Inscribed in small print at the bottom of the Saturday poster of the Osheaga festival, the QCLTUR proposal would go almost unnoticed. However, this is one of the most generous Quebec rap concerts that we will be able to attend: for 45 minutes, Souldia, FouKi, Shreez, Conn Thick Ticasso, Raccoon, Benny Adam, Barnev, MikeZup, DawaMafia will parade on stage. , Rosalvo and others. The same clique as the one that met last summer on an original album, co-produced and published by Disques 7e Ciel, highlighting the spirit of collaboration on the French-speaking rap scene.
Hip-hop may be the dominant musical genre today, in the West as in Quebec, it still suffers from a lack of representation in the media space, believes Koudjo Oni, co-founder of the independent media QCLTUR, which is mainly distributed on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
“The main objective of QCLTUR is to promote French-speaking culture, as much from Quebec as from Canada or internationally, by giving a place to artists of what is called urban music – rap, R&B, afrobeat, too – and who do not often have the chance to showcase their art in the mainstream media. We wanted to give them this media space, since this music is widely consumed via social networks. “
Showcase diversity
Koudjo and his partner, Benny, are investing time and money in this project which, in addition to giving voice to local artists, promotes the next generation through the Up Next interview series, which “presents the public with twelve artists who, it is believed, will make noise in the future ”. It’s a lot for this new generation that the album QCLTUR was born, forging bonds between established artists and new names such as singer Rosalvo, who will be performing on Saturday.
We have a culture [hip-hop] unique in the world, today stripped of its old complex of being neither American nor French in our rap
“I think this is an initiative that we needed: a project bringing together several artists whose careers are growing,” says the Montrealer with Creole roots, who rubs shoulders on the album Boris Levrai, singer Nissa Seych, Cupid , JPS, Le Ice and other fresh talents. This admirer of the American star Future has been exploring for two or three years, in English and French, a rap sung “in a soft, rocking voice, a little melancholy, with a lot of melodies”.
He praises the work of the small QCLTUR team which, he believes, gives “a showcase to the diversity of Quebec rap. We have a culture [hip-hop] unique in the world, today stripped of its old complex of being neither American nor French in our rap. The project comes at the right time to show, especially to the French public, that there is quality and diversity in rap in Quebec ”.
“When we started to set up this medium and create content,” says Koudjo, “what animated us was to create a symbol of unity on the French rap scene. Quickly, what emerged from our approach was the diversity of the scene. We meet a rapper from Montreal, another from Quebec, one from Gatineau, from Laval, we try to give everyone a voice. I think people quickly understood that we are unifying people. “
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