Vanessa Tha Finessa Talks Her Talk on EP "CURRENT" (Foundation Media)

Vanessa Tha Finessa by Matthew Cowen

Propelled by the winning combination of bad-bitch charisma and savvy lyrical chops, Vanessa Tha Finessa can’t lose. The Los Angeles-based rapper recently gifted her EP CURRENT to the world – an artful appetizer that leaves no choice but to indulge.

While CURRENT marks Vanessa’s first release, it stands on the shoulders of an expansive sonic rolodex. The Ghanaian-born talent grew up surrounded by hiplife and dancehall alongside American pop music, and immersed herself in artists like Mac Miller and Nicki Minaj when she came Stateside. She was then scouted by casting director Sarah Benjamin after college, courting the fashion world by modelling for campaigns with Nike and Milk Makeup and posing for the covers of 10 Magazine and WWD.

All of these influences are front-and-centre on CURRENT, manifesting themselves as commanding Afro-fusion drum loops and an air of self-assuredness. “I birth these bitches like a doula / Head game crazy, can’t stay out his medulla”, Vanessa snarls mere seconds into opener “Talk Tha Talk”. The bouncy “Top Notch” layers punctuated claps over an echoing chorus: “Yeah, come rock my boat / ‘cuz it’s Murder She Wrote.” Vanessa knows what it’s like to be in-demand: her style toes the line between slapping you with both hands and being too chic to care.

Her decision to change lanes and emerge as a musician first came after a chance encounter with Smiles Davis at an LA party. The DJ and producer picked up on Vanessa’s wit, helping her to record the carnal “Run It” in 2019 (which went on to be featured on Showtime’s Flatbush Misdemeanors). The track is infused with a vaguely-industrial sensibility, peppered with steady claves and distorted vocal layers. Its inclusion in the middle of CURRENT seems to serve as a cleansing vignette of the artist’s first steps. Though a touch less tuned-up than the duo’s other collaborations, “Run It” succeeds at archiving an undeniable spark.

Spanning five tracks altogether, the fluidity with which CURRENT unfolds offers an intriguing testament to Vanessa Tha Finessa’s fast-paced life. An individual of many accomplishments who seems to tower above them all – reaching beyond artistic discipline to capture the weightlessness of poise.

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CURRENT

Out May 25, 2023 via Foundation Media

1. Talk Tha Talk

2. It's You

3. Run It

4. Counterfeit

5. Top Notch

Produced by Falcons, Karats, Smiles Davis, and Royal Bait

Album photography by Matthew Cowan

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Vanessa Tha Finessa

Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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Toronto R&B Duo TRP.P To Share New Track at M for Montreal

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TRP.P (pronounced "trippy") is an R&B/hip-hop duo hailing from Toronto, comprised of Truss (producer, singer-songwriter) and Phoenix (singer-songwriter). The pair met in 2015 and have been “collaborating in music and life” ever since, all while enchanting audiences with their soulful, old-school sound. Truss and Phoenix made waves with their 2019 debut 2TRP.P, where they tackled injustice and oppression in their lyrics, while also celebrating queer love and empowering their communities. This effort remains intact with TRP.P’s latest offering “Never Leavin,’” out tomorrow (November 19th, 2021) and to-be-performed at the Hot Tramp Showcase at M for Montreal.

Leading up to their set at L’Esco with Janette King, Maryze and Witch Prophet, we had the chance to connect with the duo on what inspired “Never Leavin’” and how it fosters grounds for growing as collaborators.

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter for Also Cool: To start, can you tell me about the origin story of your new single “Never Leavin’”?  

TRP.P: We originally wrote this song while composing music for a TV show. Although it didn't work out for the show, it worked out perfectly for our album and complimented the new direction we want to take with our music. Once we started to record and perform the song, the message resonated with us more and more. It really is an anthem for communities that have faced displacement, especially during this pandemic. Through that same sense of community, we have met so many amazing people, including the roller-skating community right here in Toronto. You might even see them in the upcoming music video for the song!

Also Cool: Has "Never Leavin'" brought about any realizations for TRP.P? Whether it be learning something new about how you work together, your individual artistry or something you'd like to foster as a group in the future? 

Truss: That's actually a really good question. For me, it made me realize just how broad our spectrum of sound truly is. Although we both grew up influenced by R&B, gospel and hip-hop, there's an underlying influence of pop and house-inspired music in the song.

Phoenix: For me, it made me realize just how impermanent everything is and how fleeting time and existence is. The song is called "Never Leavin,'" but yet by the time the song is released, three new business will close down, one condo will be built, and a million dispensaries will pop up. It’s almost like the most defiant title we could choose in a time like this. In terms of working together, there isn’t a better team than us! We love and dislike everything we do at the same time. Our goals are always two halves of a whole when we are creating. 

Phoenix (left) and Truss (right) of TRP.P, photo courtesy of the artists

 AC: What does the next chapter hold for TRP.P? 

TRP.P: Album number two! It’s a summertime release and we are really looking forward to this one. We didn’t get to tour our first album due to the pandemic. We want to actually go on tour, see the world and play stages in places we could only dream of. Every show we play, we gain new fans and listeners. We are really excited to keep doing that, as safely and as soon as possible.

AC: What can we expect from your performance at the Hot Tramp showcase at M for Montreal? 

TRP.P: We just want to have a good time! We are honoured to be playing with Janette King, Witch Prophet and Maryze. Being only our second show since the easing of live music regulations, it may be a little awkward… But the awkwardness will pass and will be followed by some smooth R&B vibes, with a hint of bars! Everyone will leave saying it was a good show. And we can't wait to prove it to you!

Photo courtesy of the artists

Catch TRP.P at the Hot Tramp Showcase at M for Montreal on November 19th, 2021.

TRP.P

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Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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M For Montreal Partners with Also Cool for Hot Tramp Record Showcase

Looking to start your week off right? Good news: the 16th edition of M for Montreal is on! This year's hybrid festival features panels, showcases and a brand new festival offering under the M for Marathon banner, presented by SiriusXM. With this latest unveiling, music fans will be treated to a jam-packed pop, rock and hip-hop program. M for Montreal will be held online from November 15th to 26th and IRL from November 17th to 19th.

We’re excited to be co-presenting the Hot Tramp Night showcase on November 19th at 9PM EST at l’Esco, featuring an absolutely stacked lineup, including: Janette King, Maryze, TRP.P, Witch Prophet and Shades Lawrence.

Check out the event page and get your tickets — you won’t want to miss this return to live music hosted by one of our favourite independent labels, Hot Tramp!

More info about the artists below!

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Janette King

Janette King is a producer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ based in Montreal. Janette’s unique sound blends together soulful vocals, upbeat production style, and honest lyrics to create a truly captivating listening experience.

Website | Instagram | Spotify

Maryze

Maryze is a bilingual singer-songwriter based in Montreal, originally from Vancouver. Her haunting alt-pop conjures an intimate universe, blending contagious beats with introspective lyrics on mental health, feminism and sexuality. Balancing angst and euphoria in electronic ballads, she offers a refreshing voice with fiery honesty.

Website | Instagram | Spotify

TRP.P

TRP.P (pronounced "trippy") is an R&B duo hailing from Toronto, Canada. Comprised of Truss (producer, singer/songwriter) and Phoenix Pagliacci (singer-songwriter), the dynamic duo met in 2015 and have been collaborating in music and life ever since. Their 80s/90s R&B inspiration takes a modern twist with powerful lyrics into uncharted topics, celebrating queer love and empowering their communities by brightening a spotlight on injustices and oppression.

Website | Instagram | Spotify

Witch Prophet

Witch Prophet is a queer, Ethiopian/Eritrean, singer-songwriter, and the Co-CEO of Heart Lake Records. She provides her fans with a soundscape of vocal layers, loops, raps, and harmonies on a bed of hip-hop, jazz, and soul-inspired beats. Think Erykah Badu meets Lauryn Hill meets Portishead. She finds depth and connection in creating music as a portal for self-growth and discovery, as she navigates and better understands her cultural and queer identity.

