‘…Everything Remains Raw,’ a show at the McMichael gallery blends traditional art spaces with fresh ideas from hip hop culture such as this piece by Patrick Nichols, 10013 Michie Mee, 1993.
Hip hop is a vibrant cultural art form that Canadian public institutions need to embrace. Our aging institutions can get a new life by integrating hip hop with and into traditional art displays.
R. Kelly at the American Music Awards in 2013.
PAUL BUCK
Music streaming services have stopped promoting R. Kelly as part of a crackdown on musician’s alleged conduct. But we should separate the art from the artist.
Q-Tip (L) of A Tribe Called Quest performing in 2013.
Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA
Hip-hop heads around the world are rejoicing over Kendrick Lamar’s win. But it’s been a tumultuous ride for a genre once derided as ‘pornographic filth.’
The artists who first sang the legendary Canadian hip hop song “Northern Touch” 20 years ago reunited to perform at the 2018 Juno Awards. From left to right: Checkmate, Red1, Misfit, Kardinal Offishall, Choclair and Thrust.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The current global dominance of Canadian music on today’s Billboard charts obscures the difficulties many early rap artists faced in garnering local support for this country’s hip hop music.
Eminem performing in Chile in 2016.
Sebastian Silva/EPA
A.B. Original made waves in 2017, but Indigenous hip hop has flourished since the 1980s.
The Rolling Stones performing in Hamburg during the ‘No Filter’ European tour: the band’s legacy is entwined with the pioneers of black American music.
Morris Mac Matzen/Reuters
Pinching musical phrases and stylistic approaches has always been a part of art making and can be a respectful exchange. But shallow, ill-informed appropriation only perpetuates tired stereotypes.
Joelistics (left) and James Mangohig in In Between Two.
WilliamYang
Australian rapper Joelistics and producer James Mangohig bring their family histories to the stage through a breathtaking display of beats, raps and storytelling.
Duo Movaizhaleine and artist Wonda Wendy take a minute’s silence to honor the dead during a concert in Paris, February 2017.
Silber Mba
Bootlegs will continue to be manufactured.
The future of the bootleg might just reinvent the official release.
Jay Z, Beyoncé and daughter Blue Ivy sit court side at a basketball game in New Orleans in Feb. 2017. Jay Z opened up about his relationship with Beyoncé on his new album, “4:44.”
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
In 4:44, his 13th album, Jay-z gets confessional and socio-political, challenging traditional notions of Black male bravado and masculinity.
J Cole at Etihad Stadium in 2014. Cole (aka ‘Therapist’) runs non-profit organisation Dreamville Foundation, and houses single mothers rent-free in his childhood home.
Photo supplied by Michelle Grace Hunder
The recently deceased funk drummer Clyde Stubblefield created arguably the most sampled drum track in the history of popular music – but he rarely got the credit, or the payment, he deserved.
Music and politics have long been intertwined and political patronage can sometimes lead artists to self-censor. On the other hand, some musicians are just more interested in entertainment than politics.
Hip hop is starting to be used in schools and in the community in creative and diverse ways.
Fifteen years ago, The Avalanches won four awards at the 15th Annual ARIA Music Awards. How has music changed in a decade and a half?
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
The Avalanches’ legendary first album, Since I Left You, was a modern classic, built from more than 3500 music samples. Sixteen years on, they’re finally releasing a second one - but will it resonate in an age when everyone samples?