Sean Leon: 'Music will be the thing that will save my life — and my family'

There are few greater challenges than being a parent, and fatherhood weighs heavy on the mind of Toronto rapper Sean Leon. It's a topic he's explored on his current album, I Think You've Gone Mad (or Sins of the Father), and in this latest video for Heartbreak to Art, the 26-year-old reflects on the fears he has as young parent — how that angst ultimately inspires some of his darkest tracks, and why his love of making music takes him back into the light again. As he says in the video: "Music has healed me, and sometimes it takes time, but it works every time."

Music has healed me, and sometimes it takes time, but it works every time.- Sean Leon, musician

Since releasing his first mixtape in 2013, Leon's been steadily building his reputation as a player in Toronto's hip hop scene, collaborating with other next-gen notables including Daniel Caesar and producer Wondagurl on his rise. But his master plan goes beyond the music. In January, just before the arrival of his latest LP, Leon hosted his first film premiere. Called Life When You're the Movie, Leon directed the film, though he's listed in the credits "Noel" (get it?). And don't call it a music video. Rather, he describes the short as an "audio-visual trip" — a sort of abstract, immersive primer on the events and twisted emotions that drive his brooding sounds. 

Heartbreak to Art is a CBC Arts web series about the transformative power of creativity. In each episode, a different Canadian artist shares a disarmingly personal story. These dancers, musicians, painters and poets have all lived through deeply emotional challenges, and they reveal how art saw them through. A collection of impressionistic portraits, the series' director, Karena Evans, puts it this way: these films are "about what every real story is truly about — how the human heart changes."