flow smooth. We involve the crowd, and have a lot of fun. It’s a proper hip hop show and a real blessing for me to be involved with.”
Marco Polo plays the Transcontinental Hotel with Masta Ace June 15.
