Hear This
True north beats and rhymes
BY Matt Semansky
Photography by Karl Ferris
The past 25 years have seen hip-hop music journey far from the New York streets where it was born. People of all backgrounds have embraced the music, the fashion and the attitude and major retailers package these elements and sell them as a single ready-to-wear identity. Once an alternative to mainstream culture, hip hop has now become mainstream culture.
Although the genre has been heavily commercialized, there are still plenty of artists who stay true to the socially conscious spirit of the music. And several of these scholarly street poets just happen to be from Canada, where MCs, DJs and producers have long been studying the classics of the hip-hop canon. As the following records demonstrate, their studies have borne fruit of a Canadian flavour.
Sweatshop Union, United We Fall (Battleaxe/EMI) “Once you open your eyes, there ain’t no going back to closing your mind,” raps Mos Eisley on “Lead the Way,” one of 15 highly intelligent and defiantly political tracks on Sweatshop Union’s third release. While radio rappers argue over who’s got the shiniest Mercedes, this seven-member Vancouver collective takes on contentious topics like religious hypocrisy (“God Bless”), the addictive nature of money (“Never Enough”) and dishonesty in news media (“F.W.U.H.”). The rhymes are clever and politically astute and thanks to some fine production work — like the sinister bass line that guides “Office Space” — they never feel preachy. With its old-school beats and topical lyrics, United We Fall hits the mark both viscerally and intellectually.
The Quartertones, Hidden In Plain Sight (URBNet Records) Anyone who doubts the validity of hip hop as a truly musical movement should check out this debut disc by Toronto’s Quartertones. There are a couple of rap verses and soulful hooks in the mix, but tracks like the euphoric “Hands Up” don’t need any vocal adornment. The Quartertones make judicious use of live horns, guitar, bass and turntable scratches to create a seductive, jazz-flavoured sound that’s funky enough to engage with but relaxed enough for chilling out. By bending genre conventions and letting their instruments do most of the talking, The Quartertones show that hip hop is about more than just words.
