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“I just wanna ball.... ballout with my whole gang.” That’s a line from BYU RB Squally Canada’s song, “Ballout” and ballout he did Saturday night against Arizona. Canada, from Milpitas, CA, rushed for 98 yards on 24 carries and had a whopping three TDs in BYU’s 28-23 win over the Wildcats. ESPN Announcers Adam Amin and Rod Gilmore, were saying Canada’s name a lot, and before a couple of commercial breaks, they brought up and played some of Canada’s music.
They just played Squally Canada's mix tape during the game. #PAC12AfterDark is off to a great start pic.twitter.com/xyI8Fo3wK8
— Prime Bam Childress (@fearthe_beard11) September 2, 2018
Canada has been putting hip-hop/rap music on SoundCloud for more than six months, and even has an EP out. The EP has diverse songs on it with Canada rapping about topics from playing football, to the death of his cousin, to his loyalty to his family, and more. Something that BYU fans will appreciate — Canada keeps all of his music clean. He explained why in a tweet back in February saying, “I know I represent BYU because I’m a student athlete here.” He cites that as one reason he keeps his music clean, then goes on to explain that he’s speaking a lot of truth in his music, and based on our listen of the EP, we agree. The music is catchy and clearly meaningful to Canada.
I know without any intentions I represent BYU because I’m a student athlete here. One reason why I don’t cuss in my songs, but I also speak a lot of truth in my music from trying to get some money in my pockets to the death of my cousin
— Lord Brotha (@Squally_Canada) February 21, 2018
As announcers said during the game broadcast, Canada does not make any money off of his music, because that would be an NCAA violation (SO NO ONE GO REPORTING HIM FOR ANYTHING). Amin and Gilmore said a music-making partner of Canada’s receives any money that may come along with Canada’s music. Canada confirmed this after the Arizona game Saturday, quote tweeting @fearthe_beard11’s tweet above, and saying, “Can’t make a single penny but enjoy the song!” Canada is a senior running back, so hopefully he’ll be making money off of his music soon enough — after many more TDs and yards for BYU.
Canada’s EP has about 8,000 listens on SoundCloud, but we know you can help him do better than that, Cougar Nation. Head over to SoundCloud.com/22omg to listen to all of Canada’s music, including his EP, “On My Way.” Leave a comment telling us which song is your favorite and why.