Website | Instagram | Spotify

Shades Lawrence

Shades Lawrence is a Montreal born and based hip hop artist of mixed British, Jamaican, Irish and Scottish descent. A pure lyricist, Shades Lawrence’s style can be described as alternative hip hop.  Her words uplift, while keeping environmental justice at the forefront. To date, her style has been compared to Lauryn Hill, Shad, and Jean Grae.

Website | Instagram | Spotify

Poster by Emmanuelle Wielgus

Hot Tramp

Website | Instagram | Facebook

M for Montreal

Website | Instagram | Facebook

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Kansas City Duo The Black Creatures Release Single "TRUE FRIENDS" In Anticipation of Upcoming Album

If we've learned anything over the past few years, it's that having a good support system makes all the difference in the world. Trusting that your chosen family will take care of you and that you'll take care of them when they need it is what The Black Creature's latest single, "TRUE FRIENDS," is all about.

The track is the first off of their upcoming album By Thy Hand,​ produced by Xavier and written by Jade Green and Xavier. It’s a synth pop ballad that reminds us what true friendship is all about, and carries the same cadence and bubbly but honest energy as early Chance the Rapper tracks.

According to Jade," This song is not only a celebration but an offering of gratitude to the support system that I've been lucky to have in my life. Especially during this time where everybody feels so isolated, so far removed from community and from collaboration, this song is a cheeky way of telling listeners,' you deserve loyalty, you deserve love - did you forget who the F you are?!'"

The Kansas City duo (who we interviewed earlier this year) make a point to blur the lines of genre while maintaining a recognizable cohesion. They blend contemporary pop, hip-hop, dance, R&B, EDM and soul with cinematic and storytelling sci-fi/fantasy elements and themes.

Listen to "TRUE FRIENDS" below & stay tuned for their upcoming album!

The Black Creatures

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Malaika Astorga is the co-founder of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Digital Sleepover 2 Interview: Magi Merlin, Mags, and Naïka Champaïgne on Hip-Hop Culture, Soul, RnB and more

Have you heard? We're having a sleepover, and you're invited! Digital Sleepover 2, is our latest upcoming collaboration  Hip Hop You Don't Stop and Strange Froots. On September 19th at 8pm EST we'll be livestreaming a roundtable panel disucssion from the Also Cool HQ with JU!CE, Khadijah, Faneva, and Magi Merlin, followerd by an online dance party.

As we did with our previous Digital Sleepover, we're raising funds for our communities: half of the proceeds will be donated to Maison d'Haiti to help with relief efforts in recovering from the earthquake, and half will go to sustaining the ongoing work of Also Cool (staff, web maintenance, etc.), at the very kind request of the Strange Froots crew. You can donate to the fundraiser here.

In anticipation of the event, we caught up with Mags, Naïka Champaïgne, and Magi Merlin to chat about Hip-Hop culture, different genres, and more. 

Mags & Naïka Champaïgne of Strange Froots

Malaika Astorga for Also Cool: Can you tell us a bit about your relationship with Hip-Hop, R&B & Soul music? 

Magi Merlin: Growing up, my parents mostly played classical music when I was around. I also heard some old-school R&B from my dad and some pop stuff from my mom, but my parents were never that music-oriented. So, as I grew up, and after realizing that I wanted to pursue music, I made sure to listen to all genres of music in an attempt to find what resonated with me the most. I naturally found myself drawn to Neo-Soul, alternative R&B, and Hip-Hop; the voices in these genres really spoke to me. Being a blank slate and not having much outside influence in what I was listening to at a young age almost made my connection to these genres stronger because it felt like we chose each other.

Naïka Champaïgne: My relationship with Hip-Hop, R&B and Soul has been through the sounds being played in my house. My mom had numerous R&B CDs, Hip Hop CDs and was a HUGE fan of Prince. Hearing soul and R&B specifically on Sundays meant my mom was cleaning. It just always has been part of my life. I can’t tell you when, where or how it was brought to my life because it’s just always been there. 

I have a really intimate relationship when it comes to those genres because I always wanted to know more; who sang this? Who wrote this? Who sampled this? Who composed this? What are the different ways they performed it? My mom sometimes would be surprised that I knew this artist, because I was not born during their time, but I was just a kid (and always am to this day) that searched for the artist. I started their discography from the beginning to the end, with the artist’s bio, with the album bio, creative process, writing process and lyrics all open next to me while I listen to the songs, in order to fully grasp the music. My relationship with Hip-Hop, Soul and R&B differs in terms of what/who I’m composing for.

With Strange Froots I focus a lot more on Hip Hop ways of writing and flowing and the more 2000s girl group R&B vocals harmony, and as a solo artist I focus more on the Soul vocalization and melody composition.

Mags: All of the Hip-Hop and RnB I grew up listening to I got from my older siblings, mostly when they would pick me up from school or when I had to tag along with them and their friends hanging out in the 90s, if not simply from having MTV or VH1 on the tube. My family also was really REALLY big on CDs and cassette tapes; my earliest memories of those include TLC’s CrazySexyCool, Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, Brandy’s debut eponymous album, Whitney Houston’s My Love Is Your Love, and the soundtrack to the 1995 film Waiting to Exhale (which included a lot of the aforementioned artists on top of introducing me to some of RnB’s staples like Toni Braxton and SWV). My dad was a huge part of my musical upbringing, in many genres, but he bought me my first CDs when I was in elementary school: Nelly’s Nellyville (which is all Hip-Hop with a few Cedric the Entertainer skits), and the soundtrack to the Will Smith 1999 film Wild Wild West (which was mostly Hip-Hop, with a bit of RnB and Latin-infused music). 

Within Strange Froots I’d say a lot of my artistry as an MC is heavily influenced by Missy Elliott, as a singer I might say Brandy, Nelly Furtado and Destiny’s Child (especially for harmonies), and as a group member overall influenced by TLC who often merge genres.

via Magi Merlin

Also Cool Mag: Have you found that RnB & soul music are often considered hip hop? Why do you think people want to expand the definition of hip hop?

Magi Merlin: I have not personally considered these genres a part of Hip-Hop at all. When people lump genres like these together, it is partially because a large portion of the R&B and Soul community collaborates with the Hip-Hop community. There is a reoccurrence in the names associated with each other, so people may make a subconscious combination of all the people they've seen together, regardless of genre. However, I also feel like it also might be rooted in an assumption that because most people participating in these communities are BIPOC, there is an assumption that they all participate in the same space.

NC: I find that R&B and Soul have been considered to be Hip-Hop because they are Black music. Hip-Hop, R&B and Soul are Black music. Hip-Hop beats sample a lot of R&B and Soul music. And I think the reason why people want to expand the definition of Hip-Hop, it recreates familiar Black sounds into an entire culture of being more vocal, direct about what is on their mind. Hip Hop is a way for Black people to express so much. There is something very ancestral about Hip-Hop while also very much grabbing the old to create something new, to redirect something to a new lens but honoring what came before us, what is now and what could be and that is why Hip-Hop is always expanding and people want to expand it.

Mags: I think there is a double-edged sword to bunching soul and R&B music in with Hip-Hop. On the one hand, it makes complete sense that so many of our diasporic rituals, social cues, cultural references, schoolyard antics and the like all come from these genres, and especially so from the 1970s to the early 2000s; on the other, this expansion allows for non-Black entities to further homogenize us and place labels on us that may not even apply. 

Strange Froots in our early days (before we started regularly rapping) would often get booked on lineups that didn’t make sense for us at the time, simply because we were three Black kids from a youth center in Cote-des-Neiges performing over beats, regardless of whether we were singing or doing a form of poetry. There is a correlation between Hip-Hop, Soul and R&B to the point that they often are categorized under the “urban music” genre, for obvious reasons; that doesn’t make them the same, and folks would be wise to know the difference. It’s also worth noting just how much overlap and collaboration there is between R&B artists and rappers, such as Ja Rule and Ashanti. RnB hooks and interludes over rap songs were all the rage in the 90s and early aughts.

Mags & Naïka Champaïgne of Strange Froots

AC: Do you think that the different genres have been gendered at all? Or hold any specific perceptions? What has your experience with that been like?

