VUE WEEKLY
Mood Ruff - Things are Ruff all over Hip Hop entrepreneurs Mood Ruff chill out with Antarctica
by SEAN AUSTIN-JOYNER
Thursday, May 23, 2002

Winnipeg may not exactly be regarded as a Canadian urban music mecca, but Mood Ruff members Odario, Spitz and Icqri, the founders of the annual hip hop/R&B extravaganza Peg City Holla, hope to change that. Past performers at the festival, which takes place every August, include such talent as Moka Only, Jeru the Damaja, Citizen Kane, Herbaliser and Abstract Rude. Odario says the idea for Peg City Holla came about when the group was touring and noticed that urban music wasn’t just struggling in Winnipeg. Indeed, in every city except Toronto, artists were having difficulty putting their music in the ears of people in bigger cities. In true entrepreneurial spirit, Mood Ruff decided to bring the bigger cities to them. Now, five years later, Odario gets e-mails from hip hop groups from across North America all hungry to be involved in what they’ve created. He says the next step for the festival is to change it from a private function into an official city event with panels and discussions focusing on the direction of the hip hop scene. But Mood Ruff will have to convince the government of Peg City Holla’s benefits to society first. “The thing is,” Odario says, “you have to speak their language. If you show the arts government why these things are important to the community, of course they’ll support you. But if you expect them to come to you because you sold 10 records in your neighbourhood, then it’s not going to happen.” That problem is all too common in the Canadian hip hop scene, Odario says. Time and again, rappers gain a fanbase among their close friends and expect the rest of the world to automatically “recognize.” Then, when their album only sells a handful of copies, their attitude toward the entire industry goes sour.

Mood for thought
Mood Ruff’s game plan has never been about rapid progression. The group knows its boundaries, and sticks to them religiously. “I always say, ‘Let’s not get to the point of frustration,’” Odario says. “When an artist gets to a point of frustration, everything sounds wrong. The last thing I want to hear is ‘I like the old stuff better.’ It’s guaranteed that someone out there will say that, but as long as we’re not saying it, then it’s what we want it to sound like.” Odario says he doesn’t want his music to be labelled as either “underground” or “mainstream,” either. The way he sees it, Mood Ruff has been working in the Canadian music scene for a decade now and many of the people they’ve worked with are now running the club circuit in Winnipeg, either as promoters, DJs or club owners. Instead, he simply classifies Mood Ruff’s music as “hip hop.” “[Those terms] are creating a civil war within our hip-hoppers,” he says, “where people feel they have to choose one or the other. People need to chill on the terms, because it’s really messing up our MCs.”

Cold Cold art It was 10 years ago that Mood Ruff came into being—back when its members were attending Kelvin High School in Winnipeg. With one EP and one full-length album already under their belts, Odario, Spitz and Icqri are ready to drop their third release, Antarctica (Cold Cold World) on June 4. But before then, they’ll be making a stop at the Rev Cabaret on Tuesday to perform songs like “New Moon” and “Riding Shotgun,” which were in heavy rotation last year on MuchMusic, and “Originate,” the first single from Antarctica. “I’ve done the college radio,” Odario says, explaining the group’s success. “I’ve done the retail. I’m an artist and I’ve also written for papers. Looking at how people react to certain things, it made me realize that it boils down to one thing—if the music is good, people will want to hear it again.” V