Merkules

His videos have more than 316 million YouTube views. His songs have been streamed more than 50 million times. He’s a three-time Western Canadian Music Award-nominated rapper who has performed more than 500 shows in North America, Europe, and Australia. It took Merkules years to hit these lofty milestones, ones the Surrey, Canada, rapper set his sights on when he was 12. His father had taken him to the local mall to watch Canadian rappers Swollen Members, Sweatshop Union, and Saukrates perform. “I saw what was going on on stage, and that was actually a pivotal moment in my career,” Merkules says today, more than a decade later. “I remember seeing them all playing and being like, ‘You know what? That’s what I want to do. Forget whatever else I had in mind for a career. This is what I want to do.’” From there, Merkules dedicated himself to becoming a superstar artist. He developed his craft early on as Merk Mikz and by rapping over well-known beats from Eminem, Big Pun, and others. While it’s risky to rhyme to instrumentals fans already know and love, Merkules developed a perpetually expanding fanbase that gravitated to his witty wordplay, no-nonsense tone, and masterful delivery.