Magi Merlin: For sure, I think that Hip-Hop is predominantly occupied by men. Obviously, this is changing, and there is a visible shift, but I think that both Rnb and Hip hop were very gendered. I personally am very lucky to not have any negative experiences in the genre that I occupy space in. I am not a rapper, but I do feel like female rappers might have a harder time and may feel like they need to "prove" themselves in order to be respected by their male peers. Of course, this is usually the case in any career field dominated by men so Hip-Hop, producing, songwriting is no different!

NC: I do think they are extremely gendered– and if we are moving away from being extremely gendered we are still holding heavily onto the binaries of gender expression (feminine and masculine). And that also ties into colorism. Light-skin Black folks who are R&B and/or Soul artists will get more recognition, more clout, more opportunities because R&B and Soul are perceived to be more soft, more palatable to popular culture, and more feminine. That is highly linked to skin colour; colonialism and white supremacy see anything that is closer in proximity to whiteness to be more soft, good, gentle and dark skin to be aggressive, hypermasculinized, harsh (and that is also why dark-skinned femme and the standards of beauty and desirability do not favour them at all). You will not see as many dark-skinned Black folks in the R&B and Soul genre at the top.

Mags: I think the gendering of the genres also extends to the audience on top of the artists. There’s this idea that rap music is known for expressing a lot of bravado, material wealth and is more explicitly sexual, which not only reaches mostly men in terms of aspirations and relatability, it can be often paralleled to the dehumanization of dark-skinned folks, whereas many R&B songs are made up of more romantic or melancholic content, that feminine audiences find appealing. All of this typically applies, even if the RnB singer is on the darker end of the spectrum (eg. Omarion, Mario, Joe...), or the rapper on the lighter end (Ludacris, Nelly, etc). As I mentioned before, many R&B artists would be featured guests on rap songs, and more often than not, if the genders were different, it was a light-skin female RnB singer over a dark-skin male rapper’s song, furthering the image of near-subordination from the former. 

In my experience, while Strange Froots was in its infancy, many of the girls that came through to NBS Studio (where the group was born) were asked to simply sing while the boys did their raps. Even now, I’m not sure I can think of a Froots song where I sang more than the others rapped (lol); maybe that’s something I need to work out in my subconscious.

via Magi Merlin

AC: Who are you most excited about in Montreal's hip hop, RnB & soul scenes?

Magi Merlin: I love FERNIE!! They are super fantastic RnB such a sweet ass VOICE! I've been super into Skiifall lately as well. Not sure if Kayahoax falls under hiphop, maybe experimental rap but she's sick too! Also always listening to jamvvis and DO, The Outcast.

NC: OOOOH okay so Backxwash, Malika Tirolien, Shem G, Elle Barbara (‘Délice Créole’, love the Disco Soul vibes), and Elena Stoodley.

M: I think Janette King is someone who tows the Hip-hop/R&B line so beautifully, Shah Frank is another RnB artist people ought to look out for. A lot of people know Basics for his rap career but did y’all know this man can sing??

Tune in to Digital Sleepover 2 on September 19th at 8pm EST.

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Tonight: BACKXWASH Invites Us to Celebrate New Album "I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses" at Suoni Il Per Popolo

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BACKXWASH by Chachi Revah

It’s suffice to say that that most exciting day of the month (of 2021 in its entirety?!) has finally arrived. This is not a drill: underground princess BACKXWASH has just shared her brand new self-released album I Lie Here Buried With My Rings and My Dresses. Following her 2020 Polaris Prize winning album God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It, I Lie Here “features BACKXWASH as an empress of chaos on a path of self-destruction,” complete with her signature industrial-hip-hop-meets-thrash backdrop, introspective bars and candid narratives; all in their most confrontational and unapologetic form yet. With I Lie Here, BACKXWASH claims her title as contemporary hip-hop’s greatest force to be reckoned with, and we are celebrating her reign.

Tonight, BACKXWASH headlines Suoni Per Il Popolo - Day 18, performing I Lie Here from start to finish via the festival’s livestream at 9:30 PM EST. BACKXWASH was kind enough to make time for us to chat about her upcoming premiere and give us the inside scoop on everything from what she’s spinning to stay in the right headspace, to a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her I Lie Here performance. Read our conversation with our hero, BACKXWASH, below.

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter for Also Cool: Hi Ashanti! Thank you endlessly for making time to chat with Also Cool during such a whirlwind of a week! How are you leading up to your album launch show on Suoni Per Il Popolo?

BACKXWASH: Thank you so much! We’ve been busy preparing everything we are very stoked to show everyone what we have planned!

Rebecca L. Judd for Also Cool: If you can give us some insight into tonight’s program — where will you be leading us?

B: Sunday will be a performance piece for the album. It was directed by Mechant and shot by the Suoni team. It looks very beautiful to me and I hope everyone likes it! We will be diving into the album from front to back.

All behind-the-scenes shots by Cameron Mitchell

R - AC: We feel like a huge part of preparing for a big event is getting in the right headspace. You’re no stranger to providing song recs on Twitter — and we can’t get enough!  What are you spinning these days to stay inspired, or maybe grounded, while managing all of the anticipation surrounding your release? 

B: These days I am mostly into Godflesh, Nine Inch Nails, Censored Dialogue, who just had an album drop, and some Rural Internet! All very, very solid releases.

R - AC: Among your collaborators on I Lie Here is the incomparable Sad13, of noise-pop outfit Speedy Ortiz. Seeing your friendship blossom has been such a treat. 

How did this come about, and how was your experience collaborating together? 

It was great! Sadie is extremely talented and I was very honored to have her as one of the features on this album. Working together has been an amazing experience.

Z - AC: On the topic of music releases: we saw that the Polaris Long List dropped this week, and were instantly reminded of your win last year… Which still feels like it was yesterday? I Lie Here continues your streak of vulnerability that you paved with your previous releases in many ways. How do you preserve your wellbeing when sharing these emotions with a growing audience? 

B: There is nothing else I can do aside from be authentic. If I want to speak to truth on record, I should not be bothered by the growing audience. I am happy that people are listening - it still trips me out incredibly!

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BACKXWASH by Chachi Revah

Z - AC: Have there been any particular takeaways or realizations on reckoning with these raw feelings on I Lie Here?

B: My main takeaway is just based on the creation of music itself. A lot of insight into layering and just making songs more fuller. I am ecstatic!

Z - AC: With that being said, these experiences have nonetheless culminated into the realization of I Lie Here. How are you planning to celebrate this latest venture, and what does the future hold for you, Ashanti?

B: I am planning to celebrate with Mechant! They have helped me a lot through this and they are just generally amazing as a collaborator and friend. We will be hanging and watching the livestream. We are excited to see how it is going to turn out!

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BACKXWASH

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Saturday Sermon: Racquel Jones Disrupts Traditionalism with "Sacrilege"

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Racquel Jones, still from “Sacrilege” music video by Lacey Terrell

Racquel Jones is a vibrant and ruthless Jamaican rapper, visual artist and model. In her recent music video for “Sacrilege,” she brings horror movie visuals into a Catholic church. By simultaneously horrifying and intriguing her audience, Jones forces us to reflect on the dangers of blind faith in religious doctrine. Through rap flows and poetic verse, Jones aspires to disrupt hate-fuelled tendencies associated with religion, and exposes the toxic headspace that tradition can impose; proactively leading us to dig our way out.

We had a chance to chat with Jones about religious identity, spiritual practice, and the personal experiences that led to the making of her music video. Beware: this interview is not intended for people caught up in conventional ways of thinking.

Spencer Nafekh for Also Cool: Between the freaky visuals in the music video, the blaring synth in the song’s chorus and the prayer-like poetry you incorporate to denounce religion, “Sacrilege” is a very incendiary track. The intense anti-religious messaging in your work surely is not without reason, though. From personal experience, can you elaborate on the impact of religion on your life?

Racquel Jones: I am a Black person who grew up in Jamaica (a Christian country), in a very Christian family. My mother is a preacher. I’m a descendant of people who were enslaved and taught this religion, and said religion was also a crucial tool in the enslavement and oppression of my ancestors. The impact of religion on my life is devastatingly vast, more than I will ever be able to adequately express. It is so impactful that it sadly cannot be undone. So devastating that even after now knowing better, my being is unimaginable without the scars and mental rewiring of my true identity and heritage warped and erased by religion.  

