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Frane, DJ
The Alternative Press described DJ Frane as “a less pretentious yet just as progressive DJ Shadow” after his debut album, Frane’s Fantastic Boatride, was released by California indie connoisseurs GoodVibe Recordings, where the California DJ-producer first demonstrated his knack for merging a wide range of musical influences and styles seamlessly into one song after another, resulting in a thematically joined psychedelic journey on record (and CD).
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Noah23
Creeping up on Moka Only as “the most prolific” thanks in part to a sudden flurry of collaborative projects just recently released, Guelph, Ontario emcee Noah 23 has been honing his rap skills going on 20 years. He’s toured extensively and has released music on a variety of labels. His Plague Language crew is one of the most creative hip hop collectives currently making music. And while reluctant to discuss the (likely redundant) topic, he happens to have extensive knowledge of the number 23. Check his MySpace blog for his discussion on the topic of 23, from his discovery of the idea through William Burroughs and the journal he kept to the same day death of two different Captain Clarks and the constant interconnectedness of that magic number. Instead, Noah opens up to Urbnet about his opinions on the Jim Carrey movie Number 23, his humble hip hop beginnings, the evolution of the Plague Language crew, his many collaborations, and how he feels about his label, Legendary Entertainment.
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Hero
As Toronto triple threat (emcee, singer and producer) Darp Malone rightly points out, much of modern hip-hop music tends to be made for the youth, but along with partner E-Dot, an Edmonton emcee now residing in Brooklyn, they are offering an alternative for the old school listener looking for mature, honest hip-hop. While both artists have achieved some amount of solo success, their HERO debut has been earning them critical accolades since the album first leaked to the Internet a couple of months back. Using a backdrop of soulful hip-hop to tell their tales of break-up, love and social commentary, HERO give hip-hop a refreshing facelift. For their interview with URBNET, Darp Malone is forthcoming and honest while E-Dot takes the “fucktard” interviewer to task throughout with his venomous sarcasm, and DJ Taktics steps in to offer a few quick comments. Insightful and funny at the same time, URBNET delves into the world of the best new duo in hip-hop today.
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PHATT al
PHATT al has experienced a lot in his twenty years in the Canadian hip-hop scene, from his early years as a member of UNIT-e with Tallisman and Nelly Furtado, to his mid-career time spent as part of Cryptic Souls Crew with Moka Only, Abdominal, D-Sisive and more, to his current membership in Divine Styler’s Scheme Team. He was an integral component of Planet Mars, Toronto’s legendary freestyle night. And he’s participated in a variety of projects, including bangra band Punjabi By Nature, rap-rockers RaggaDeath, jazzy funksters The Quartertones, hip-pop stars Len, and now the Nu-Funk megaband God Made Me Funky. We Can All Be Free, their sophomore follow-up to their self-titled debut, is currently up for a Juno award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, which means now is a perfect time for them to be dropping their third album, Enter the Beat, a perfect party record. Throughout all of this, PHATT al stands out as an innovator, constantly experimenting with hip-hop by merging it with any and all other genres. But it ain’t over, not even when the PHATT man sings.
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Politic Live
Edmonton, Alberta may not be well known for its hip-hop scene – yet! – but with emcees and groups such as Cadence Weapon, Touch & Nato, and Politic Live, the city is sure to have a presence on the Canadian hip-hop stage, if not the world stage, very soon. Brothers Dirt Gritie and Bigga Nolte, along with cousin Arlo Maverick (aka Young Mav), have released two albums as Politic Live, and their latest, Adaptation, has earned them quite a bit of attention. But, unlike many other hip-hop groups interested in just releasing one album after another and furthering their own career, Politic Live have been strong supporters of both their local scene and those in need through their label Music For Mavericks and the people they feed with their yearly event Hip Hop For Hunger. By presenting music that has commercial appeal with no compromise, Politic Live are the Edmonton rap group best poised to break out of the local hip-hop scene and into a much bigger market. We’ll know for sure when their third album drops later this year. Until then, Toronto audiences can catch them live at the Annex Wreckroom on March 6, 2008, as part of Canadian Music Week.
