5th Letter
New member
5th Letter- How long have you been following hip hop?
achewon87- Since 89... That's 27 years of hiphop, probably longer than some on the board been alive lol... First album I ever bought was...
Use to read Word Up! magazine... The would be GOAT wasn't bullshittin on "Juicy"... And I had the advantage of having an older cousin who would slide me Ice-T and NWA on the low... I remember copping "Mama Said Knock You Out" on the strenght of riding with him in his jeep with the roof off with "Boomin System" going, shit was GOAT at 13 and still is at my advanced age lol... Hope I to never "outgrow" hiphop...
5th Letter- What are your thoughts on today's hip hop?
achewon87- I'm down with some of this new shit, mostly indie and underground acts... But it's getting silly out here with the biting of styles and trying to sound like the next man... I mean how can there be more than 1 dude who raps like Future... And I like some of Future's music but I don't really want to hear other people rapping like Future, I can just listen to Future... Same with Drake I don't mess with his music all that much but you got these cats biting his style...
I am pretty sure someone out there listens to Tory Lanez or Bryson Tiller b/c they dislike Drake but like his sing/rap style and not because they like Lanez or Tiller... That's weirdo shit to me... But what do I know, ain't Tiller go plat?... Record companies see no need for diversity when that happens... Internet has been a double edged sword, quick easy accessibility but piracy has hurt the entertainment industry all kinds, that is probably why we don't get as many chances taken on original artist with a big label push, cheaper to copycat what is currently working...
With that said I think the playing field is very level right now you don't necessarily need the big label as long as your willing to grind, build a fanbase and do shows and end up keeping most of the proceeds for yourself, it really comes down to how big you want to be, the big labels are selling fame to you, while keeping 2 hands in your pockets... But with all these streaming deals and subscriptions services going on, I would say time is running out, big money is trying to lock it down and who knows what sort of road blocks they might put up for an indie artist... Musically I can always find something that I am willing to bump in this generation, currently I check for...
Earthgang
Oddisee
WDNGCrshrs
Dave East
Ray West
Kaytranada
Clear Soul Forces
And I check out every Mello Music Group release when I can...I actually try to listen to as much as I can and give a chance to everything except Young Thug, I can't take this guy seriously, he writes his songs by drawing pictures and he unlocks flows, we good on the strenght of that, add all the chichi man shit and where done here... Hiphop music is alive and well imo... Just might have to search harder for something that fits your tastes... And because Canadian... Drake could never be GOAT, ever, but I am not sure why we let Sprite troll us into that convo to begin with... He hasn't passed Maestro Fresh Wes on the Canadian GOAT rapper list imo, nevermind being on a list with Rakim, Nas & Big lol...
5th Letter- What is the Canadian hip hop scene like?
achewon87- Overall it's pretty strong right now cause of you know who having the spotlight... But I have always thought Canada had some good hiphop acts from Maestro, Choclair, Kardinal, The Rascalz, K-os, Saukrates, Citizen Kane, Ghetto Concept, Main Source before pulling the okey doke on Extra P (Canada put Nas on!!! lol)...
Main Source - Live At The BBQ Ft. Nas, Joe Fatal & Akinyele
Lately... Besides the more popular names of course... BADBADNOTGOOD are doing there thing, dope album with Ghostface... Shad... K'naan... This cat Kaytranada, from my city, makes dope music, released a well reviewed album recently...
Kaytranada - Glowed Up Ft. Anderson .Paak
My city has had a lot of french hiphop acts, I never really paid attention to them but they get supported from the french fans... I never could get into it personally but it is something else to experience hiphop in a different language like that, it's own little branch on the hiphop tree that I am sure most of us never really thought of, it's also cool to see that shit break language barriers, what would a french white dude have in common with Pac but he had a fan base within that group here, always found that interesting... There is probably a lot of Canadian rappers I have missed but the Kryptonite×Kush will do that... I mentioned graffiti before and the rest of Canada represents in that aspect as well I have seen some on my visits to Toronto and even Ottawa has some spots, I lived in Vancouver once upon a time ago and seen plenty there... Always funny when someone can't cross the border up here for a show, not so funny if you have a ticket to said show... The craziest thing really is the Degrassi kid sitting on top of the rap game... That's like a Nickelodeon or Disney Channel co-star running the game...