Also Cool: I agree, it’s shocking how religion and tradition can warp our identities and alienate us. Do you think spirituality is something that people can practice while still being passionately anti-religious? Would you consider yourself a spiritual person, and if so, what’s a good example of some of your own spiritual practices?

Racquel Jones: For sure. Spirituality has absolutely nothing to do with religion in my opinion. I think the basis of the lies surrounding religion stem from that… They want you to think otherwise. Spirituality, to me, is my deep [soulful] connection with my inner self, my ancestors, the energies in the universe, and the powers within. Examples of spiritual practices I do are: meditation, introspection, forgiveness, self care and self love, practicing empathy and loving in spite of. 

AC: One thing that really stood out to me in the “Sacrilege” music video was the freaky, horror movie-esque aesthetic which your director Alex Di Marco creates through eerie lighting and unsettling special effects and costumes. As a big horror movie buff myself, these elements were all things I could instantly appreciate! Was the purpose of this aesthetic to reflect religious practice in a horrendous light, or does it also come from an admiration for horror movies in general? If you are an avid watcher of horror movies, could you name a few faves?

RJ: It was intentional. I cannot think of anything, aside from racism, that is more horrific, horrendous and evil than religion. Because of this, I do not like horror movies. I have lived through the real horror of cult like practices I’ve seen, and watching horror movies evokes PTSD for me. I could never sit through a horror film, especially the ones with demons, exorcisms or anything religious based. I like The Silence of the Lambs, though. Is that horror?

AC: As your first high-production music video as a solo act, the “Sacrilege,” music video can be set apart from your other video works, such as “Letter to the Editor,” which showcased your rap flows alongside the American electronic duo Thievery Corporation. It was also filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which I’m sure came with its own unique setbacks. How was filming the “Sacrilege” music video a novel experience for you? Any funny or interesting behind-the-scenes stories which took place during filming?

RJ: Well I was supposed to have a congregation in the video and that couldn’t happen because of COVID. We were going to simulate a whole church experience, from the pulpit to the pew. Something funny did happen… Well, partially funny. The actor scheduled to play the role of Black Jesus in the confessionals initially, showed up to set breathing heavily, sweating and seemed like he was showing symptoms of COVID. He was kept outside, paid and asked to leave. Turns out he was just having an asthma attack. Needless to say, he was very upset.

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Racquel Jones, still from “Sacrilege” music video by Lacey Terrell

AC: I’ve heard that you’ve recently been dealing with some issues in getting the “Sacrilege” music video monetized on YouTube, and that you suspect this is likely due to video’s charged religious imagery. I imagine that the issue of online promotion and monetization is especially frustrating for a unique artist such as yourself. Can you speak a little more on this?

RJ: I am not exactly frustrated or upset even, because I expected the backlash. There’s always resistance to change. And there’s always biased censorship. I didn’t expect that people were going to be happy that I’m ripping Bible leaves to roll my joint, burning a photo of “Jesus” and calling the Virgin Mary a bitch. Being anti-religious is a threat to the comfort and hope of people. And for them to find out the lies they’re told, or even exploring the idea that religion is built on the premises of lies, evil, control, segregation and false hope causes pandemonium, fear and panic among people. We are wired to find comfort in the things that hurt us. And religion is the most genius example of that. So, I figured my video is seen as a weapon and a threat as opposed to feeding the narrative they prefer. My responsibility is to put the message and the art out there and let it do its thing. If YouTube or Google fails, there are other ways. 

AC: One thing I find impressive about the “Sacrilege” music video is how much its themes and colours can be paralleled with your paintings, which I’ve seen showcased on your Instagram. It seems as though you are passionate about building your creative vision from the ground up, and mixing artistic mediums to express certain thoughts and feelings. How much does visual art tie into your creative practice when it comes to your poetry, singing and songwriting?

RJ: They are all the same. Sometimes it’s chaos in my head because they all function together, and they all speak to me together at the same time. None can operate without the others. Over time I’ve learned to master listening to them all. I am happy that I finally now have the outlet to do them all simultaneously, because before, being forced to separate them was driving me crazy. It seemed unusual and confusing to people in the past that I do them all, and I was often asked to choose and focus on only one. I don’t listen to people anymore, I listen to the voices of the arts in my head and only those. 

AC: If “Sacrilege” is a reflection of what’s to come on your upcoming album, IgnoRANT, then it seems there will be no lack of killer bars and strong spoken word for listeners to look forward to. Want to speak a little more on this project, as well as the inspiration for its name?

RJ: Man, I don’t think they’re even ready. It’s nothing like I’ve ever heard before and it scares me sometimes. “Sacrilege” is one of the few normal sounding songs on the record in terms of structure. Myself, along with the producers, followed no pattern or mold, but let ourselves be purely obedient to the art and the emotions. It’s scary but brilliant, and everyone who's heard it so far has had a strong reaction. In terms of concept, for me the title IgnoRANT is a rant about ignorance. It’s being cognizant of the fact that we’re all ignorant to something. It’s being vulnerable about being ignorant and the openness to learn and understand. It’s the recognition of the damages caused by ignorance. It’s knowing that it’s impossible to ever know everything and that we will always be ignorant, but it’s possible to love and have empathy despite ignorance. IgnoRANT is really examining and addressing harmful stereotypes under a microscope in an in-depth way and also through microcosm.  It is honest, pure, intense and raw. 

AC: Sounds like lots of thought and experimentation has been put into this project, and I’m really excited to check it out once it releases! Lastly, knowing you are a multi-medium artist, are there any recent artistic undertakings outside of your music that you’re feeling excited about? 

RJ: The record is just half of the project. I’m excited about the visual arts I’m creating to go along with the record. Each song will be accompanied by a piece of art that further explores and explains the concepts in the song. Aesthetically, these are explored through surrealism, expressionism and iconography. I’m excited about completing the art and exhibiting both the music and the art together. I am almost done making the art. 2021 will be an interesting year.

Racquel Jones

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Spencer Nafekh is a tireless reader, writer, editor, and advocate for the written word. With an undergraduate degree in Concordia's English and Creative Writing program imminent, he plans to pursue a Master's specialization in journalism so that he can fully realize his career path. When Spencer is not working away, he is probably listening to experimental music while lost in the world of a science fiction novel.

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This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity

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Interview: Viv Imara, Hua Li, Sabrina Sabotage and SLM on the Hip Hop You Don't Stop × Loop Sessions #StayHomeEdition Digital Cypher

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Poster by Shogo Okada

Now this is an event you won’t want to miss! On Thursday November 26th, the Hip Hop You Don’t Stop festival and Loop Sessions will be collaborating to create an innovative concept: a rap cypher over freshly produced beats. A handful of beats will be selected from the previous night (the 50th Loop Session on Wednesday November 25th), and 8 MCs (including Hua Li, Basics, Kayiri, SLM and more) will spit their best bars or freestyle to each track in a set of rounds. Expect guest appearances from producers, crate providers, and a fantastic conclusion to the #DigitalPlanet edition of Hip Hop You Don’t Stop! Guess what? You can tune in and enjoy all the impromptu hip-hop right from the comfort of your own home!

We got the chance to chat with Viv Imara, Hua Li and Sabrina Sabotage, and SLM four local artists participating in this year’s collaborative event. Viv Imara and Sabrina Sabotage are regular “loop sessioners,” and Hua Li and SLM will be two of this year’s MCs! Check out our interview below to meet these artists on this year’s lineup, and hear their thoughts on the Montreal hip-hop scene going digital for festival and cypher like no other.

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter for Also Cool: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for chatting with Also Cool. To start, can you introduce yourselves to our readers and tell us about how you're involved with the Hip Hop You Don't Stop festival and/or the Loop Sessions beatmaking series?

