Where I Came From: Toronto
A portrait of Toronto's rap underground...
...Toronto is often said to have an underdog mentality, and it’s this perspective - close, but not enough to be accepted by their peers in the US - that has been driving the city’s creatives for years. However, now that the Internet has levelled the playing field, things are changing, and Toronto artists are no longer tucked away and ignored.
“Nobody really gives credit to music from Canada because it wasn’t pop culture,” says artist development specialist Lola Plaku. “Social media and the Internet was not as big as it is now. Toronto has always produced really good musicians, it’s just that nobody was really paying attention on that scale. It wasn’t until Drake became popular culture that everybody was like, ‘Oh my God, Toronto’s coming up!’ But I was coming up as a journalist in the days when we had other rap, before Drake”...
for the full article head to Clash.
Words: Grant Brydon
Photos: Olivia Seally & Karim Ash