If 2015 was practice, then early 2016 marked Jazz Cartier’s speedy and well-earned rise to rap royalty. By living up to the hype of being billed as “Toronto’s next big hip-hop hero,” — carried over from the release of his 2015 debut Marauding in Paradise — the major music industry accolades have continued to pour in at a furious rate with the release of his sophomore mixtape Hotel Paranoia. From a long-list nomination for the renowned Canadian Polaris Music Prize for the second year in a row, to the release of his pioneering VR / 360 degree two-in-one music video for singles “Red Alert” and “100 Roses,” Cartier is a renaissance artist of his generation. Cultivating a sound that injects intellect and imagination and a live show that’s popular for its punk rock ethos — often complete with free for-all mosh pits and gravity defying antics —Cartier is limitless and his global rap music takeover is imminent.