Viv Imara: Thank you so much for having us! My name is Viv Imara and I am a Colombian-born producer, photographer, graphic designer and actress making beats since 2013. I began uploading instrumentals to SoundCloud in 2017 to show friends what I was up to, when a sudden influx of plays caught me by surprise. It was then that I realized strangers wanted to listen to what I was making! That motivated me to get serious about it. I started experimenting with different styles and gained more confidence in my production chops. The first time I participated in Loop Sessions was about a year and a half ago. I was unreasonably nervous and almost bailed, until Nick Wisdom motivated me to give it a shot. He connected me with Dr. Mad, who became my beat father. Magnanimous is my beat uncle. I love them both to bits. Since then, I’ve participated many times and enjoyed the challenge.

Hua Li: I’m the woman behind alternative hip hop project Hua Li, Symposium Director at POP Montreal festival and I’m one of the hosts for LANDR Audio’s music education video series. I’ll be one of the rappers at the Hip Hop You Don't Stop festival and the Loop Sessions cypher.

Sabrina Sabotage: Holà! I’m Sabrina Sabotage. I was a singer-songwriter, performer (mostly in the Franco scene) and DJ for years, but have been doing almost exclusively music production and sound design for the last 3 years in my studio. I’ve known the guys for a long time now from the DJ scene, and they asked me years ago to participate in the Loop Sessions events. While it really interested me, I guess I wasn’t feeling too comfortable going - is it the “[female artist"]” thing? I don’t know. But I never had bad experiences with this gang, I’ve always felt like we had mutual respect for one another!

SLM: Hey, it's SLM, thanks for having me. I'm about to be a performer in the upcoming Loop Sessions cypher goin' down this Thursday on @hhydsmontreal FB Live

Also Cool: How has the pandemic impacted your approach to your craft and performance style, as well as your relationship with local creative circles?

Viv Imara: I’m a homebody, so the pandemic has only given me better reasons to stay home and create. At first, I was perfectly content to have all this time to dedicate to music production. That quickly became overwhelming. I began to feel this pressure to make the best music I’ve ever put out because, hey, I had loads of time to perfect everything, right? It was hard to drown out that little voice and just take it easy. Now, I only approach my gear when I’m feeling inspired instead of grinding through long hours of forced pad smashing. It’s 2020. What is time, anyway?

Surprisingly, I feel just as connected to my creative circles as I did before. The methods of communication have changed, but the ties are still there. It's interesting to be in the same predicament as all other creatives on the planet at the same time. None of us know when it will end, and we will make attempts to return to our version of normality, but ultimately the healthiest approach is to find ways to enjoy the ride together.

Hua Li: The pandemic coincided with a lot of personal challenges as well as the death of a family member, so I’ve been away from Montreal a lot this year. In a way the shift to online helped me stay connected with my local music scene in a way that I don’t think I would have been, had this not been a pandemic year. So, it’s a blessing in disguise in that way.

Sabrina Sabotage: Well... I stopped DJing in bars and clubs 2 years ago because the lifestyle mostly was exhausting and slowly killing me. That’s when I transitioned to pursuing producing exclusively. I started working on a bunch of amazing projects: interactive games, sound design, installations, and audio for all kinds of expositions and events. It’s been crazy… [I’m] learning a lot, and feeling like I am where I should be, and that’s the best feeling ever! It is a little lonely though working alone at my studio, and the pandemic made it difficult to link with people. So I guess I needed the Loop Sessions events for the community and the exchange that I so miss with other musicians and producers. I also got more confident in my own producing [abilities], and finally decided to start participating online this year. It’s been nice exploring that side of production for me. It’s a well needed moment in the month where I can just go wild, and do anything and I seriously never know where the beat will go, it’s a vibe!

SLM: The pandemic's actually allowed me to focus more on improving myself as an artist, vocalist and musician. It's allowed me to connect with new people around the world who are in the music scene and make new connections. I've really appreciated the time to slow myself down and really hone in on things I've always been interested in, but never had the full capacity to commit to perfecting.

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Hua Li by Molly Cameron

AC: What aspects of transitioning these events from IRL to online resonate with you in a positive way? Have you noticed any changes in engagement or accessibility, say?

Viv Imara: Yes! I have. People find it simpler and more convenient to attend. I’ve had non-producer friends tune in to Loop Sessions live and comment on submissions. It’s great to be able to continue to provide a much-needed creative channel for both artists and listeners, and even inspire newcomers to share their work. I’m excited by how accessible it’s become for anyone to join in.

Hua Li: I deeply miss being on the road, but at the same time I’ve enjoyed taking more time with my shows and creating special productions for the rare performance opportunities I’ve had. I’m doing a live stream performance for Suoni TV on November 28th where we will be creating a luscious garden set inside La Sala Rosa. Something like this would have been so extra pre-pandemic, but now it’s justifiable… So that’s been a fun creative outlet for me. I also feel like having stuff online has increased the reach in really interesting ways. For instance, with my work at POP Montreal, a lot of people who wouldn’t have been able to attend the festival normally have been checking it out. I got to access far-reaching speakers for POP Symposium that I couldn’t have flown in had all our events been in person. I love the energy of being in physical proximity with people but something online events have brought to the fore is how deeply connected we are across the globe.

Sabrina Sabotage: I never participated IRL, so for me online events changed everything! It made me more secure to share I think.

SLM: I honestly wish outside would just open back up so we can stop with all the virtual performances, but events like these are a real dope way to connect with new audiences, globally, and showcase one's talent. It resonates because since the pandemic's made it hard to see people in real life, online events don't completely lock you off from reaching your loved ones and people in general altogether, especially as an artist who's building their career from ground zero. So I'm just really grateful for all of the experiences and opportunities to go off!

Sabrina Sabotage by @cleobolduc, @marieme_qc, @diastronauts, @lou_belanger, @stlaurenttv, @disquesstlaurent

AC: Of course, the overlapping of both of these events this year is super exciting! What are you looking forward to, and what can folks expect to catch this week?

Viv Imara: When I found out it was happening I was ecstatic! I think these collaborative events are just what we need right now. I’m looking forward to seeing a rise of online events that link artists of various disciplines together. I think we’re doing the best we can with the tools we have. It’s only going to get more immersive from here on out!

Hua Li: I’m most looking forward to hearing everyone else’s verses! I’m not a freestyle rapper, like stubbornly so, but I’m trying to change that about myself. I don’t believe in non-improvising jazz musicians, so why should I let myself off the hook in this other genre I care about so deeply? Folks can expect from me, hopefully vulnerability and a good shot at something out of my comfort zone!

Sabrina Sabotage: Houuuula, I am excited to participate and mostly hear what everyone comes up with beat-wise and seriously... I just hope I’ll find the right loop for me and produce something decent that day!

SLM: I'm most looking forward to pushing & testing myself to a new level through this challenge, show out and have fun! You can expect a lot of confidence and hot bars outta me - regular shit LOL. I'm really excited to see what everyone brings to the stage!

AC: Before we end off, are you working on any exciting projects that we should look out for in the near future?

Viv Imara: I just released a very informal EP on Bandcamp and SoundCloud called Unreleased Tracks + Lost Beats, featuring some roughly mixed and unfinished beats from 2017. I have a bad habit of hoarding projects, so it felt good to finally share them before releasing any current work. I’ll be releasing my first real project by the end of February of next year.

Aside from that, I recently launched my online thrift shop Junkselekta. I sell a variety of gender-inclusive vintage clothing from the late 80’s to the late 90’s. My goal is to incorporate local producers into the brand and use it as a platform to promote Canadian artists who also appreciate that 90’s flavour. Exciting things to come!

Hua Li: Please tune into my livestream concert on Suoni TV November 28th. It’s the launch event for my EP Yellow Crane, which I wrote this year dedicated to my mother’s hometown, Wuhan, China.

Sabrina Sabotage: I do have music coming out, a song I produced for singer Mia Martina, and I’ll be posting about it soon!

SLM: Yeah! I just announced a giveaway to promote my upcoming album dropping early December called The Complete Flex Season. It's a full length project, curated and sequenced to play completely from front to back. It's supaaa fire and I can't wait for y'all to see the rollout, it's really special. It was originally supposed to drop in October but... Nothing ever really goes according to plan with releases, as most artists will tell you. You can plan and plan and plan, but with the amount of shit you gon’ end up adding and subtracting to that plan. It's gon' come down to ending up doing shit two months later, sometimes more. And you just gotta let it rock and know its’ all ultimately for the best. My team and I worked really hard to make this a reality, and I can't believe it's finally 'bout to drop! You can keep up with this and other releases by following me on Instagram.

