A powerful snapshot of Toronto’s hip-hop scene,
Hip-hop artist TOBi’s video for ‘24 (Toronto Remix)’ is both a tribute and a damnation of the city
Last week, Toronto artist TOBi dropped an arresting visual for his latest single, “24 (Toronto Remix).” Executive produced by Director X and featuring a who’s-who of the city’s critically acclaimed MCs: Polaris Prizewinner Haviah Mighty; host of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Hip-Hop Evolution” Shad; and Junoaward winner Jazz Cartier, the video brings to life the song’s representation of the young Black experience in the GTA with acute flare, made all the more powerful by the diversity of voices depicted.
Fitting for a snapshot of the city’s hip-hop scene, “24 (Toronto Remix)” is both a tribute and a damnation of its subject. Eschewing the typical CN Tower skyline for lesser highlighted settings such as the Port Lands, it depicts Mighty lamenting stereotyping and surveillance tactics atop a cop car, while Shad plays observer and teacher, laying out a list of social and political demands in the street as well as the classroom. Meanwhile, Cartier and TOBi alongside wailing guitarist Ejji Smith dig into the psychological impact such a reality can have on a young person.
If that all sounds heavy for a groovy, infectious track, according to TOBi, that’s exactly the point.
“It’s absolutely a statement on the city,” he says over the phone. “These are voices and perspectives that need to be heard; that need to be showcased without being patronizing.”
The original version of “24” appeared on TOBi’s 2019 debut album “STILL.” A personal contemplation on the precocious nature of daily survival in the city, the lyrics and title arrived together in a moment of clarity: “It was written in my bedroom reflecting on my life, how far I’d come and being grateful for where things were at. A lot of things could have gone wrong in my teenage years, so it was me paying homage to that,” he recalls. “That’s why I called it 24: my age at the time, 24 hours in a day and also after the news channel CP24 — they have updates on sliders and, more often than not, it’s bad news, like a shooting somewhere.”
For the 2020 remix, TOBi envisioned a modernized take on “Northern Touch,” the tentpole Canadian “posse” anthem. But in lieu of the braggadocious verses of “Northern Touch,” the crew on “24” would offer a wider breadth of experience, both validating and expanding on TOBi’s.
To achieve this, he decided he’d need to find like-minded artists who “didn’t fit into societal norms,” he recalls. Three calls later, he had his team locked in. “A female, my musical idol and (a contemporary), each unique within the collective, yet we could all relate to the others’ verse,” TOBi says. “Those perspectives are integral to the Black experience.”
And Mighty, Shad and Cartier were happy to deliver.
“I’m in a space where I don’t do features, but this one sat right with my spirit,” Cartier says. “Often artists in the city working to get an important message across don’t get their voices heard, but the way TOBi orchestrated the record was pretty spectacular. There was an unparalleled level of integrity. ”
Working with the instruction to write to the narratives that define youth culture for people of colour in the city, each featured artist churned out a verse designed to offer insight without rage. “I told them even though you’re being vulnerable in your lyrics and delivery, I want you to feel powerful in what you’re saying,” TOBi says.
“It felt like a coming together around these subtle, insidious ways that racism works in Canada and the way that it’s sort of underplayed a bit,” Shad recalls. “But at the same time, we know, in each of our experiences, how it’s affected our lives.”
According to Mighty, the results were as prescient as they were empowering. “In a crazy way. If you look at what’s going on in society right now with Ahmaud Arbery, it’s so in line with Shad’s verse,” she says. “We created this song way before the specifics of this story came out and it’s because the story has been repeated over and over and over and over again. And these conversations, I think, do need to continue to be happening. And that’s why it’s very important that music is used as an outlet for power, education and knowledge and not just a form of entertainment.”
Directed by Kit Weyman, the video reflects this mentality, not only through the literal lyrical depictions and commanding choreography, but also in subtle touches such as framing, lighting and wardrobe.
“We are trying to dignify our bodies,” TOBi explains.
For Shad, the elder statesman of the group, the resulting body of work is inspiring. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen, in this country, artists come together for this particular message. I think that’s a thing people love about collaboration in music; it’s what people love about hip hop. It felt special to me,” he beams.
“It just kind of really came together as a beautiful piece of art,” Mighty says. “I think it will live on as a part of Toronto history, if it’s not there already.”
“These are voices and perspectives that need to be heard; that need to be showcased without being patronizing.”
TOBI HIP-HOP ARTIST