Accompanying the release of Traffik’s first full-length album came a performance at the Hatch Gallery on March 25th. Without any trouble gathering a sizeable audience, Traffik effortlessly delivered a polished run through of The Modest Tomorrow in its entirety. With song after song and cheers erupted from the audience, Traffik’s gaining momentum seems on course to make a mark in the local hip hop scene.
“It’s been getting a warm reception so far in the local scene here, I’m pretty happy with it,” said Traffik on the release of his debut record.
Jacob Saltzberg, otherwise known as Traffik, is a second-year UBC Environment and Sustainability student. An artist featured on CiTR and The Georgia Straight, Traffik cites his influences as Tupac, Common, and Jay Electronica among others. Having grown up around music, he found it to be a comfortable and natural medium for self-expression, beginning to create and write his own at the age of eleven.
“I was always a writer,” said Traffik, “and [writing raps] was just a way for me to experiment with a new style of writing.”
Traffik is no stranger to performance and has been gaining notoriety prior to the release of the album; performing many events with Blank Vinyl Project, Studio Records, and Rappers Without Borders. The Modest Tomorrow weaves together a narrative centred around the themes of individualism and a desire to create without being bound to societal expectations. A year in the making, Traffik’s debut record aims to make every song count. The Modest Tomorrow is not only a passion project for him, but also proved itself to be a platform for him to deliver his autobiographical narrative as well as to inspire listeners to create and express themselves.
“The album is mainly inspired by the struggle to create art… and having a vision to do something different, when there might be external influences that tell you otherwise,” said Traffik.
The Modest Tomorrow features elements of a concept record, by following a number of themes within both the lyrics as well as rooting itself in soulful samples. Musically, the album contains motifs of soul and jazz with some self-produced tracks. Lyrically, Traffik constructs raps regarding the themes of gratitude, reflection, and finding oneself despite the pressure to conform.
“The stories [on the album] are nostalgic, talking about past experiences growing up, learning new things about yourself and the world you go through,” said Traffik on the lyrical themes of the album.
As for the future of the musical project, Traffik is looking to expand beyond solo work to form an artist collective, Roots of Tomorrow. In its early stages of development, the collective will focus on putting on shows with a focus on crowd involvement and strong musician-audience connection and creating a unique show experience. As well as forming Roots of Tomorrow, Traffik is looking to play more shows featuring tracks off of The Modest Tomorrow.
Traffik’s music can be found on Soundcloud. (https://soundcloud.com/traffikthemc)