5th Letter- So do these artists get the support like the American artists?
achewon87- We have a law up here that allows Canadian artist to get 35% of radio broadcast time, meaning that radio stations have to play at least 21 mins of Canadian artist an hour, some of the newer radio stations are at 40%... It's been around since the late 60's... And it also applies to music video rotation... The TPP is going to fuck it up if it hasn't already... Canada also has grants and shit for art that can be applied to music... In terms of record sales; Canadian artist have always tried to cross over to the US to boost sales no matter the genre...Plat in Canada is really Gold in US... Population wise the US has 9 times as many people than Canada so it would be hard to show the same support but we do what we can... KOTD is pretty big and obviously gets support, most of my homies follow that rather than conventional hiphop releases... Look at someone like K-os, still doing his thing, from an indie/underground stand point there is always a market and support up here if you want to go that route...
And Nova Scotia of all places has a really big hiphop community and they really don't follow any trends, they just do them, it is self contained and supported, that place is like a bastion for hiphop creativity, I respect it even though I don't like all the music that comes out of there... Canadian hiphop gets the support at home but our artist who want to be big will always try to cross over to that US market... We have contributed to hiphop way before Drake and hopefully long after he's done...But everything was not roses all the time... Early Canadian hiphop and hiphop had a rough go and didn't get any airplay...
In the early 90's some guys in Toronto tried starting an urban radio station but got turned down for a country radio station... I think the landscape would have been much different if that would have happened... MuchMusic was really the only avenue like that back then and Rap City was only a 30 min show... Trying to find hiphop on the radio or randomly outside of Rap City was almost non existent... All the big cities had university radio that would play hiphop for a few hrs but nothing dedicated, no Hot 97's...I remember when MuchMusic finally had MuchVibe and Flow 93.5 showed up in Toronto, that was like 2001 and those are the 1st legit urban stations (TV/Radio) So the fans have been good to Canadian hiphop and hiphop in general, the CRTC not so much... Hiphop could/should have been bigger here much earlier but that early road block really hurt exposure especially for our artist... Montreal still doesn't have an urban radio station yet not sure about Vancouver...
achewon87- Since 89... That's 27 years of hiphop, probably longer than some on the board been alive lol... First album I ever bought was...
5th Letter- What are your thoughts on today's hip hop?
achewon87- I'm down with some of this new shit, mostly indie and underground acts... But it's getting silly out here with the biting of styles and trying to sound like the next man... I mean how can there be more than 1 dude who raps like Future... And I like some of Future's music but I don't really want to hear other people rapping like Future, I can just listen to Future... Same with Drake I don't mess with his music all that much but you got these cats biting his style...
I am pretty sure someone out there listens to Tory Lanez or Bryson Tiller b/c they dislike Drake but like his sing/rap style and not because they like Lanez or Tiller... That's weirdo shit to me... But what do I know, ain't Tiller go plat?... Record companies see no need for diversity when that happens... Internet has been a double edged sword, quick easy accessibility but piracy has hurt the entertainment industry all kinds, that is probably why we don't get as many chances taken on original artist with a big label push, cheaper to copycat what is currently working...
With that said I think the playing field is very level right now you don't necessarily need the big label as long as your willing to grind, build a fanbase and do shows and end up keeping most of the proceeds for yourself, it really comes down to how big you want to be, the big labels are selling fame to you, while keeping 2 hands in your pockets... But with all these streaming deals and subscriptions services going on, I would say time is running out, big money is trying to lock it down and who knows what sort of road blocks they might put up for an indie artist... Musically I can always find something that I am willing to bump in this generation, currently I check for...
