Noah Pitts-Eragbhe, who goes by Kilo the Architek when he takes the stage, is a young, local rapper who has been active in the Victoria hip-hop scene for 14 years.
The 25-year-old artist has dealt with a lot in his life thus far, but he is keen on having his hardships become inspiration for his art, rather than allowing it to deter him from pursuing his dreams.
He recently opened for famed BC rapper, Merkules at the Capital Ballroom and has even had the chance of collaborating with him on a song which was released this week on May 11th.
The song they made together is called Waves and Pitts-Eragbhe says he would have never been able to make this if he didn’t get the opportunity to be connected with him through an unconventional source — Dr. Phil.
“I was going through a rough time three years ago,” Pitts-Eragbhe told Victoria Buzz. “I was going through a heavy phase of drinking and I actually had a bit of an alcohol problem to say the least.”
“I was drinking almost every day and I was making good money but I just wasn’t happy with life and I just kind of fell into a spiral.”
In 2019, Pitts-Eragbhe’s mom, who raised him as a single parent, reached out to the Dr. Phil show to determine if it was “the real deal” or not and figure out if it would be able to help her son.
“I had a story to tell so I ended up telling my story on Dr. Phil,” Pitts-Eragbhe said. “It was pretty brutal, but I decided it was time to make a change.”
“They showed me that there is another way and I was given some opportunities to get off alcohol and see the world for what it is.”
One connection that was afforded to Pitts-Eragbhe on his Dr. Phil experience was meeting another BC-born rapper, Merkules.
Merkules has over 900,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, his songs have more than 300 million views on YouTube, and has Western Canadian Music Award nominations. He has also had his own battles with drugs and alcohol, so he was brought on the show to inspire Pitts-Eragbhe to do better by himself and his family.
“If I can offer you any advice, you just have to look yourself in the mirror, think about your goals, say your goals and manifest everything that you want, but you can’t just manifest it without putting in the hard work behind it,” Merkules told Pitts-Eragbhe on the Dr. Phil episode.
“I’ve listened to your music now, being on the show and seeing what you have to offer but at the end of the day, you can’t just be talented.”
During the show, Merkules committed to collaborating with Pitts-Eragbhe if he was willing to get clean and sober.
“What my proposition to him would be, if he can stay sober for four week, a month essentially and provide proof of being sober, I’d be willing to go out of my way to use my platform that I’ve built from the ground up to not only do a song with him, but I’d also be willing to shoot the video,” Merkules said.
Pitts-Eragbhe put in the work, recorded his new song Waves with Merkules, shot a music video in Victoria with the rap giant and has just now finally been able to release the music video.
“[Merkules] and I have become really good friends, we’ve got a pretty good relationship and I think that all things considered, seeing where my life is now has made a pretty substantial impact on where it may have been,” said Pitts-Eragbhe.
Watch Waves by Kilo the Architek featuring Merkules on Pitts-Eragbhe‘s YouTube channel here.
Waves will be featured on an upcoming full-length album from Kilo the Architek that will be released in the late summer or fall of this year.
