can anyone think of anything?of course there's maestro and dream warriors and stuff, the main source connection, aki had 12" a long time ago that was from like 80 with a picture cover but i can't rembember what it was. definitely heard some stuff on the radio back then. there's gotta be some malton equivalent of pelon or something. or maybe not. no kish jokes.
canadian 80s hip hop
- Thread starter kilogram
- Start date
From my collection
Early 80s:
Barry & Demo - Another One Bites Rap
Mr. Q - Party Rapp
Horace "Ace" Davis - Funkadelic Funk
Late 80s:
The Get Funky Crew - Pullit All The Way Down
Cold Front compilation (Attic, 1991)
Side 1
Maestro Fresh Wes - Black Tie Affair
Base Poet - When I Went To Buy Milk
Sweet Ebony - With This
Dream Warriors - 12 Sided Dice
Main Source - Atom
Sonyalive - I'm Coming Into Conciousness
Side 2
Kish - Jim Class
R+R - Having A Good Day
New Black Nation - Soul Vibration
KGB (Kool, Black and Gifted) - Letters Of Three
Top Secret - Stupid
Fresh B - This Is For The Record
liner notes follows:
"Although rap music has existed in Toronto since the late 70's under the influence of N.Y.C. and brought to the people via mobile sound crews like Sunshine, Maceo, City Crew and Ebony All-Star, the Toronto rap music community has had to share the beat with Funk, R&B, and Reggae almost pushing rap into an obscure underground until the mid-eighties. It wasn't until CKLN radio DJ Ron Nelson dedicated his three hour funk/hip hop show "The Fantastic Voyage" solely to rap music and began promoting concerts that new life was breathed into a community saturated by Roxanne Roxanne answer records and Egyptian lover beats.
"From the mid to late eighties, no Canadian artist had rapped on vinyl until Ivan Berry, Rupert Gayle and Richard Rodwell (AKA Maximum 60) formed Beat Factory Productions. In 1987 Beat Factory met Scott La Rock and KRS 1 during a BDP show. The result of that meeting was the Beat Factory EP featuring Michee Mee & L.A. Luv, and Rumble & Strong, which was co-produced by BDP and released on Beat Factory Records.
"Still, many Canadian labels weren't paying attention to the program. It wasn't until December of 1989 that Attic Records broke things wide open when they released Symphony In Effect, the debut album from Maestro Fresh Wes. Maestro and his manager Farley Flex had a chance meeting with Stevie B during a performance on the local television dance show The Electric Circus which led to an American deal with LMR Records. The album was released in Canada on Attic and quickly proved rap's commercial power to the industry by sailing past the platinum sales plateau and making Wes the first Canadian artist in any genre to score two Top 5 singles from a debut album -- thus forever changing the way the Canadian record industry viewed rap music.
"Meanwhile, Beat Factory had relative success with the signing of Michee Mee to First Priority and the release of HDV's debut LP, Sex, Drugs And Violence on ISBA (CBS) Canada. But, it wasn't until Island Records released the Dream Warriors LP, And Now The Legacy Begins, that Canadian hip-hop was finally recognized world-wide.
"Finally, A&M Records became the first major label to sign a Canadian rap artist when they picked up Kish from the Full Flex Management stable. Kish's debut Order To Chaos shows the new funky direction taken on by the Canadian hip hop nation.
"The Cold Front LP is not all that makes Toronto strong, but it's a taste of a rap community that has been stewing for over a decade."
--John Bronski
Hopefully the info provided helps in any way.
Early 80s:
Barry & Demo - Another One Bites Rap
Mr. Q - Party Rapp
Horace "Ace" Davis - Funkadelic Funk
Late 80s:
The Get Funky Crew - Pullit All The Way Down
Cold Front compilation (Attic, 1991)
Side 1
Maestro Fresh Wes - Black Tie Affair
Base Poet - When I Went To Buy Milk
Sweet Ebony - With This
Dream Warriors - 12 Sided Dice
Main Source - Atom
Sonyalive - I'm Coming Into Conciousness
Side 2
Kish - Jim Class
R+R - Having A Good Day
New Black Nation - Soul Vibration
KGB (Kool, Black and Gifted) - Letters Of Three
Top Secret - Stupid
Fresh B - This Is For The Record
liner notes follows:
"Although rap music has existed in Toronto since the late 70's under the influence of N.Y.C. and brought to the people via mobile sound crews like Sunshine, Maceo, City Crew and Ebony All-Star, the Toronto rap music community has had to share the beat with Funk, R&B, and Reggae almost pushing rap into an obscure underground until the mid-eighties. It wasn't until CKLN radio DJ Ron Nelson dedicated his three hour funk/hip hop show "The Fantastic Voyage" solely to rap music and began promoting concerts that new life was breathed into a community saturated by Roxanne Roxanne answer records and Egyptian lover beats.
