Yellowknife (Mar 10/03) - Now a member of Yellowknife's rapping hip hop group Liquid Eyez, Aaron Hernandez, 22, is striving to make his mark as one of Canada's top young artists.

He's released four albums, including Ice Riderz with Liquid Eyez in 2002.

Yellowknifelife: When did you start getting involved with music?

Aaron "Godson" Hernandez: Well, I started writing poetry when I was eight. There was a poetry contest in Calgary and I won that when I was nine. Musically I started when I was in high school in Grade 9. Me and two other guys decided well, why don't we rap something.

Yellowknifelife: What kind of stuff do you write about?

AH:The first poem I ever wrote was for Remembrance Day. Anything you want me to write, I can write.

Yellowknifelife:What do you like about rap music?

AH: I just like the interpretation through the lyrics. I find that if you can rap out a whole bunch of rhymes and everything makes sense that impresses me. I like storytelling lyrics that make you think.

Yellowknifelife: You're in Liquid Eyez now, but what's been your band history?

AH: In 1996 I was part of a five-man group. We didn't really have a name but we just called ourselves the "Gs". That didn't work out too well. We performed in front of (St. Patrick high school) and it was the first time it was carried out by five rappers at once. Hip hop was never big in this town.

After that me and Taj Johnson we formed a group in 1997 (called Unonymus). We entered the Raven Mad Daze talent competition and won 10 hours of studio time.

We were planning to put out a demo but we'd already put out two demos before that and we actually recorded our first album through that competition. I released it in the store in Yellowknife in 1998. It was called Redemption. It was really good because we were new and it was different. Hip hop was starting to get big in this town and we got a lot of support not only from our peers but older people -- older to us then -- those in their 20s and 30s.

I entered us into the YTV achievement awards and we made the top five finalists in 1998. The next year we released another album called U2K Unfamiliar Territory.

Yellowknifelife: What makes a unique rapper? You're probably the most Northern rapper in the world.

AH: Probably. Some of the songs we incorporate the North aspects to it.

Yellowknifelife: What happened after 1999?

AH: After 1999 I took a little time off. Taj moved away, he went to college. In 2001 I had to get back into the music scene. It was too long to stay away from. I wanted to reform Unonymous but I heard around town there was this other group forming, which was cool because as far as I knew we'd been the only rap group ever. I know there was a rapper before then but... I approached them and said I wanted to hear their stuff. I was impressed because they (Liquid Eyez rappers Jason "Fletch-digga" Fletcher and Emmanuel "Agama b" Ayiku) were exactly like me and Taj were back in the days.

Yellowknifelife: What are the challenges of being on stage?

AH: When you're on stage you gotta look like you own the stage. I've see a lot of people that perform and they look at their shoes, look at the ceiling. You've got to interact with the crowd, with hip hop especially.

Yellowknifelife: What's great about hip hop and rap as a genre?

AH: Right now it's pretty much dominating. It's pretty much mainstream and in anything and everything you hear. Right now it's the number one music in the clubs too.

Yellowknifelife: How does it feel to see your CDs finished and on the shelves?

AH: The first album we put out was like a dream come true. I couldn't believe I'd actually released an album. Now it's like this is my fourth one when is somebody (a record label) going to sign it?

Yellowknifelife: Tell me about your lyrics and the kind of things that inspire you?

AH: I used to DJ at a couple of clubs in this town so, to me, when I write songs I reflect on the songs I see people dancing to on the dance floor. So most of the songs that you'll hear are very danceable. I don't really write political lyrics, I just write lyrics to have fun.

Yellowknifelife: Is there one song you love the most?

AH: On the latest album there's a song called Friday Night which has a blend of R and B, hip hop and reggae. I've always wanted to have some type of reggae on the songs that I've done. The new member of our group (singer Darby "Misdy" Oystrek) is really good at that.

Yellowknifelife: What artists have really inspired you?

AH: The first group that I looked at and thought "geez I want to do that" was Kris Kross way back. They were two young guys and I was like "man I could really get into that." So I started wearing my pants backwards and all that stuff.

Yellowknifelife: What's your next step?

AH: Our next step is to do a video. It's so hard because they are so much money and you just got to know the right people.

Yellowknifelife: Do you think you'll ever have to leave Yellowknife in order to grow?

AH: To be discovered it will work in our favour that we are from Yellowknife. People will look at us and say this guy is from way up there. But I think to excel in the business we will have to leave.