Lionel Groove was one of the more fun performances I have seen in a while. Sam Faye is a charismatic emcee that understands how to seduce crowds. Horg Man brings a sincere and enthusiastic presence as a dj, hype manning and live scratching along the way.
Full disclosure, I watched that set immediately after performing. My heart was pumping, and I was sweaty having jumped around. This means my happy go lucky exercise induced endorphin drugs were in full effect.
A man needs to acknowledge the bias of writing about a show he opened at. I’ll say it now, I need to take more pictures along my adventures for this blog. All the pictures you see on this page I jacked from SeeBash Médias on Facebook.
Hochelaga is a trek
Montreal is a big city. The scope of the size is something I only realize when I travel more than hour east via public transit (20-minute drive though).
Being the good little anglo boy I am, I more or less stay west of St. Laurent. I live in NDG and am comfortable with most of the west half of this island.
There is a whole lot of Montreal in the East (or Frencher) part that I have literally never been. Everything from the building architecture to the sounds of ambient pedestrians feels different. It’s almost like you know this is part of Montreal is less… safe for lack of a better word.
Real talk, this is just 35 years of force-fed bigotry. I speak French so going to French parts of town shouldn’t be a big deal. However some ghost of the past still whispers in my ear that this is not the Montreal I know.
It’s pretty cool to live in a place with that much diversity.
Suivez le Mouvement shows are punctual
JS #NoRegard and I made the Mary Go Round joint over a Davyman beat. Davyman told this Boycut fellow about us. Boycut is the dude driving this promotion company called Suivez le Mouvement.
This lead to Boycut booking us in 2022 at Bistro St. Cath. This venue is an all-ages restaurant with remarkably good sound. They make you burn essence off the property.
Boycut runs a punctual show and makes sure things start on time. This may be partly because Bistro St. Cath has a hard stop before midnight. It also may be that Boycut is professional, who knows.
I did two shows with Boycut last year, but this Lionel Groove one was truly a treat. Boycut did well with getting people in the room. The establishment has a lot of chairs and tables, no real open floor, but most of the chairs had people in them.
I was asked to pull up for 6:00 PM. I could have arrived at 6:45 and it would have made no difference. I know that because I was punctual. But we did do a real ass sound check with the DJ. I am glad I pulled up on time.
The show was advertised to start at 8:00 PM. By 8:10 the show was underway. If going to Hochelaga is not a big deal, Boycut is a cool guy to support.
Performing on the French side
Everyone else I performed with on the card was a French artist. When in Hochelaga, I make the effort to speak French during the parts in between my songs. I think it’s a good look to adapt to the locale.
The cool part is people like the English music. You may need to speak French when you are not on stage, but if you song is nice, your song is nice.
There is this strange ego driven nonsense where the English folk stick with the anglos and vice versa. This may seem ironic coming from Mr. English Hip Hop journalist man that I am, but I’m serious. Most of us speak some degree of both languages.
It would be pretty cool to perform more on shows with French artists that could introduce me to that side of the city. In exchange we bring those artists over to Belmont and Blue Dog and integrate them into our shows.
Granted my entire French side of performing has ran through Boycut, the more I meet artists on the other side, the more I realize we are all in the same boat. We all want to see Montreal pop and both teams face unique challenges that would be easier to manage if we worked together.
Plus, when I freestyle, French people don’t understand how bad my bars are and geek on my flow. It’s pretty dope.
I killed that set
I really love performing. I have been working on my cardio so I can perform better. I work on my singing and voice control and all those fun and super boring tasks.
Once I put out the live video I’ll link it here, but for now I will say I ran through my 5 joints, and in 22 minutes we rode the wave. Chris Chrome joined me for track 3 (and 4) and brought a lot of energy to the performance.
No matter who we are pulling up with, we are coming prepared to give our heart and soul. I started with a new song I haven’t finished writing. I’m proud I was able to switch into a
freestyle and close out the end of the track without making it too clunky.
There were a few forgotten bars, but overall I am proud of how it went. Boycut was sad I did not perform Lose Weight, and I guess that means next time he has me that song is a must.
I’m happy I impressed Horg Man and Sam Faye. I also sold Horg Man a Jeru the Damaja ticket. He was eyeballing the pickle merch as he has the pickle beat tape coming. There may be some level of a war about to go down, peep this ridiculousness.
Maximum du bruit
Boycut’s group the Underdoggz opened the show. Boycut and his man bring intense energy. Boycut’s raspy voice is unforgettable and he delivered his bars smooth in the pocket. They put on a good show.
Gamelin came next. He serenaded us with a variety of styles showcasing his ability. I enjoyed his energy a lot. I have no idea if his bars were great. Deciphering French writing quality on the fly is not something I claim to do well.
Next up we had Jay Drip (a 12 year old that can literally rap better than a lot of people I’ve performed with). He is part of the WOKE collective, which also features Lil Deezy, Jamal Jackson, Spectrax Mota and a bunch of others.
The lil bar spitter was joined by MPP who beatboxed and did a track with him. It’s incredible to watch people who are still in elementary school perform original music.
I also found out people in French say, “Maximum du bruit”, which is basically, “Make some noise”. I do advise all performers to let it be if the crowd is not playing a long. The 14th time you ask them to make noise, and they don’t hold you down, looks weird.
Do what you can but move on if they are just uncooperative. At least try the “if I say X, you say Y” stuff instead.
Lionel Groove is dope
When you see certain artists get on stage, you don’t know what to expect. Horg and Sam look like they are about to boom bap slap your face into oblivion. This is why they say don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
Horg Man provides 80’s inspired dance beats that manage to slap as if they were built for 2023. Sam understands what time it is and layers simple, clean and fun bars over Horg’s compositions.
Sam starts teaching us to dance in the middle of the set. Lionel Groove wants you to move and is willing to make sure you CAN groove with them. As the performance goes on, he adds a bit of complexity, and it really was charming.
Given they are OG about their game, Sam grabs some words and Horg makes sure you know he can freestyle those words Harry Mack style. They leverage good crowd participation and make the experience fun. Sam clearly had to prove he can rap rap, and he did.
Lionel Groove is for a party and knows it’s going to make women want to come through. They aren’t trying to be the best. They are trying to have the best vibe.
I really like the sound, it’s something both you, your mom and the lil ones can turn up to. It’s extremely safe for work, but sometimes that ends up even better.
I had fun and that’s the only part I care about
The Suivez le Movement – Lionel Groove show was a good time. I am biased, being a part of it, but I am also happy to whine about shows I’ve been a part of that were trash. I’m really happy BouBou’s birthday was a great time.
I am glad I had the chance to meet a bunch of new people. The fun Julie lady at Bistro St. Cath has cool homemade art all over which adds charm.
As I end this, I am eager to get onto the next blog. This was the start of an eventful 25-hour period for me and the next entry will cover what happens next. Until the next time.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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