User:Bearcat/Canadian hip hop

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Canadian hip hop developed much more slowly than the rock music scene. Although Canada had hip hop artists right from the early days of the scene, the infrastructure simply wasn't there to get their music to the record-buying public. Even Toronto — Canada's largest city and one of its most multicultural — had difficulty getting an urban music station on the radio airwaves until 2000. As a result, if a Canadian hip-hop artist could get signed, it was very difficult for them to get widespread exposure, even if their videos were played on MuchMusic.

1 Style
2 Early popularity
3 Milestone Radio
4 Rascalz
5 Drop the Beat
6 Flow 93.5
7 CBC Radio 3
8 External Links

[edit] Style

Caribbean/reggae influences - Dream Warriors, Kardinal, Devon, Michie Mee
Techno/electronic - Ghislain Poirier, Cadence Weapon
Rock influence - Buck 65, Project Wyze, Raggadeath, Esthero (find a citation for the fact that "Heaven Sent" was once cited as the only song from the album that had any chance of getting onto Canadian radio, due to its somewhat more rockish flavour)

[edit] Early popularity

Devon, Maestro Fresh Wes and Dream Warriors did manage, for a brief time in the late '80s and early '90s, to break through to mainstream pop. Maestro's first chart hit, "Let Your Backbone Slide", was the first Canadian rap single to break into the Top 40, and remains as of 2005 the best-selling Canadian rap single of all time. Other notable rap singles of this era include Maestro's "Drop the Needle", Devon's "Mr. Metro", Dream Warriors' "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" and "Wash Your Face in My Sink", and Kish's "I Rhyme the World in 80 Days". Francophone rapper Le Boyfriend had a hit in Quebec, and in English Canadian dance clubs, with "Rapper Chic (Je rap en français)".

In addition, two-thirds of the Toronto/New York-based hip-hop group, Main Source, were Toronto natives and helped bring forth the undisputed hip-hop classic, "Breaking Atoms", which featured a young Nas before his rise in popularity.

Rap also began to surface in Canadian mainstream pop in the early '90s. Rapper Frankie Fudge performed a rap break in Céline Dion's 1990 single "Unison" and appeared in her video. Female r&b duo Love and Sas performed rap in their 1991 single "I Don't Need Yo' Kiss".

[edit] Milestone Radio

In 1991, Milestone Radio applied to the CRTC for an urban station in Toronto, which would have been the first such station in Canada, but that application was denied in favour of a country music station (something which Toronto already had on its radio dial).

The decision was controversial, and hurt the Canadian hip hop scene considerably. Only one Canadian rapper, Michie Mee, made an appearance on the national pop charts between 1991 and 1998 — and even she only managed it by partnering with the hard rock band Raggadeath. Snow, who had a hit in 1993 with "Informer", is sometimes mistakenly labelled a rapper, but in fact his style was more accurately described as dancehall (a style of reggae) than as hip-hop. As well, Tom Green's band Organized Rhyme had some success on MuchMusic with "Check the O.R.", but did not receive widespread radio airplay.

Role of WBLK in Toronto

That began to change in 1996, when several pivotal events occurred in close succession: first, Urban Music Association of Canada was formed to build the domestic and international profile of Canadian urban music. The following year, Dubmatique broke through as the first Quebec rap band to top the francophone pop charts, and a controversy erupted in Toronto when Milestone was again passed over for an urban radio station. Instead, the CBC was awarded 99.1 to move its existing Radio One station from the AM band — and, ominously, this was believed at the time to be the last available FM frequency in the city.

[edit] Rascalz

Most importantly, however, the Vancouver hip hop band Rascalz gathered an all-star crew of emerging Canadian rappers to record "Northern Touch", a galvanizing statement of purpose for Canadian hip-hoppers which was released as a single in 1998, beating the odds to become the first Canadian hip hop hit since 1991.

Later that year, Rascalz refused the Juno Award for Best Rap Recording, citing that the award was presented during the non-televised portion of the ceremony along with the technical awards. Stung by the allegation of racism, the Junos moved the Rap award to the main ceremony the following year. Also in 1998, Maestro Fresh Wes, now known simply as Maestro, broke his own hit jinx, with "Stick to Your Vision" becoming his first chart hit in seven years.

Hip-hop and trip-hop acts such as Esthero, Choclair, Saukrates and Kardinal Offishall were also beginning to make waves in the press, as the Rascalz controversy and Maestro's comeback renewed attention on Canadian hip-hop.

[edit] Drop the Beat

In 2000, the CBC created and aired Drop the Beat, a television series about hip hop music and culture.

[edit] Flow 93.5

In 1999, the CBC's Toronto station completed its move to FM. Because the FM frequency offered better broadcast coverage, the CBC found that it was able to surrender two repeater transmitters serving communities outside of the city. These two frequencies were opened to new applications in 2000, and CRTC awarded one of the frequencies to Milestone, on the company's third attempt. (Jog my memory: did or didn't the federal cabinet effectively direct the CRTC to give Milestone a frequency?)

CFXJ, branded as Flow 93.5, debuted as Canada's first urban music station in 2001. Urban stations quickly followed in several other Canadian cities, as well, and for the first time, Canadian hip-hop artists had a network of radio outlets for their music. The other frequency was awarded to Aboriginal Voices for a station to serve First Nations communities.

Some members of the black community in Toronto feel that they have been betrayed by Milestone, as the station has focused on increasing white listenership. Shortly after launching, Denham Jolly was also heard saying at a community event (First Fridays) to a predominantly black audience to "tell your white friends [to listen to Flow]". Petitions and debates to support Milestone's bid for an FM license highlighted "black-Canadian (west-Indian and African) community content" as an alternative to the widely listened to Buffalo station WBLK. Once Flow launched, WBLK could no longer be heard by most people in the Toronto area. Flow also limited and then eliminated black community discussion. Reggae was eliminated from its marketing tag, and West Indian music has been limited. Other forms of music, such as jazz and African music have been eliminated.