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SLM

AC: And lastly, what is your favourite aspect of being a part of the Montreal hip-hop community?

Viv Imara: The way it feels like a big extended family. Had I known 5 years ago that the door was this wide open, I would have walked in sooner. The amount of genuine support I’ve received is heartwarming. No judgement whatsoever. I’m grateful for the friends I’ve made that have inspired me to keep going.

Hua Li: Sometimes I don’t at all feel a part of the hip-hop community since I operate on this weird, indie rock fringe often, but I do love calling such amazing talents such as Backxwash and Strange Froots my real friends.

Sabrina Sabotage: Right now, I feel like every event saves me from my own anxiety and just makes me feel like a human, connecting with other humans. I feel heard. and that’s the best feeling in this weird apocalyptic-type vibe we are all in. Feels like one of the very rare places in the general hip-hop community where it’s not overly toxic... Not to go into “girl-guy” dynamics, but it’s not easy being a woman that produces music. Feeling safe is one of the most important things, and Loop Sessions has always provided that for me, [and] made it easier for me to share [my work]. Seeing other women feeling the same way it’s priceless! And I just love listening to what people come up with. It just amazes me!

SLM: That there's so much talent here. Being able to put on for a city with so much talent the world has yet to get hip to and have my art be a part of that is a great feeling. It's great to be doing what I love, among such great company.

Hip Hop You Don’t Stop × Loop Sessions digital cypher event

Hip Hop You Don’t Stop

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Loop Sessions

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Viv Imara

Instagram | Music

Hua Li

Instagram | Facebook | Music

Sabrina Sabotage

Instagram | Facebook | Music

SLM
Instagram | Facebook | Music

This interview was conducted over email and has been condensed and edited for clarity

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Introducing Messkina: The Montreal DJ Setting Herself Apart With Unapologetic Self-Acceptance

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Messkina by Victoria Gravel

Picture yourself on a hot and unfamiliar beach, dancing to your escape from a busy routine towards an enchanting adventure. This scene describes DJ Messkina’s perfect setting to have her music pumping. 

After only a year of taking up DJing, the 21-year-old Montreal-based performer of Cameroon and Congolese descent has played in Montreal’s most popular clubs, such as Apt.200, SuWu, Datcha, Le Salon Daomé and Ti-Agrikol, to name a few. She’s even produced mixes for Moonshine and the major Brooklyn-based art collective Papi Juice, which celebrates the lives of the LGBTQ+ community.

Messkina’s unapologetic self-acceptance is what led to her DJ alias Messkina. It is the playful combination between her first name, “messy,” and the Arabic word miskeena for “unfortunate”  — a moniker she says echoes her character. 

Set apart by her contagious confidence and bold charm, Messkina’s presence behind the DJ booth encourages you to be yourself and dance to her carefully-selected house tracks influenced by the sounds of afro-fusion. 

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Messkina by Victoria Gravel

Dressed in a cropped pink velour jacket coupled with matching sparkly velour flared pants, Messkina met up with me in her Saint-Henri apartment to discuss her unusual journey as an emerging talent, and her newest mix “Philantropute.”

“I started producing mixes at a really dark period in my life,” says Messkina. “It was right when I dropped out of college and got temporarily fired from the strip club where I was dancing,” she says before she pauses briefly. 

“Who knew you could get fired from a strip club?” she laughs.

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Messkina by Victoria Gravel

The artist shares dealing with social anxiety starting at an early age, which kept her from staying motivated and performing academically. 

“Going to school was very demanding for me, and I smoked a lot of weed to get by,” she explains.

It was at this moment that she decided to pursue something new. 

It was shortly after that she responded to a call-out on social media looking for DJs. This led to her very first gig which was at the Mme Lee nightclub in Montreal’s Latin Quarter.

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Messkina by Victoria Gravel

“It was packed. I was shaking because I was so nervous, but I did it.” she says.

Leaving school and her job as a sex worker ended up being a blessing in disguise as it pushed her to get back in touch with her creative side, and discover making music as a new-found passion.

Messkina quickly found her distinctive and diverse sound; which pulls together melancholic melodies, hip-hop, African drums and house music. 

“I make music that makes you want to dance. Not to bang your head to, but just vibe to the rhythm,” says the DJ. “Although, I still consider myself new to the scene, and I still have a long road ahead of me in terms of experimentation,” she says. 

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Messkina by Victoria Gravel

Social distancing and other public health restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic have inherently changed the way DJs perform. At the beginning of the lockdown, Messkina tried live-streaming her sets and felt disappointed by the lack of connection with her audience.  

“I don’t like Zoom parties. It’s boring to me,” she says. “It’s not the same without an audience, as you don’t really know how it sounds and you miss out on instant feedback.”

“It was really nice to be able to perform again in person when bars were reopened. People were tired of being inside and wanted to go to the club. Although dancing was prohibited, they seemed to just enjoy their time out and socializing.”

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Messkina by Victoria Gravel

Messkina shares that despite the mental toll the lockdown has had on her, she’s used her free time to think about the style and aesthetics she wishes to pursue in her musical career.

“I have broadened my horizons musically and discovered several musical genres that I wouldn't necessarily have appreciated a few months ago,” she explains. 

Her newest mix, “Philantropute,” is quite different from her previous mixes, featuring a higher-energy and dazzling tempo.

“It is more upbeat, hectic, and chaotic. It represents where I am mentally at the moment,” says Messkina.

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Messkina by Victoria Gravel

Listen to Messkina’s latest mix “Philantropute” out now

Keep up with Messkina

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Written by Stéphanie Ricci

Stéphanie Ricci is a Montreal-based freelance multimedia journalist. Currently completing a journalism major coupled with a sociology minor at Concordia University, she is passionate about storytelling in all forms, but is particularly invested investigative work, writing about arts and culture, and creating original content.

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Photo: @victoriagravel

Hair: @iceboxhair

Nails: @jazzzynailz

MUA: @crazycattie_makeup

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Anime, Hip Hop, & Your Inner Child: Mags Releases AMV Remixes with Backxwash, JU!CE, & More

Photo cred: Mahel Pfaff

Who else wants to be a kid again, watching their favourite anime on a rainy day? In a time where nostalgic comfort is more valuable than ever, MTL-based multidisciplinary artist Mags of Strange Froots has created a new series of mixtape-inspired AMVs (anime music videos) set to last year's Green Apple: The RMX, a short EP made up of six remixes of the titular song.

With society all but collapsing, Mags maintained her creativity through many mediums; today, she’s sharing with us her mixtape-inspired AMVs, and spoke about childhood favorite animated shows with her friends and mixtape collaborators: JU!CE, Jassah (aka Youmna), RamehS.eS (aka Shem G), Little Cashew (aka Kajo), and Backxwash.

Mags (“Granny Smith” Rmx): I think we’ve all had a hard-ass year, to say the least. As I approach my 30s (*deep existential cringe*), with more and more of my friends declaring that they are, in fact, baby, I realize how important it is for us to nurture the inner child that may have been neglected decades ago. I’m really thankful for my chosen family, and all the people I’ve met in Montreal who’ve introduced me to some of my new favorite things, from Steven Universe to Azumanga Daioh. Sometimes it feels like we’re making up for lost time, or even lost youth.

Mags: Last year I put this remix project together with these talented producers, in honour of my band’s five year anniversary; objectively five years isn’t that long, it doesn’t even have its own name as a unit.

But looking back on old photos, videos, promotional posters from festivals and more, we can be aged or grow (yes there’s a difference) by so many different things in our lives. Sometimes it’s okay to honor that growth with a renewal of fond memories from the past, especially when it’s growth for the better.

What is your relation to the anime chosen to accompany your respective track?

JU!CE  (“Calville Blanc” Rmx): Code Lyoko was a show I would always watch when I was younger. Either early Saturday mornings on Cartoon Network or reruns at certain hours. I was in love with the show and characters so much that it was one of the top shows I would watch. In terms of my style with my music, people say, "you always feel out-of-world or in another dimension," and knowing Code Lyoko is actually that, fits perfectly.

