A Scarborough construction worker turned singer is putting his city on the map with a viral soulful remix of a popular Drake song, and locals are feeling it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Tamir, a crooner known for donning a hardhat while singing in videos, went viral for his Instagram cover of \u201cSomebody Loves Me\u201d by Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR. His\u00a0 freestyle version blends a personal ode to his hometown amongst heartfelt vocals. Garnering almost 500,000 views as of publication and a comment from local talents like Kardinal Offishall and Haviah Mighty, the video has transformed Tamir from a hidden gem into one of Scarborough\u2019s newest names in music.<\/p>\n
Tamir describes himself as a life-long creative, diving into all-things-art from visual artistry to live performances. The young talent says he\u2019s about 10 years deep into making music, and hopes to continue sharing his passion with the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy current goals are to make what I love and share it freely with anyone willing to listen,\u201d Tamir said to Now Toronto on Friday. \u201cTo create it and give it away fulfills me. Everything else is an added bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tamir\u2019s viral moment features a love story from his own life. In the video, he reflects on a past relationship rooted in his 401 East of Morningside Avenue neighbourhood, singing about taking trips on the now-retired Scarborough RT from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre.<\/p>\n
Pointing out his city \u201cwhere the shooters and stars align,\u201d he flows, he also sent a shout out to American rapper J. Cole who signed to the Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League back in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Tamir, he says the inspiration to make his own cover of the trendy song came instantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHeard Drake and Party\u2019s song and the opening melody hooked me immediately,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was obsessed with it, and when I feel that way, I gotta get it out my system and create something. So, out of that love came this freestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
But behind his rising musical status is a grounded story of resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was down and out. At my rock bottom,\u201d he shares. \u201cAnd then I landed that construction job. It took a lot of weight off my shoulders. It allowed me to not have to try making music my primary income generator, which can be very difficult. But it opened me up to feel financially secure and free to create from a place of love and wonder, rather than stress and survival.\u201d<\/p>\n
Comments under his Instagram post compliment him to the likes of R&B singer Bryson Tiller, and calling his vocals \u201csmooth like butter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rapper Kardinal Offishall said \u201cTHIS CRAZY my bro,\u201d while Haviah Mighty also dropped a comment, saying it\u2019s \u201cGO TIME.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other locals are also loving the remix.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGet this man out the work force,\u201d one Instagram user wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI listen to this now over the original,\u201d another said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Tamir says what\u2019s moved him most since going viral isn\u2019t the numbers, it\u2019s the community\u2019s reaction, which he said has been \u201cbeyond his wildest expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting any opportunity to do what you love and to be recognized and to be celebrated by the place that you\u2019re from, by the place that you champion, by the place that you see so much love, and a place that you\u2019ve seen overlooked and mistreated and spoken down upon. To get love from that same community, to get love from that same place, it means the absolute world,\u201d Tamir said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Continuing to break personal engagement records on his social media accounts, Tamir hopes this moment is just the beginning for his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to connect with artists around the world, collab and use my voice to shed light on this beautiful part of the city. My focus is to just make music that empowers the city and brings us together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Scarborough construction worker turned singer is putting his city on the map with a viral soulful remix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,5320,75,341,7810,7811],"class_list":{"0":"post-7199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-drake","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-partynextdoor","15":"tag-scarborough"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}