"From the mid to late eighties, no Canadian artist had rapped on vinyl until Ivan Berry, Rupert Gayle and Richard Rodwell (AKA Maximum 60) formed Beat Factory Productions. In 1987 Beat Factory met Scott La Rock and KRS 1 during a BDP show. The result of that meeting was the Beat Factory EP featuring Michee Mee & L.A. Luv, and Rumble & Strong, which was co-produced by BDP and released on Beat Factory Records.
"Still, many Canadian labels weren't paying attention to the program. It wasn't until December of 1989 that Attic Records broke things wide open when they released Symphony In Effect, the debut album from Maestro Fresh Wes. Maestro and his manager Farley Flex had a chance meeting with Stevie B during a performance on the local television dance show The Electric Circus which led to an American deal with LMR Records. The album was released in Canada on Attic and quickly proved rap's commercial power to the industry by sailing past the platinum sales plateau and making Wes the first Canadian artist in any genre to score two Top 5 singles from a debut album -- thus forever changing the way the Canadian record industry viewed rap music.
"Meanwhile, Beat Factory had relative success with the signing of Michee Mee to First Priority and the release of HDV's debut LP, Sex, Drugs And Violence on ISBA (CBS) Canada. But, it wasn't until Island Records released the Dream Warriors LP, And Now The Legacy Begins, that Canadian hip-hop was finally recognized world-wide.
"Finally, A&M Records became the first major label to sign a Canadian rap artist when they picked up Kish from the Full Flex Management stable. Kish's debut Order To Chaos shows the new funky direction taken on by the Canadian hip hop nation.
"The Cold Front LP is not all that makes Toronto strong, but it's a taste of a rap community that has been stewing for over a decade."
--John Bronski
Hopefully the info provided helps in any way.
I know Ron Nelson put out the first record from Toronto (under Ron O), but the name of the track escapes me at the moment... I know it was basically a rip of 'The Breaks'. Some of the other releases were mentioned here. I know there are more, but I'm just not sure what, off the top of my head.
Orips, would you happen to have the 'Cold Front' comp on mp3? My copy was stolen years ago, and would love to just listen to some of those tracks again.
Orips, would you happen to have the 'Cold Front' comp on mp3? My copy was stolen years ago, and would love to just listen to some of those tracks again.
I remember getting that Cold Front Comp.
Great post orips. Made me remember some stuff. Many people say that B-boy Destruction was the first. But I'd like to ask Ron (Ronnie O) if he also did that bootleg that had another one of his tracks (I believe it was called Breakdown) on one side and rapper's delight on the other side. And if he pressed that before BBoy Destruction. Which I believe it came out 4 or 5 years before BBoy Destruction.
Bronski also notes Beat Factory. Ivan Berry, Who should get alot of shine, along with Ron Nelson for Hip Hop moves in Canada back in the day. A fav quote of mine from Ivan.
"If you followed my career, I was doing Michie Mee before there was anything called reggae rap. I was doing Dream Warriors before there was anything called jazz rap and I was doing HDV before there was the west coast doing the pimp of the microphone way before there was Snoop Doggy Dogg and NWA."
I love the fact that Bronski gave a shout to Maceo in that insert. Who's a really great friend of mine.
Some other 80's canadian rap.
Rumble & Strong's - (I would die if PEK from here could get me his tape of early recordings from them).
HDV - Pimp of the microphone & Keep it a Secret
Michie Mee
Split Personality
Not sure if you could find much in vinyl. Since anything I ever got was on tapes. But there's
Krush and Skad
RazorBlayd
Top Secret
Slinky Dee
Self-Defence
K-4ce (K-Force).
Now, how about Canadian Hip Video's? Was this the first?
HAHAHAHA
Great post orips. Made me remember some stuff. Many people say that B-boy Destruction was the first. But I'd like to ask Ron (Ronnie O) if he also did that bootleg that had another one of his tracks (I believe it was called Breakdown) on one side and rapper's delight on the other side. And if he pressed that before BBoy Destruction. Which I believe it came out 4 or 5 years before BBoy Destruction.
Bronski also notes Beat Factory. Ivan Berry, Who should get alot of shine, along with Ron Nelson for Hip Hop moves in Canada back in the day. A fav quote of mine from Ivan.
"If you followed my career, I was doing Michie Mee before there was anything called reggae rap. I was doing Dream Warriors before there was anything called jazz rap and I was doing HDV before there was the west coast doing the pimp of the microphone way before there was Snoop Doggy Dogg and NWA."