Youmna/Jassah (“Flower of Kent” Rmx): The anime Mags chose was new for the both of us, and it fit so perfectly. It's abstract, but there's clearly something deeper unfolding. The specific shots align so well with the story I created with the remix. It feels meant to be.

Ramehs.Es (“Pink Lady” Rmx): I watched Cybersix growing up, on Teletoon, when I was supposed to be in bed. It's the perfect animated reference to my already budding vigilante, dual identity lifestyle.

Kajo/Little Cashew (“Duchess of Oldenburg” Rmx): I grew up watching a channel called Spacetoon that aired Arabic dubs of anime. Case Closed was one of my favourites and the one I recall the most of. I think all the action and tactics was what caught my attention. I definitely used to go around pretending to use my watch to shoot sleeping needles at people (lol).

Backxwash (“Arkansas Black” Rmx): I like Hellsing. It is extremely edgy and very very goth. I also love the religious aesthetic towards it.

How would you describe the final AMV product?

Youmna/Jassah: I also really love how Mags inserted Strange Froots in the anime edit. Watching it felt like a trip in itself, which I aimed to do with the track, so it feels really good to have a visual to accompany it.

Ramehs.Es: The edit tells the story of childhood innocence and memories turning into something real dark, real fast, night and day, two coins, etc.

Kajo/Little Cashew: Honestly, it was hard to imagine a music video for "Duchess of Oldenburg" because it's very all over the place. But seeing the anime MV reminded me of how much I enjoyed watching anime as a kid, and watching them on Spacetoon more specifically. That channel was iconic. It makes me sad that the second I got western channels, I just ghosted anime and Arabic channels. But now that I finally found the real names of those anime (not the Arabic titles), I can look them up and reminisce. So I'm happy with how the MV turned out!

Do you have any old cartoons/anime that ground your inner child?

JU!CE: Shows that help me stay grounded to my inner child is kind of a tough take. I would say Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed Edd n Eddy, Teen Titans, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Sonic X and The Powerpuff Girls. By far, Cartoon Network was the only station I would watch, second to Nickelodeon, then Warner Bros TV. These are some shows I plan to rewatch at some point in my life. I miss the nostalgia.

Youmna/Jassah: The Jungle Book is a cartoon that grounds my inner child - I always related to Mowgli, and I loved being transported to the jungle itself.

Ramehs.Es: Cartoons with dark, spacey themes as well as proper character development. Classic Batman, Cowboy Bebop, even Static Shock went through way too much for someone his age. It was really telling stuff that taught me way more than any suburban Laval school could (haha).

Kajo/Little Cashew: I would say the ones that I loved the most growing up were Case Closed and Akachan to Boku. I remember casually seeing scenes from Remi the homeless girl [Remi, Nobody's Girl]. I will say though, the one that hit the most was Akachan to Boku, but it's just not the vibe for the track 'cause it's a very calm laid back anime, and I wanted action for the MV.

Those were my go-to as a kid. I think it's because they came out in 1996, one year before I was born, so they were airing when I was really young. I also remember that Captain Tsubasa J was a huge deal when I was young. I didn't to watch it religiously; I mostly just remember parts of the intro song (in Arabic.) Beyblade was also huge, I don't recall the show but I remember buying the Beyblades and attending a competition inside a gift store with a big ring and almost 50 guys stacked in a small room trying to watch.

When I grew a bit older, we got an orbit subscription with the western channels (Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Tiji). I kind of forgot about anime and began watching cartoons like Recess, Pinky and the Brain, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, Tic & Tac [Chip and Dale]. So those would be the shows that entertained me and kept me dreaming and distracted from real life as a child.

Backxwash: A lot of 90s-2000s anime is what I was into. Ninja Scroll, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon of course, Ranma ½

Mags Instagram I SoundCloud

JU!CE Instagram I SoundCloud

Backxwash Instagram I BandCamp

Kajo/Little Cashew Instagram I SoundCloud

RamehS.eS Instagram I SoundCloud

Youmna/Jassah Instagram I SoundCloud

From Beatmaking Workshops to Community Leaders: These are the Froot Origins

If you haven’t heard of Montreal’s Black, queer, hip-hop trio Strange Froots already, it’s about time you drop everything and check out their entire discography on Bandcamp… STAT. The group is comprised of the talented Mags aka Passion Froot, Naïka aka Dragon Froot, and Sage aka Star Froot. Next week, Strange Froots will be celebrating their 6th anniversary as a band with us by throwing a Digital Sleepover — and you’re all invited! Come play our favorite party games, learn trivia about local artists, and have an open discussion about the COVID-19’s impact on our community, as well as the contributions made by its Black artists! DJ Mollygum will also be playing the after party.

The event will be streamed online, and will also serve as a partial fundraiser, with the proceeds donated to the Black Lives Matter DC, Regis Korchinski-Paquet’s family, to Taking What We Need (a Montreal-based discretionary fund group for low-income trans women) and Also Cool Mag's Artist Emergency Fund. Janice Ngiam (of Sun Astronauts), has volunteered her talents and allyship all the way from Hong Kong. For every new donation 20$CAD or more, Janice will produce a short, personalized song about anything you want! Discover her music at www.janicengiam.com/music.html

Join the Froots this Thursday on Instagram from 5pm to 8pm for a Frootiversary Happy Hour, and get a taste of what's to come this Saturday!

We got the chance to catch up with the Froots to reminisce on their early beginnings, discuss their future aspirations, and hear their thoughts what work has to be done to make Montreal’s hip-hop circles more inclusive and safe for QTBIPOC folks. Check out our interview below!

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Strange Froots (from left to right: Mags, Sage and Naïka), photo by Didi M’bow

Also Cool: Before we begin, tell us who you are and about your individual artistic pursuits.

Mags aka Passion Froot: My name is Mags. I’m an illustrator, cartoonist and graphic artist by trade, as well as a beatmaker, singer-songwriter, MC and casual guitarist.

Naïka aka Dragon Froot: My name is Naïka, I’m a Haitian, queer, Black woman. I’m a singer-songwriter, a guitarist, a bassist, and an MC. I recently released my first solo album, Painted Imageries, this past January.

Sage aka Star Froot: Hello, I’m Sage! I'm a singer, songwriter, actor and producer. I am also a passionate linguist, studying Spanish and Mandarin. Learning languages is a really interesting and ceaseless artform to me. 

AC: Individually and collectively, how has music helped you learn and grow?

M: On an individual level it has helped me spiritually for as long as I can remember, producing (more so than writing) has somewhat helped me translate my journey to sound. It’s also helped me reconnect to my ethnic origins as a first-generation African-American; in learning how to sample, I’ve been able to reimagine classic songs my parents would play around the house, or that I would hear over the summers of my childhood visiting relatives. As part of a collective, I think I’ve been able to contribute the story-telling attributes of my instrumentals, as well as the eclectic sounds of our diaspora. 

N: Individually, music has helped me grow into who I am and explore every facet of what I am., [Music] has given me the ability to express myself in a way that can be scary, but at the end of the day, honestly. Collectively within Strange Froots, this band’s music has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone by pursuing artistic directions and musical styles that are not necessarily my go-to. The band keeps challenging the ways that I write, compose, and structure music, and I love that about Strange Froots.  

S: Music has given me a way to express myself creatively and honestly. As a dynamic introvert, I spend most of my time reflecting over socializing. Music has been a great conduit for me to both share who I am and bond with those in my circles. It’s how I found Mags and Naïka all those years ago. I can’t imagine life without music. If I don’t like the song, I’ll change it, but there are very few times where I’ll go for silence. 

AC: What are the Froot origins? How did your diverse creative backgrounds come together for the first time? 

M: At the time of our meeting (Spring 2014), I was in my last year at Concordia. I was VP Marketing and Communications for the then-named Hip Hop Heads Concordia, of which I am a co-founder; this was a revival of the university’s long-defunct hip-hop club. I had by this time already been acquainted with a few of Montreal’s hip-hop artists, and it’s through them that I was introduced to NoBad Sound Studio. 

