I ended up performing at Bar Le Smooth in the far recesses of North Eastern Laval.
Continuing on my quest to put myself in new rooms with more strangers, this felt like a good opportunity. Or at least a way to keep building new connections. I’d never heard of most of the artists on the card and at the very least it would further bridge the gap with the French side of the scene.
It’s important for me to learn more about my home province, considering we’re split into fragmented cultures, each receiving different news from politicized sources, but that’s a topic for another day.
I wanted to share some thoughts after participating in this event.
It’s not that special to rap without backing vocals
While a lot of people do rap over their songs, most of the artists last night did not.
I went to an English show the other day and again only one or two acts rapped over their back vocals. These French artists were rapping clean and clear into mics they knew how to hold. Forgetting artistry, they performed with a high level of technical proficiency.
That being said, one of the strongest performances of the night was from AMQ Project, who came with a whole posse. Despite the crowd not being strong, they were so hype, the 6 of them in the crew, that the energy was insane. Only half of them performed and I’m pretty sure they rapped over their songs, but it didn’t matter. You could see them actually performing and at most would let a line or two play to fall back on a hype man role.
They nearly broke the stage jumping around.
The camaraderie and coordination they brought showed me a group that is festival ready, it was special.
Everyone performed well, this is not shots at the rest of us, we just didn’t come posse'd up ready to excel.
We just rapped without backing vocals all regular like.
This crowd didn’t really understand my verses and I didn’t understand their work
It’s an interesting phenomenon to be the only English rapper at the show.
This is the first time in my life it’s been like that. I also rocked my set solo, 5 whole songs without any backup. I spoke in French between songs, but I don’t think I came through as clearly as I wanted.
When my songs started, I could tell no one in the room was really hearing my words. To be fair, I barely understood the fully French songs I heard as well. In that context, my brain cannot translate fast enough, it’s a mutual struggle.
That leaves us with flow, melody and overall delivery. If you want to find out if your songs are good, go perform them in front of an audience of people who don’t speak your language. All they can judge you on is the musicality, they don’t get how clever you are or how good your wordplay is.
Now here’s the thing, even performing my pro English Bonjour-Hi song, the crowd was warm and receptive.
They could feel my love for the music and I could feel theirs.
Middle of nowhere shows exist inside of the bigger urban areas
Location, Location, Location.
Some venues are very conveniently located. People may not of heard of them, but you can drop a quick reference like, “It’s by Beaubien metro” or, “It’s on Cavendish in DG” and people can rationalize a way to be brave and socialize.
Other times you agree to a show, look at the location and go, “fuck me I’m not going to sell tickets for this one”. While this may sound extreme, I sold tickets to people who looked at the distance and said naw. In one case they couldn’t find a lift and the bus isn’t an option on a Saturday night.
I’m learning how to expand my reach beyond local and thankfully AMQ Project made it clear what needs to be done. We need to pull up at stuff with more people if we’re going on the road. Make an impact and make an effort to find locals we can hustle to the next time we are out there.
I had a good time and felt like it was fun. I got to meet a bunch of Quebec artists, from places outside of Montreal, that are tapped into an entirely new world.
Two of the acts literally bounced from the show we were at to hit another city and perform.
There’s an ecosystem out there and I want to be deeper within it.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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