I love the fact that Bronski gave a shout to Maceo in that insert. Who's a really great friend of mine.
Some other 80's canadian rap.
Rumble & Strong's - (I would die if PEK from here could get me his tape of early recordings from them).
HDV - Pimp of the microphone & Keep it a Secret
Michie Mee
Split Personality
Not sure if you could find much in vinyl. Since anything I ever got was on tapes. But there's
Krush and Skad
RazorBlayd
Top Secret
Slinky Dee
Self-Defence
K-4ce (K-Force).
Now, how about Canadian Hip Video's? Was this the first?
HAHAHAHA
I know Ron Nelson put out the first record from Toronto (under Ron O), but the name of the track escapes me at the moment... I know it was basically a rip of 'The Breaks'. Some of the other releases were mentioned here. I know there are more, but I'm just not sure what, off the top of my head.
>>Stop the Violence?
>>Stop the Violence?
Mr. Colin sir...
first off, i owe you a email or something like that...so sorry for not getting at you.
second, i have Cold Front burned into my itunes, but have no idea how to send MP3's. If you want a copy I'll happily burn one for you.
third.... as we Canadians know the scene was more a live than recorded thing in the 80's. Really takes flight in the 90's. Bit of a drag when you consider the talent that was around.
Mr. Colin sir...
first off, i owe you a email or something like that...so sorry for not getting at you.
second, i have Cold Front burned into my itunes, but have no idea how to send MP3's. If you want a copy I'll happily burn one for you.
third.... as we Canadians know the scene was more a live than recorded thing in the 80's. Really takes flight in the 90's. Bit of a drag when you consider the talent that was around.
Yes, Aaron! No worries on the email front. We all get busy. I would defnitely love to get a copy of Cold Front (Thanks for the offer Orips, but to be honest, at the moment, I don't even have a working tape deck... weird, I know).
Liek Aaron said, the Toronto scene in the 80's was pretty much a live scene, with a few records here and there. I do now that there are an abundence of tapes floating around. Every section of the city had it's crews, so there are a lot of limited run stuff kicking around (maxi-singles, mixtapes, live party tapes). To find any that are not burnt out is a feat unto itself. Like it was mentioned, things more or less took off in the early 90's. Until then, the only Black music that really got funded/produced here was reggae and calypso (and some rnb), due to the amount of West Indie transplants that had an established income to release music. Rap was more or less strictly handled by a younger generation that were scrounging to put out a simple indie release for there boys to hear. I mean, in the 80's most people still thought rap was a fad, and especially in Canada where there was next to no mainstream support for it, until 'Let Your Backbone Slide' blew up. People treated Maestro as the first Canadian rapper (obviously not the case). And even still, the support took a long time to build.
Anyways, just my two cents. Sorry for the long quasi-rant.
Some of the earlier records that I remember from MTL are by groups like M.R.F, a francophone group that had a single which sampled "Funky Drummer". I think language politics hampered the development of Hip Hop in MTL in the early years. The divide was greater back then. There was some other stuff in the '90's but nothing really worth mentioning.
peace
h
Mr. Colin sir...
first off, i owe you a email or something like that...so sorry for not getting at you.
second, i have Cold Front burned into my itunes, but have no idea how to send MP3's. If you want a copy I'll happily burn one for you.
third.... as we Canadians know the scene was more a live than recorded thing in the 80's. Really takes flight in the 90's. Bit of a drag when you consider the talent that was around.
Yes, Aaron! No worries on the email front. We all get busy. I would defnitely love to get a copy of Cold Front (Thanks for the offer Orips, but to be honest, at the moment, I don't even have a working tape deck... weird, I know).
Liek Aaron said, the Toronto scene in the 80's was pretty much a live scene, with a few records here and there. I do now that there are an abundence of tapes floating around. Every section of the city had it's crews, so there are a lot of limited run stuff kicking around (maxi-singles, mixtapes, live party tapes). To find any that are not burnt out is a feat unto itself. Like it was mentioned, things more or less took off in the early 90's. Until then, the only Black music that really got funded/produced here was reggae and calypso (and some rnb), due to the amount of West Indie transplants that had an established income to release music. Rap was more or less strictly handled by a younger generation that were scrounging to put out a simple indie release for there boys to hear. I mean, in the 80's most people still thought rap was a fad, and especially in Canada where there was next to no mainstream support for it, until 'Let Your Backbone Slide' blew up. People treated Maestro as the first Canadian rapper (obviously not the case). And even still, the support took a long time to build.
Anyways, just my two cents. Sorry for the long quasi-rant.
shame.
yeah, part of my asking was wondering why there was so few toronto releases compared to other cities.
