In the late 90s, the young MC known as D-Sisive came up quickly in the Toronto hip-hop community with a string of well-liked singles, but his burgeoning profile was stopped cold with the illness and death of both of his parents in a six-year span. Grief and depression stole his creativity and motivation for the better part of a decade, but in a moment fit for fable, his lyrical inspiration returned suddenly one day while singing along to the Beach Boys on the radio. It was the new start D-Sisive’s story needed. And he hasn’t stopped since.

2008’s The Book EP was nominated for a Juno and its single “Nobody With A Notepad” won the SOCAN ECHO Songwriting Prize. 2009’s Let the Children Die was long-listed for that year’s Polaris Music Prize (and would later get an elaborate send-off with a full-band live funeral after legal issues forced it out of production). The same year, he released Jonestown as a free download. Less than a year later, we got Vaudeville, and a year after that, the Jonestown sequel, Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye, back and forth between his story and others’. Along the way were a series of Hijacked singles, with D-Sisive rapping his own words over the music of such songs as Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” and Sigur Ros’ “Festival,” an homage to just some of his comprehensive influences and tastes.

On 11-13-2012 D-Sisive released his latest project, Run With the Creeps (TheD-LuxeEdition), it’s a deeper dive back into himself and with his wide-open online look at the creative process along the way, his most honest yet. The hunger, pain, humor, and scrutiny have been on display every day; he’s forever brazen in ambition and as credulous as a kid. He’s writing the whole thing down, sparing no detail and certainly no time.

Straying farther away from her roots in electro-soul and hip-hop, Side B involves much more instrumentation and a wider array of guitar techniques than Side A, complements of her beau. “Side B was such an organic experience,” says Jack. “Joey and I were so inspired that it only took us two weeks to get all the instruments and vocals down. There’s no mix or master on this; it’s just raw sound, and that’s what makes it special.” The progression from Side A to Side B is gradual yet noticeable, especially with Joey Strat at the helm. “Working with Joey is a breeze, he brings something really great out of me,” says Jack. “He’s a great producer and musician, and he inspires me to be better.”

In the new music video for “Like That,” directed by Nai Vasha, Davey performs to a distorted lens with pieces of politically charged ransom notes drifting across the screen. The song is about rejecting the falsehood and hypocrisy of society, and simply wanting “my freedom, my herb, my word.” Dressed in a sci-fi inspired outift by her friends at Chromat, Jack will catch your eyes as well as your ears. “I felt like a bit of an outsider wandering through the streets of Hollywood late at night in all black and leather, to wear anything but Chromat would have been criminal,” says Jack.