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Aaron Hoffman stepped onto the stage at Webster Hall on a Friday night in July. Clad in a leopard bomber jacket with a white tee and sharp haircut, Hoffman, better known as SonReal, started music when he was just 15 years old. But with the upcoming release of his new EP, The Name, he isn't really bound to a certain genre.
His influences range from Stevie Wonder to Chance the Rapper. This huge spectrum of sounds and genres can definitely be heard in the unique composition and flow of SonReal's music.
In his words, his music and new releases are under one common theme, but not under the same label or genre that you might be used to- and that should make you excited.
Opening for Jon Bellion, SonReal had to deliver a performance that would hype up the crowd for the main headliner, but leave a sweet taste of wanting more also.
And I think he did just that.
The Canadian native was quirky, buzzy and all over the stage with cool dance moves. After the second song, the audience was engaged with SonReal teaching them the words to the next song, singing into the mic, "Everywhere we go."
His two other band members were swaying, bouncing to the music and mirroring his enthusiasm.
The rest of the Odyssey team had interviewed SonReal earlier in the day, but I had just arrived to the venue in time to see his set. Standing in the back of a smokey ballroom, with the light smell of cigarettes and sting of alcohol, I found my head rocking back and forth.
SonReal delivers his lyrics with so much zest and prominence, that it's more than just a hip-hop performance. His talent for rhymes and beats sit in an elusive gray area that I think only certain people can truly be in without being completely off-beat. 
The blue lights mingled with the yellow undertones as SonReal kept dancing and spinning, the tracks scratching and spinning behind him.
After a few songs and a few more, his set was starting to come to a close. He commanded everyone in the audience to raise their lit phone screens in the air or any lighters.
"There's a lot of stuff going on in the world," the artist said into the mic, out of breath from the nonstop moving and energy.
He immediately transitioned into his last song and sang, "All I got is time for your loving."
Everyone was clapping. Everyone was a pile of limbs and sloppy dance moves. The solo guitar riff echoed and strummed throughout the room, off the walls and onto the sticky, beer-covered floor. 
SonReal isn't just the next big rapper or up and coming hip-hop artist. He's a little bit of everything, which is something I can't define in my own words, which, in turn, should make you that much more excited to see what is next for him.
Check out Odyssey's interview with SonReal here, and make sure to listen to his new EP, The Name, releasing on August 12.
