Moka seeks second shot with Swollen Members

In Concert

Moka Only with Kia Kadiri, Cold Residentsand Degree One

Where: Lucky Bar

When: Friday, 10:30 p.m. (doors at 10)

Tickets: $13 at Complex, Ditch Records, Lyle’s Placeand ticketweb.ca

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Moka Only doesn’t dwell on mistakes. But if he could change one thing about the past, it would be his solo-centric process.

“I probably could have been a lot less stubborn,” Only, the rapper born Dan Denton, said from his home in Vancouver this week.

“But being any different wouldn’t have been me. I have to be me at the end of the day. At the age I’m at now, which is 39, I’m a lot more willing. But I still have my values, and I’d be a fool not to be true to them.”

Only has earned a rap reputation as something of a prodigious talent, an immensely gifted performer who can rap, sing, freestyle and produce in a variety of formats. He spent much of his youth in Langford rapping alongside Prevail, a friend from his teens who eventually became his bandmate in a number of groups, including hip-hop favourites Swollen Members.

Fittingly, it was with Prevail (born: Kiley Hendriks) and the rest of Swollen Members that Only rose to prominence in Canada.

Multi-platinum record sales, three consecutive Juno Award wins and a handful of chart-topping videos later, he was a star by 2003. And then he quit, tempted by the freedom that he once enjoyed as a shot-calling solo artist.

“When I left Swollen Members, I might have been a little high and mighty, thinking I could do anything. I went super-underground and left field, which was my rebellion against the industry. Sometimes you shoot yourself in the foot without realizing it at the time.”

He has found a balance between art and commerce in the years since. Only now, he has dozens of recordings to his credit, including his latest, Airport 6.

He has collaborated with some of the biggest names in new-school hip hop, including Plug Two of De La Soul, K-Os, MF DOOM, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Abstract Rude. But the highlight-reel name that sticks out on his resume is that of J Dilla, one of the best producers in hip-hop history.

Only is the only Canadian artist to collaborate with Dilla prior to his 2006 death. The rapper managed to record a pair of songs using beats supplied by the Detroit producer, despite having no face-to-face interaction.

“It was arranged that I was going to go out [to Detroit] and record at his place, but I didn’t want that,” Only said of his 2005 work with Dilla. “I wanted to work in the comfort of my own home, so I had him send me a bunch of CDs and I picked what I liked.”

Only was much more involved during the creation of songs while in Swollen Members. It was a crazy time, during their peak popularity, so Only rarely had the opportunity to take it all in. He’d love a second run with the group — whose name was an Only creation, by the way — and says that a collaborative EP with Prevail and cameo on the next Swollen Members album are in the planning stages.

“My dream is to take another stab at it, the same way we did before. I get caught up in the nostalgia of it a lot.”

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