The Indian subcontinent is experiencing hardship on a grand scale: Ethnonationalism in India, a halting recovery in monsoon-torn Pakistan and austerity in Sri Lanka. Some in the diaspora are pessimistic about what’s ahead. Even Navraj Singh Goraya, a Punjabi-Canadian hip hop artist famous for his can-do spirit, predicts yet more trouble.
“It has to get worse before it gets any better,” says Goraya, popularly known as NAV.
Why does this matter, this bit of realpolitik? It speaks to a larger point about NAV’s emotional currents. The Toronto rapper is growing up. Before last year, he’d never really gone on record with probing questions about himself, the world or his obligation to the diaspora, which for the most part has gone unheard from in North American hip hop.
Says NAV, “There’s pride in being the first person from my culture to break through commercially. But there’s also a lot of responsibility that comes with it. For me, the majority of the responsibility boils down to not misrepresenting us and not letting us down musically.”
For the longest time, NAV’s records were merrily unbothered. He specialized in evergreen party jams; they were fun, and good for moshing, bouncing, et al., but they told us little about the man himself. Insight into his frame of mind was scarce. What can be gleaned from a song like “Turks” except that NAV enjoys splashy Caribbean getaways?
Well, gone are the days of NAV boasting and partying in perpetuity. His fourth, most recent album, “Demons Protected by Angels,” is a work of startling maturity. Not all has changed; NAV still favors staccato rhyme schemes and the music still tends toward heavily processed, ultramodern glam-rap. But this is counterpoised by a forceful interrogation of the issues that matter most. There are songs about mortality, songs about the mixed blessings of his heritage. There’s even a remembrance of love squandered.
Too often in hip hop, there seems to be an inverse relationship between professional and creative attainment. With enhanced notoriety usually comes a dulling of the senses, a taming of the fire within. Yet NAV is challenging himself like never before.
“Everybody monitors reviews of their album,” NAV says. “You can write it off or you can make changes. A lot of people were saying that my lyrics be too shallow, too fun, so I decided, ‘Yo, I’m going to go all in this time and make sure everything is tight.”
The question of why now is an interesting one. In fairness, NAV was still getting acclimated to his public-facing role on past albums. He didn’t set out, necessarily, to become a matinee idol on the order of Drake or future employer the Weeknd. NAV got his start behind the scenes — or, more specifically, behind the boards, producing songs like “Back to Back,” Drake’s frontal assault on rival Meek Mill.
“I feel like producers are really the most important component of a song,” NAV says.
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But soon enough NAV’s vocals had netizens standing at attention. His 2016 breakout single, “Myself,” was part narco-funk, part luxury rap and completely auspicious. Eventually he was able to leverage his mighty SoundCloud stats into a deal with XO Records, the Weeknd’s vanity imprint.
“Never did I think that someone from XO would reach out,” NAV says. “I hadn’t really seen them signing people; I hadn’t even thought of them as an option. But when (the Weeknd’s manager) Cash called me, it felt right. Right off the rip, our conversation felt right.”
Since then NAV has blossomed into a dynamic, efficient hitmaker. Early on, his slurred flow and repetitious subject matter led some to conclude that NAV was not the thinking type.
Even now, not everybody wants to believe that NAV has seen the light. Tortured introspection has become very a la mode in mainstream hip hop, but it’s often a fig leaf or, worse, a ploy to cultivate loyalty and extract money from parasocial fans. Generally speaking, hip hop’s megastars aren’t as conflicted, searching or “relatable” as they let on.
What happens next is anyone’s guess, but the premise of NAV’s upcoming mixtape does inspire confidence. “NAV2? will not rely on a coterie of outside producers; instead, NAV will be furnishing his own beats. By the time this story goes to print, some readers will have heard “NAV2’s” lead single, “Lately,” the first of his self-productions with an Afrobeats drum pattern.
In the interim, NAV is looking forward to a homegrown delicacy. He’s up for three awards at next month’s Junos, which are presented each year in recognition of excellence in the Canadian music industry. There is a time and a place for grown-up, pragmatically earthbound realism. This isn’t it. Asked if he feels good about his Juno prospects, NAV beams audibly.
“Of course,” he says. That’s the spirit.
NAV: Never Sleep Tour, with SoFaygo and RealestK, 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W. Lawrence Ave.; general admission tickets $43.50 at www.ticketmaster.com
M.T. Richards is a freelance writer.