HIP-HOP HISTORY IN MONTREAL

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTREAL ANGLO RAP SUCCESS

Ricky J: It may pain Montreal music fans to know this, but the city does have a Canadian Billboard No. 2 near-charttopper, in the form of Ricky J’s jokey rap hit No Means No. The song, which had Ricky pleading to various women to comedic effect, was a little creepy at the time and has aged poorly.

Narcy: The Iraq-a-fella creator is Montreal’s most knowledgeable hip-hop source and your favourite rapper’s favourite Montreal rapper, counting Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli as conscious rap compadres. He teaches one of Canada’s only hip-hop courses, at Concordia. His most recent full-length album is 2015’s World War Free Now, and he has a new one forthcoming.

Shades of Culture: Ask any Montreal rap head from the ’90s, and they’ll tell you Shades of Culture was the best the city had to offer and was destined for greater things. DShade, Revolution and DJ Storm reached the rest of Canada with Mindstate in 1998 and were on the first cover of Voice of Montreal, which later became Vice. They reunited at POP Montreal in 2017.

Bran Van 3000: Everyone knows the group for Drinking in L.A., from 1997’s Glee. What people might not remember is that their eclectic debut had a few rapping moments on it, including the all-rap cut Afrodiziak. Montreal rap history might have been different had that song been their breakout single.

Bad News Brown: A largerthan-life force in Montreal rap. A rare rapping and harmonica-playing double threat, he released Born 2 Sin in 2009. Bad News Brown was murdered in 2011 and was commemorated with a now-faded mural on Clark St. in the Quartier des spectacles.