Dear-God: who is this 19-year-old prodigy?
Meet the charismatic young musician mashing up hip hop and hardcore punk
Over the summer, things really blew up for Dear-God, a.k.a. Robert Ortiz. The 19-year-old musician from Brampton, Ont., signed with Dine Alone Records and premiered his song "Buck" on Beats 1 with Zane Lowe. He's building a ton of buzz in the rock community, having already toured with the Dirty Nil and shared a festival stage with Wu-Tang Clan.
Dear-God mashes hip hip and hardcore punk and his influences range from Tupac Shakur to Chilean folk. He's fiercely independent with a sharp sense of humour — an introvert with a quick tongue.
Ortiz sings and plays guitar. Rounding out the band are Nick Berger (drums), Mateo Naranjo (bass) and Jeremy Duffy (lead guitar).
In this episode of CBC Music's The Intro, Dear-God performs "The Burbs" and "Buck," and chats with Saroja Coelho, host of CBC Music Mornings. Watch it above.
CBC Music's The Intro is a new feature in which CBC Music brings essential emerging Canadian talent to the world. Episodes of CBC Music's The Intro will be released weekly on CBC Gem, CBC Music's YouTube channel and here on cbc.ca/music.