Rising Nanaimo emcee Matt “Sirreal” Dunae has joined forces with Vancouver hip-hop royalty on his latest single, “Automatic.” The boom bap track features Prevail of Swollen Members and XL The Band, Mo Moshiri of Sweatshop Union, and production from Rob the Viking—as well as vinyl record scratching from D-Rec, Snak the Ripper’s official DJ.

“For me, it’s one of the most important songs I’ve created in my life,” Sirreal said about “Automatic” in a statement, via Facebook Live. “I think we owe it to Canada to have this old school vibe brought back. There’s no autotune, there’s no melodyne, there’s actual scratching. It’s as old school as it gets, without sounding dated.” 

“Automatic” intentionally throws back to the hip-hop of the late ‘90s and early aughts: a posse cut that combines swaggering braggadocio with poetic lyrics carrying a philosophical and socially conscious edge. It’s a thoughtful quality that has always been a hallmark of both Prevail and Moshiri’s work—and Sirreal’s too, as the emerging artist is a community ambassador and dedicated advocate for mental health, working with youth in suicide prevention and addiction. 

“What I love is that real rap music is back,” Prevail said. “Not to discredit anything in the last 10, 12, 15 years, I just like to see that there’s a young generation that has maybe gone back to CDs or cassettes, maybe old school vinyl and they’re like ‘how did I miss EPMD, how did I miss Redman’s first 3 albums, De La Soul, Tribe, Jungle Brothers...’ and they’re kinda coming back to that really dope, modern, but with an old school aesthetic. I’m so proud of everyone’s verse on this.” 

“Automatic” is also accompanied by a music video. Shot in Vancouver by Lotus Eater Films, the cut moves from sweeping shots of the cityscape to rooftops and colourful alleys in what feels like a love letter to Vancity.  

“It’s a timeless classic I think,” Moshiri added. “I’m happy to be a part of it. As soon as we all got together, we’re on a rooftop, we all could just tell the vibes were right. We could just tell it was working. We’re having a good time right off the bat, everyone was laughing and every shot came out good.” 

“Automatic” is out now.