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Rhythmicru
Toronto rhyme crew Rhythmicru – TheSnowyOwl, D-Ray, Cale Sampson and DJ Sawtay – unabashedly rep for the underground. Heck, one look at the tracklist for their most recent release, the D-Ray-produced compilation Supertoke 2, will tell you that. One look will also tell you that they love their weed, too. Still, the Cru are known to drop knowledge on politics and society as well as get deep and personal since jumping onto the scene in 2004 with Open Canvas. Combining their love for underground hip-hop with a desire to create a stronger community and infrastructure within Canadian hip-hop, Rhythmicru started local hip-hop night Heads Connect, exposing fans to a talented variety of hip-hop artists both lesser- and better-known. With an energetic live show and underground beats that have a quirky D-Ray twist, Rhythmicru are a good bet for true school hip-hop heads.
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Soso
Since debuting in 2000 with Sour Suite on his own Clotheshorse Records label, also home to Epic, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan emcee-producer soso has continually defied expectations with his dramatic boom bap beats featuring the sounds of nature, and which are perfectly suited to soso’s refreshingly honest brand of hip hop that interweaves his stories of family and social history with images of landscapes and weather. While both Birthday Songs and Tenth Street and Clarence have continued to evolve this sound, Tinfoil on the Windows, his fourth full-length album, finally bumps soso out of his familiar and comfortable groove, finding him collaborating instead with indie rocker Maybe Smith for more of a live band sound, and co-releasing with leftfield indie hip hop label Endemik for bigger and better distribution and awareness. Welcome to the heart of emo hip hop. Now, just what exactly makes him tick?
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Jesse Dangerously
Jesse Dangerously started making teeny tiny waves in 1998 when he released a very limited-edition cassette/CD called The Lying City EP under the group name The Sentinel with rap buddy Ginzu 333 (now going by ginzuintriplicate, which Jesse D stresses is “all one word with no capitals because he is a little bit of a pretty princess like that”). Brought up under the influence of Buck 65’s radio show on CKDU, Jesse started with a solid foundation that he has built on to become a creative producer, a fascinating fast rapper and a fountain of knowledge for Buck 65 and Halifax hip-hop trivia. His last two albums, Inter Alia and Verba Volant, display a greater level of maturity and experience with hip-hop, so Jesse has now found himself more and more in the public eye. As part of his next step to superstardom, Jesse Dangerously talks with Urbnet.com about his beginnings in rap, his Backburner crew, his thoughts on Halifax hopeful Classified, his inclusion in the nerdcore movement and why in the world any emcee would wear a tie on stage.
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Ira Lee
Despite remaining relatively unknown, Ira Lee claims to be “the most sincere artist in Canadian rap music.” He’s not far from the truth. He is sincere. And honest. And creative. And he’s no slouch on the mic either, displaying a playful style that mixes rapping and spoken word. Ira Lee started out as a DJ, entered rapping through freestyling, learned songwriting as a member of the second generation of Frek Sho, and experienced the dynamic of the duo with Def 3 for Dead Can’t Bounce. His solo debut, Cafeteria Food, was a beautiful examination of working class woes and the corresponding everyday struggle, all told with sincerity. Factor and Ira Lee were a perfect pairing. His follow-up, Die, is a double disc release inspired and partially produced by underprivileged minority youth across Canada, an artistic initiative that was made possible thanks in large part to the Canada Council and other government funding. Finally, a hip-hop artist embracing a hustle that helps rather than harms. Now, if only Ira Lee would stop sabotaging his own success.
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BUCK 65 f/Skratch Bastid
Rich Terfry has been making music for a long-ass time. He started back in the early 90s as part of the Halifax hip-hop supergroup Haltown Projex using the name Haslam. When they disbanded over creativity control issues, Rich flipped his name to Stinkin’ Rich for rapping, incorporated his childhood nickname of Buck into Buck 65 for producing, and used his already established radio DJ alias of DJ Critical for cutting and scratching. And let’s not forget the rest of The Certain Others that have got lost along the way as the Buck 65 personality finally took over the body for good. Even before signing to Warner Music Canada, Rich was experimenting with music, whether it was as an advocate for multi-syllabic raps or the mixing of hip-hop with other genres of music. For his Warner releases, Buck got even more experimental with a live band and music that was rarely classified as hip-hop. But now the emcee is back and better than ever with Situation, a return to hip-hop with lyrics that combine the storytelling skills perfected on Talkin’ Honky Blues and Secret House Against the World with the innovative, intricate wordplay of his early rap albums. Joining him for Situation (and for this interview) is Skratch Bastid, three time Scribble Jam DJ champion, a fellow 1200 Hobo, and now a critically acclaimed producer behind the boards for both Buck’s Situation and the collaboration album Taking Care of Business with Pip Skid and John Smith
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