N: The manager of NoBad Sound at the time wanted to do a “girl” workshop, ‘cause few of them were at the studio and few were seen in hip-hop in general. It’s through this that our diverse creative backgrounds came together. I came up with the name Strange Fruits (paying homage to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone) for our band, as we are all Black and know what the song talks about: it was very dear to me, to us. Then Mags came up with the spelling “froots,” like the cereal, ‘cause we’re all nerds like that and are all pretty “out there”... fashion and personality wise, we’re all very colourful. But it says a lot too: the “roots” within fROOTs, refers to our Black roots, and it is also a derogatory gay term that was reclaimed by the queer community; which includes all of us in this band.

S: I was the last to arrive. I went to NoBad interested in beatmaking workshops, when I met Mags and Naïka days later. We shared our musical taste and gauged that we all had very different musical backgrounds. As the alternative member of our alternative-chill-soul collective, I am influenced by rock, house, jazz, pop, film scores, musicals, i.e. eclectic. I was also part of a theatre troupe and sang in choirs growing up, so working together came very naturally 

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Strange Froots (from left to right: Sage, Naïka and Mags), photo by Andrée-Anne Guy

AC: What is your creative process like as a collective, and how has this evolved over the years?

M: A lot of our collaboration these days (COVID withstanding) has happened digitally, sending beats, voice notes, guitar riffs and the like, due to ever-conflicting schedules. In the very early days, even after our first EP dropped, we would continue to meet up at NoBad and much of our collaborative efforts happened there. Then, you have songs like “Regular” that come about from very random inside jokes created well outside of the context of the band, and just from goofing around as friends.

N: OHHH child it has evolved! At first, we would all sit down together and write to a beat Mags or Sage produced, or a riff I played on the guitar. We held a lot of importance to composing all together in the same space and time, but it’s not always feasible and realistic. Now, we tend to write separately, propose something from one person who wrote, created a riff, laid down a beat and then the rest adds to it. We talk more openly about what we want to change, about directions of the sound. It’s literally a constant draft and constant back and forth within our capacities and availabilities, instead of depending on each other’s presence to finish a song. 

S: I think now a major difference, especially with our individual artistic pursuits, is that we create music with an understanding of if it’s for Strange Froots or for another passion project. If I can imagine Mags dropping a fierce 16 or Naïka working magic with her bass for example, then it’s for Strange Froots. It was easier in the beginning to put us all in one room for a few hours to create, but later became very unrealistic. 

AC: Since meeting through the NoBad Sound Studio workshops, do you feel that the Montreal hip hop scene has become more inclusive? In your view, what work has to be done to further grow hip hop spaces in this way?

M: In the 6 years of our existence, I’ve seen some slow, gradual efforts to not only include more cis women than they did at the time (because if we’re being honest that was their first hurdle). We’ve seen some kind of attempt at understanding and including the LGBTQ+ community. They’re not going to get it right all the time or on the first go, (some might even say there’s a  sense of pinkwashing and “you-go-girl”-ism), but I’d like to think that our group’s existence helped create more waves in that direction, especially in the Black community. 

N: Adding to that though, the Montreal hip-hop scene is VERY underground. The hip-hop that you see out there, that is being paid attention to, is mostly performed by white cis Francophone men. It completely disregards the Black and Latinx folks that laid the groundwork for hip-hop in Montreal, and the deeply ancestral history of hip-hop for Black folks. It’s our culture. In the last 10 years or so, Quebec suddenly “discovered hip-hop” from white kids, even though it’s been here for decades... So is it more inclusive to women? Meh, not really. We make our spaces. There needs to be a lot of work done for women in hip-hop and for queer folks. Hip-hop was made by marginalized folks who were Black and Brown: you have to include women and queer Black and Brown folks, not just the cis het straights, ‘cause they are marginalized as fuck. 

S: I agree, there’s still a lot of work to be done. There is hope – queer and black artists like Backxwash lighting the ground up – but when it comes to the hip-hop scene in Montreal, space is sparse and divided. White Francophones are still the dominant voices of hip-hop in Montreal unless the event is specifically curated to showcase queer and POC voices. Considering the origins of hip-hop as a tool for the marginalized and oppressed, it is crucial that more queer artists of colour are able to share their multifaceted truth and be on the mainstage. I hope we can get to a point where black and queer-owned venues exist and our music is not competing for airtime and spots in the margins. 

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Strange Froots (from left to right: Naïka, Sage and Mags), photo by Kinga Michalska

AC: Beyond music and performances alone, Strange Froots has acted as a collective driving interdisciplinary collaboration in Montreal. How have you connected with the music community, and how has that had an impact on your outlook as artists and activists?

M: From experience alone, I’d say due to the varying types of shows we’ve been able to play, we’ve not only made some great friends and musical colleagues, but we’ve been able to connect them to each other in many ways. With amplifying other artists through our platforms and association came an organic sense of belonging, like, “some of us are synth artists and some of us do hip-hop and some of us are riot grrrls but fundamentally we want the same things.” I was able to adopt this mentality when I was approached to co-found the multidisciplinary winter festival Lux Magna in 2017, alongside certain members of the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival.

N: I’m a part of a collective that I I co-founded called Fruition. Fruition is by and for QTBIPOC, and ensures that we have the space to thrive and access the resources we need to survive, succeed and heal in spite of systemic racism, oppression, assimilation, colonialism. We create art/music events, workshops, panels with QTBIPOC folks within our community so they can tackle their artistry in a way that is safe and radical. Individually, that has a lot of impact on me to help me grow and feel even more secure in my identity, but has also helped me find tools to build within our community. 

S: I find activism goes hand-in-hand with hip-hop, since injustice is not too far behind. In our collaborations with The Rap Battles for Social Justice, we had opportunities to explore deep rooted issues in our society, like austerity, police brutality, and climate justice. It inspired me to become more politically informed and recognize the power of music to facilitate important discourse. We are all writing our own artist blueprint while also having to navigate the erasure of inclusive physical spaces to share our art. In Montreal, the helping hand comes from utilizing our network and own creativity. That’s why it’s crucial to stay connected and support each other. I think it’s great that many collaborators are people we can also call friends, but at the very least, are people who share our values. These are people that I want to see flourish, so my activism is about standing up in the face of injustice and also facilitating joy as a form of resistance.

AC: Now that we are coming up on your anniversary; what has been a defining moment in your band’s history, and what are some of your future aspirations as a group?

M: Not to be a total Leo rising about it, but I think our priorities and our individual scopes had to severely shift when I was made to leave Canada. Long story short, I had a few bureaucratic hiccups regarding my status in Canada, and so I was turned away at the border when I was returning from a home visit from Silver Spring, MD. A lot of things were put on hold, and I attribute a lot of my shortcomings in taking care of my status, to hyper-focusing on keeping the band afloat. I held an unhealthy amount of self-worth in what I was able to do for the community and how I was able to alleviate my bandmates’ workload (I was the only one done with school), it took me away from myself in some very detrimental ways, and I think we’ve finally reached a place where we see that clear as day, and are constantly working to not repeat the mistakes that lead to several kinds of pressure and burnout. I hope that our group can continue influence positive and progressive change in Montreal’s youth, to make our queer circles less racist, and the hip-hop scene less queer and transphobic overall, and I hope as more doors open for us, we can hold them up for our friends in the game.

N: A defining moment in our history was going to Senegal and finally seeing our community of QTBIPOC fam come together when we put on hip-hop performances for queers. For future aspirations, I want us to keep creating and finding ways to create for ourselves, as a way to sustain imagery and art within our community.

S: I would love for us to all be in the same place physically for longer than a week! Technology helps, but our first in-person rendezvous will be something. The most defining moment for me so far has been our trip to Senegal. The connections made there and the wisdom shared will last with me forever. If the fates allow, I would love to journey with the Froots again to another motherland. Ultimately, I wish for more growth, love and understanding and for us to keep doing the work we do. The journey has been incredible so far. I’d like to see how much further we can go.

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Strange Froots (from left to right: Sage, Mags and Naïka), photo by Mariel Rosenbluth

Keep up with the Froots on their socials!

Strange Froots

Facebook | Instagram | Website

Mags

Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud

Naïka

Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp

Sage

Instagram

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