0:08  
My name is Lucas Dipasquale. I'm a 21 year old musician from Markham, Ontario. I live in Toronto. I make pop music that's kind of influenced by hip hop, some dance hall, but also other things like soul music, indie rock, a bunch of different stuff. I like to listen to jazz and stuff like that. So I'm making my own kind of style of music and I've been doing that for about two years.

0:33  
So what would you say the music influence was when you were growing up in your house?

0:37  
Mostly hip hop. My dad listened to classic rock music. My mom really listened to anything that she liked. But I didn't really use it as as, you know, influence. I think it was more what I wanted to listen to and it was all hip hop music.

0:51  
Lucas grew up on artists such as Eminem, Jay Z, Young Jeezy and his favorite act OutKast with member Andre 3000. Who is one of Lucas's most well respected rappers as a writer, performer and music maker. 

1:05  
So would you say that you're more of a rapper or a singer?

1:08  
That's what I'm trying to figure out myself and I started singing. I got a record deal by singing some some dancehall music, but it was singing. It was really uh, playing the guitar and singing out the bars and stuff like that. On the other hand I would struggle with being called a rapper. I think people who are into rap music and are you know, hip hop heads or whatever people who are really really into hip hop would would not like to call me a rapper. Would not right away say that I'm a rapper anything like that until they've actually heard me rap. If somebody asked me what I do, I'd say I'm an artist or a music maker or some some vague term. But I'd say that if I was being asked, I'm a singer.

1:43  
Though hip hop is the biggest influence on Lucas's music where he's from plays a large role in how people view him as an artist.

1:50  
And I have had people say like, well, you're not a rapper. You're not a dancehall artist. You're not any of these things because of where you come from, who you are. But I think, I think it's more if you are credible, if you make that type of credible, credible music and you make good rap music. You make good attempts at making dancehall music you make, you know, whatever, then people are usually accepting.

2:11  
In the beginning of his career, he was given the opportunity to travel to Jamaica and perform alongside other dancehall artists at one of the country's largest events, Dream weekend. 

2:21  
Okay, that was cool. Like, oh, you're the kid with the guitar, the white kid with the guitar singing dancehall music like that. And they loved it. They thought it was cool and they they liked that I did it. 

2:29  
Lucas's song, We Don't Have to Be The Same talks about growing up in the suburbs and catching a lot of flack in his life for wanting to be different.

2:37  
I wasn't born in a city. I was born in actually a town called Markham and it became a city later it got bigger, but it's a suburban area. So I am a I'm a kid from the suburbs. And I think that has a huge impact on my career and it and and how people see me. Because you enjoy certain liberties and things like that when you live in the suburbs and you are not as exposed to a lot of different things that when I moved into the city I saw for the first time.

3:06  
He moved to Toronto at 17 years old to attend Ryerson University before becoming a YouTube sensation in his first year.

3:14  
I used to live in a student house at Gerrard and Sherbourne and it just wasn't okay. Yeah, like the the area was not okay. It was it was fine. Like for a bunch of young dudes to live in and we're all safe and stuff, but you're around lots of unsavory stuff. And that's okay. Like that's part of life that's that's growing up and stuff like that, but it's had an impact on the music that I write. It's had an impact on how I act. It's had an impact on what I want to do with my life and the things that I kind of want to accomplish. I started seeing all these things and being exposed to different things and just understanding what existed in the world. The suburbs just kind of gives you a little hug and you never really like expose any of that stuff, right? You don't have to deal with any of that stuff.

3:55  
He recently traveled to Atlanta and saw the studio The Dungeon where OutKast recorded most of their music. It was one of the most memorable moments of his career. 

4:05  
I just kind of sat there and I was like, what the heck is happening. You know what is  where are we? Like this is how did I get here is one of the is the crazy part of it is like how did I how did I actually end up here? And you know, you always fool yourself into thinking like it wasn't I didn't deserve it. It wasn't enough hard work. It wasn't this wasn't that but that those are the kinds of things you're like I had to do something to see OutKasts studio and like have people want to work with me like near it.

4:36  
Lucas is currently signed to Universal Music. He's working on new songs and has some ready to be released.

4:43  
I want to do this. I want 10,000 people to know who I am and know my songs and sing with me and want me to sing to them.

4:51  
What is your favorite song of your own?

4:53  
I have this song called 2009 that's just like a pop song. That's about my girlfriend and I really like it because it's like very genuine. It was the first time I wrote a song and I was like I am not fabricating or dramatizing, romanticizing anything about this content.

5:09  
[Live song: guitar and vocal] Though I'm trying to keep my eyes on the television. But every time I look back she's wearing a little grin. I swear she's been staring right above my chin, and I don't think I can go home until I find out why.

5:30  
As he continues to develop in his own career, he encourages kids from his hometown with the same dreams to keep making music. For News Night. I'm Kayla McLaughlin.

5:41  
[Live song: guitar and vocal] Send me some science. Doesn't it feel like 2009? Doesn't it feel like 2009? I could have sworn it was the last time I felt alive. Doesn't it feel like 2009?