Earthgang
Oddisee
WDNGCrshrs
Dave East
Ray West
Kaytranada
Clear Soul Forces
And I check out every Mello Music Group release when I can...I actually try to listen to as much as I can and give a chance to everything except Young Thug, I can't take this guy seriously, he writes his songs by drawing pictures and he unlocks flows, we good on the strenght of that, add all the chichi man shit and where done here... Hiphop music is alive and well imo... Just might have to search harder for something that fits your tastes... And because Canadian... Drake could never be GOAT, ever, but I am not sure why we let Sprite troll us into that convo to begin with... He hasn't passed Maestro Fresh Wes on the Canadian GOAT rapper list imo, nevermind being on a list with Rakim, Nas & Big lol...
5th Letter- What is the Canadian hip hop scene like?
achewon87- Overall it's pretty strong right now cause of you know who having the spotlight... But I have always thought Canada had some good hiphop acts from Maestro, Choclair, Kardinal, The Rascalz, K-os, Saukrates, Citizen Kane, Ghetto Concept, Main Source before pulling the okey doke on Extra P (Canada put Nas on!!! lol)...
Main Source - Live At The BBQ Ft. Nas, Joe Fatal & Akinyele
Lately... Besides the more popular names of course... BADBADNOTGOOD are doing there thing, dope album with Ghostface... Shad... K'naan... This cat Kaytranada, from my city, makes dope music, released a well reviewed album recently...
Kaytranada - Glowed Up Ft. Anderson .Paak
My city has had a lot of french hiphop acts, I never really paid attention to them but they get supported from the french fans... I never could get into it personally but it is something else to experience hiphop in a different language like that, it's own little branch on the hiphop tree that I am sure most of us never really thought of, it's also cool to see that shit break language barriers, what would a french white dude have in common with Pac but he had a fan base within that group here, always found that interesting... There is probably a lot of Canadian rappers I have missed but the Kryptonite×Kush will do that... I mentioned graffiti before and the rest of Canada represents in that aspect as well I have seen some on my visits to Toronto and even Ottawa has some spots, I lived in Vancouver once upon a time ago and seen plenty there... Always funny when someone can't cross the border up here for a show, not so funny if you have a ticket to said show... The craziest thing really is the Degrassi kid sitting on top of the rap game... That's like a Nickelodeon or Disney Channel co-star running the game...
5th Letter- So do these artists get the support like the American artists?
achewon87- We have a law up here that allows Canadian artist to get 35% of radio broadcast time, meaning that radio stations have to play at least 21 mins of Canadian artist an hour, some of the newer radio stations are at 40%... It's been around since the late 60's... And it also applies to music video rotation... The TPP is going to fuck it up if it hasn't already... Canada also has grants and shit for art that can be applied to music... In terms of record sales; Canadian artist have always tried to cross over to the US to boost sales no matter the genre...Plat in Canada is really Gold in US... Population wise the US has 9 times as many people than Canada so it would be hard to show the same support but we do what we can... KOTD is pretty big and obviously gets support, most of my homies follow that rather than conventional hiphop releases... Look at someone like K-os, still doing his thing, from an indie/underground stand point there is always a market and support up here if you want to go that route...
And Nova Scotia of all places has a really big hiphop community and they really don't follow any trends, they just do them, it is self contained and supported, that place is like a bastion for hiphop creativity, I respect it even though I don't like all the music that comes out of there... Canadian hiphop gets the support at home but our artist who want to be big will always try to cross over to that US market... We have contributed to hiphop way before Drake and hopefully long after he's done...But everything was not roses all the time... Early Canadian hiphop and hiphop had a rough go and didn't get any airplay...
In the early 90's some guys in Toronto tried starting an urban radio station but got turned down for a country radio station... I think the landscape would have been much different if that would have happened... MuchMusic was really the only avenue like that back then and Rap City was only a 30 min show... Trying to find hiphop on the radio or randomly outside of Rap City was almost non existent... All the big cities had university radio that would play hiphop for a few hrs but nothing dedicated, no Hot 97's...I remember when MuchMusic finally had MuchVibe and Flow 93.5 showed up in Toronto, that was like 2001 and those are the 1st legit urban stations (TV/Radio) So the fans have been good to Canadian hiphop and hiphop in general, the CRTC not so much... Hiphop could/should have been bigger here much earlier but that early road block really hurt exposure especially for our artist... Montreal still doesn't have an urban radio station yet not sure about Vancouver...
