Toronto's trap wunderkind Lil Berete is having an incredible year and showing no signs of slowing. Just last month he dropped his fourth single, "No Make Up," furthering cementing his run to be the best new rapper out of the city, and is back with yet again another amazing single and video.
The visual for the upbeat and uplifting "Time Flies" has plenty of feel good moments, but it's the backstory that makes the video especially remarkable: in the summer of 2016, in response to the ongoing gun violence in Regent Park, non-profit community agency Dixon Hall partnered with private, public and non-profit organizations to lead a pilot project aimed at reducing youth gun violence. They identified seven youth whose lives were at risk and offered them a chance to take part in a radical intervention to keep them and the community safe over the summer. As part of the program, the seven youth spent three weeks in St. Vincent doing volunteer work and engaging in community activities, giving them a real opportunity to reflect on some of the choices they were making and to consider what they really wanted out of life. Lil Berete was one of those seven.
Fast forward two years later and Lil Berete traveled back to St. Vincent but this time, instead of as an at-risk youth, as one of the hottest burgeoning rappers in Toronto, one working with his STN crew to unite Regent Park. "Time Flies" is not only a mid-summer bop fit for any playlist, it's a tribute to the nation of St. Vincent and the place that showed Lil Berete that achieving your dreams was possible.
Watch, enjoy, and never stop dreaming.
