Thanks to a lost bet between friends, an amateur Cochrane rapper is hoping his videos go viral on the Internet.
Joel Godri lost a game of odds to his friend Matt Cook, another Cochrane native, and now must post a video to Facebook every day for 30 days featuring him rapping his six bars of his own lyrics to music.
“It’s a stupid game we play – basically you ask someone to do something and you have to give them odds between one and 20 whether or not they’ll do it,” Godri explained.
The odds are kept secret and if the other person picks the same odds – revealed simultaneously after a three count – the person who was posed the question must complete the feat.
Both men are currently students at the University of Lethbridge. Godri is in his first year of a bachelor of fine arts as a new media major and Cook is in his second year of his bachelor of management as a marketing major.
Cook said he used the bet to force Joel to be more open about his hidden talent. The bet started on April 1 and will go until the end of the month.
“We always just mess around in the room with a couple of buddies and have some drinks and put some music on and Joel always kills it (at rapping) so I thought more people need to see that he’s good,” Cook said.
Although his rhymes contain sexually graphic themes and profanity, he displays a clear knack for crafting together lyrics and rhythm. Some of the rap artists he pulls inspiration from include: Mac Miller, Joey Badass, Kanye West, J Cole, and Kendrick Lamar.
“I pick my music at total random. I usually write the rap first and then I just run it through a bunch of beats and when one works, I just use that beat,” Godri said.
He and Cook want to encourage others to try writing and reciting rap lyrics, but want to warn people that they make it look easier than it is.
“It’s a bit of a chore, but it’s practise. If you want to get better at writing lyrics, this is a good way to do it,” Godri said.
In order to keep his audience amused, Godri plans to keep his videos interesting and new. Plans include having people guest star in the videos and using beats created by some of his friends.
“There’s going to be all kinds of crazy things happening in the video. If it was going to be just me rapping into the camera every day that would get boring pretty quickly,” Godri said.
Not one to suffer alone, Godri made Cook feature in his video on day six. Cook clearly took some notes from his “mentor” as the duo’s similar rap style made for an entertaining performance.
To date, the videos have garnered hundreds of “likes” on Facebook and are receiving anywhere from 1,100 to 3,000 views. The two are crossing their fingers that the videos get seen on an international level.
“I’m going to be right beside him if he gets famous. I’ll be his band manager,” Cook said with a laugh.
“I’ve been telling him since we started, if I get famous I’m bringing him with,” Godri continued.
After following the bet’s rules for 10 days, Godri decided to make some adjustments.
“Due to combination of my hectic as hell lifestyle and responsibilities such as university finals, changing homes, and all whole bunch of other stuff, I will not be able to fulfill my promise … this does not mean that the videos are done, I just don't have time for one every day,” Godri explained in a recent Facebook post.
Anyone interested in seeing Godri’s videos can search the hashtag “#YQLhiphop” on Facebook.
“Right now, I’m just doing it for fun, I guess we’ll see. I mean if it goes viral, that’d be cool as hell, but we’ll just see where it goes.”
