Tinywiings is making her association with ShowOffGang Music official with the release of her new Pretty Problems EP, which also initiates the beginning of her joint venture with Sony.
The deal represents a major milestone for the Calgary-bred artist, whose rise has been fueled by grassroots networking, a tight-knit hometown rap community and a growing presence in the U.S.
“Yeah it’s like obviously a huge deal, the ShowOffGang stuff just felt right, or I wouldn’t have signed anything,” she said. “It’s like these are my older brothers. They are just like my team and they’re looking out for me and I’ve just felt that since day one.”
Before making her jump across the border, Tinywiings was putting in work back home, building relationships with Calgary’s rap scene and advocating for the strength of its community despite its relatively small size.
“There’s just not that many of them [rappers],” Tinywiings said of her Calgary counterparts. “But yeah, we definitely go to each other’s shows and if there’s opportunities that would suit one of us better, you know, we are always kind of looking out for each other in that way because the community is so small.”
The combination of her and wide-reaching online presence helped Tinywiings catch the attention of ShowOffGang Music, the Pittsburgh-established imprint founded by her “Wind Me Up” collaborator J-HAZE. With over 156,000 monthly Spotify listeners and millions of streams on songs such as “Bands,” the move for Tinywiings to join forces with a seasoned act such as J-HAZE and his imprint made sense.
“I want to keep the pressure up,” J-HAZE said when speaking about his plans to help Tinywiings go global this year. “This is just the beginning, and I want to continue building on the energy of this record and creating bigger and better music.”
Now, the label is playing a central role in her artist development and joint venture with Sony — a partnership Tinywiings says felt right from the jump.
“With the Sony stuff, that’s kind of above my head, they’re like, ‘you focus on the music and we’re doing this for you,’ and I’m like, oh my God, music to my ears,” she said.
From Calgary’s intimate rap ecosystem to a new partnership with Sony, Tinywiings is proving that breaking through from Canada starts with building a foundation that can travel.
Stream the EP above.