Toronto rapper Roney is at his best when he’s charismatically addressing the raw elements that color his gritty experiences. Born Tyrone Smith in 1994, the MC enrolled in a hip-hop literacy program as an adolescent and continued these specialized studies for years, eventually cultivating his own primal sound. Roney’s approach immediately attracted the attention of the youth of Canada, who exalted him as the up-and-coming voice of their region. In 2012, Roney released the first installment of his mixtape series, Don’t Sleep, which featured menacing beats and biting bars on tracks like “Do Him In.” Following a years-long hiatus due to a stint in prison, Roney released 2018’s “First Day Out,” an ominous track that showcased his polished take on an already established rhyming style. As his career progressed, Roney adopted a melodic flow, which helped the rapper further express the emotion behind his lyrics, as heard on the reflective “Love Lost” from the 2021 album Pain.