West Coast rapper Merkules has announced that his new album Special Occasion will be coming out Friday, Nov. 1st. And along with the announcement, he’s released the lead single, “Bass,” featuring Hopsin and Tech N9ne.
“Bass” is HipHopCanada’s Song of the Day.
“With Special Occasion, Merkules showcases the blunt, honest lyricism that has carried him from the Canadian underground to a major record deal with RBC/BMG.”
Merkules has accumulated more than 316 million YouTube views, surpassed 50 million streams across platforms, received two nominations for a Western Canadian Music Award and is embarking on a 40 date U.S. tour from Nov. 5th to Jan. 23rd.
His “Old Town Road” remix went viral earlier this year while “All Night Long,” the first piece of audio from Special Occasion, gained more than 1.5 million views in just two weeks. Special Occasion is far more than just Merkules resting on his laurels. “Yeah, fans want to hear you talk about how you’re the illest, that you’re blowing up, and that nobody can do anything about it because they’ve watched your journey,” says Merkules.
“They feel like they’ve been a part of that and they have. But they also like the deeper songs, which are just relatable in the sense that I’m talking about stuff that maybe not everybody else has the balls to talk about.”
Merkules has always been candid about issues deeper than musical accolades. On his 2015 Scars LP, he addressed the vicious, life-altering attack he suffered at 16 while walking home from a New Year’s Eve party. While the physical scars from the incident have never faded, Merkules explains that his music will always carry a message of healing, saying “People tend to think that if they’re depressed or they have anxiety that’s like something to be ashamed of or that that’s some wack shit. It’s like, ‘No, bro.’ We all go through that. So I think that me just speaking on topics that maybe everybody else isn’t willing to talk about, it’s a big reason why those kind of songs resonate with people.”
Special Occasion is Merkules carrying his mental health-conscious voice to rap’s inner circle. The 16-track effort features Tech N9ne, Hopsin, Jelly Roll, Rittz, DMX, Uncle Murda, Paul Wall, Young Buck, and Evil Ebenezer.
Merkules teamed up with several producers on the project, including LordQuest, C-Lance, Pops, ENG, and Paranoyd Beats/Malikai Motion.
Listen to new single “Bass” below, or click here to check it out on streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.
You can follow @MerkulesMusic on Instagram.
