A History of Hip Hop in Calgary: Part 2

Earlier this summer, at the Palace Theatre on Stephen Ave., a full-capacity crowd surged as the industrial noise that is part and parcel of the clipping. (the experimental Los Angeles hip hop outfit) MO. The music of MC Daveed Diggs and producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes feels like a noisy deconstruction of hip hop, a crude dance of adversarial elements, textured jaggedly and delivered with as much pomp and chaotic energy as possible. It was the headlining show of this year’s Sled Island Music & Arts Festival, with them being both the top-billing artists on the roster they, as guest-curators, helped amass. The lineup notably featured a couple other contemporary rap artists who, like clipping., challenge a straightforward understanding of hip hop, and make a left-of-centre product for those who clearly love the genre so much they demand more of it. That they sold out their show almost immediately speaks to the demand and appreciation for hip hop this city has (as we have already discussed).

One particular act that stood out on the Sled Island lineup, hand-packed by the members of clipping. to open for them at the main event, was Calgary’s own Cartel Madras. Sisters Eboshi and Contra (who was one of Werklund Centre's inaugural TD Incubator Fellows) formed Cartel Madras in 2018 with a vision, rapidly honing their no-holds-barred mixture of hip hop and house music (in the spirit of punk), and fully realizing the potential of this melange on their debut mixtape, Project Goonda Part 1: Trapistan, that year. Supporting the album that same year at Sled Island, the duo was scouted by Ishmael Butler (Digible Planets, Shabazz Palaces) as an A&R for the indie-giant label Sub Pop Records. Since then, they have toured with the likes of M.I.A., JPEGMAFIA, Jack Harlow, Wu-Tang Clan, Mac DeMarco, and Sudan Archives. They are almost assuredly the biggest rap-related name to come out of Calgary.

But they are far from the only name to have made waves in and out of this city. While Calgary’s hip hop scene is still a (relatively) fledgling developing branch of the city’s ever-expanding musical tree, there is enough talent to support itself, and the support feeds into more talent. Incubators around the city do what they can to provide platforms for burgeoning talent, and outreach to keep interested figures and the communities active. The first showcase that comes to mind when looking at Calgary’s current landscape was Beni Johnson’s institutional 10at10 Showcase hosted at Commonwealth, which led the way in establishing a unified and fervent hip hop community in Calgary, though sadly it has been on indefinite hiatus for the last several years. But in its wake, several other events have kept the lifeblood flowing. Ship Hop, the Ship and Anchor’s quarterly hip hop showcase hosted by KTheChosen, for instance, continues to carry the torch, stoking those with an interest in hip hop — in collaboration with 3rd Verse Studio, a recording studio that lends its time to developing Calgary’s next crop of rappers, allowing for a flowing ecosystem for flourishing talent.

Said ecosystem has proven enough to support the launch of more than a few careers in hip hop. And more new rappers pop up in Calgary every day. Certainly there are more than can be highlighted in one article, but a notable few who, like Cartel Madras, are leading the charge include:

PoloSho, who often performs with his band The Fog Of Sound, is a Nigerian-born rapper in the mould of the early 00’s backpack rappers, whose lyrical repertoire is largely built upon the uplift and the inspirational. As a producer and engineer at 3rd Verse Studios, his fingerprints are all over the city, spotlighting both hip hop and the sounds of the Caribbean diaspora, which is strong in Calgary.

K-Riz, a similarly community-minded performer who hosts The Jam Club at the Studio Bell/National Music Centre, who has built a creative ethos on squeezing as much potential out of the best Western Canada has to offer musically. His music finds itself centred between contemporary R&B and hip hop that echo D’Angelo’s neo-soul musings and golden era Boom Bap in equal measure. Be on the lookout for his third album, Heaven, which is slated to drop this fall.

The Blue raps with locomotive energy, all rollicking momentum deftly bouncing around his 90s-indebted beats. When he is not conducting sermons on stage, he is hard at work as the Festival Manager for Sled Island. His latest project, the titularly optimistic Always Look On The Bright Side, was released last year.

Tea Fannie might exemplify the ‘rap as poetry’ ethos better than anyone else in Calgary. Earlier this year she became a producer for the Sofar Sounds initiative, overseeing the monthly concert series here in Calgary. Her 2024 record It’s All Love received national acclaim.

Sinzere, alongside Cartel Madras, is at the forefront of Calgary’s most progressive hip hop acts. A pyroclastic fusionist of rap and funk, part Missy Elliot, part Betty Davis, her 2022 album Tabula Rasa is one of the more highly-regarded Canadian rap records in memory. She has shared the stage with legends like Rakim, Raekwon and KRS-One, drawing attention beyond the Canadian borders, and is the odds-on bet as the next Calgarian act to break out internationally.

Tea Fannie performing at Party in the Plaza in 2023. Photo by Mike Tan.

The through-line for all these artists is the reciprocal energy transfer between them and the Calgary music scene. Any bio, presser, or interview with them — or the rest of Calgary’s hip hop class for that matter — is rife with programs they have either graduated from, or have had a hand in organizing themselves. It’s a critical cliché to discuss rap through the lens of folk music (the oral tradition, a historical document, a voice for the voiceless, etc.), but in the case of Calgary, the building blocks as a grassroots and self-sustaining movement are impossible to ignore. As mentioned in this article’s first part, the history of hip hop in Calgary is still young yet, and developing. But it’s in capable hands. It took 20 years for hip hop to reach Calgary from its birthplace in the Bronx. Who knows what the next 20 years will bring?

Header image: Sinzere performing at Party in the Plaza in 2023. Photo by Mike Tan.