The 2019 Polaris Music Prize Gala went at The Carlu in Toronto, Ontario. It’s an award show that values the merit of artistic expression over vapid commercial-minded considerations for music. It’s an awards show for true music aficionados to get together and it celebrates the eclectic sounds throughout the Canadian music scene. Every June, a long list is drawn up and then that list of contenders gets whittled away at for the shortlist. A winner is then picked from that group by an appointed jury. LM2’s Dylan Bowker was fortunate enough to be on hand and this is your 2019 Polaris Music Prize Gala Recap. He spoke with Haviah Mighty, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, and Vincent Roberge from Les Louanges while at the Gala.
Liberty Music
For a Canadian artist to have their work recognized at a show for steadfastly passionate music fans and insiders alike, it can create a whole host of emotions. Haviah Mighty said, “The reception is unfathomable. I’ve talked about these themes, concepts, and ideas in my life, my music, my regular rhetoric for years and just never have I received the reception that I’m receiving now. To be honest, that is reflective of the title and the fact that my narratives have often been dismissed. Much like the 13th floor and the parallels of that. So to be honest the reception is beyond me.”
Mighty continued, “Being nominated for a Polaris is beyond me. Being longlisted and shortlisted, beyond me. But I think what it does validate for me is that the discussion that I’m inciting with this record is important. People do see the importance in it and it does need to happen. People are willing to participate. They’re willing to listen to the record and take in what is perceived as power, you know? Just whatever the themes are on the album and talk about it. And I think that’s the most important thing about this record. It is pushing that conversation forward.” Something I noticed with my 2019 Polaris Music Prize Gala Recap is that there were some first time Polaris nominees but some seem on the path to becoming long time veterans.
Back to Back SNRK
For Snotty Nose Rez Kids, 2019 marked back to back years where they garnered nominations. When I asked for their respective thoughts on this accomplishment, Metz stated, “There’s that same excitement we had last year but at the same time, we know how special it is to be here. Not many people can say they’ve been shortlisted let alone longlisted but to do it back to back years, that’s a feat in and of itself.”
Nyce stated, “It’s a familiar feeling but it’s a different feeling. Last year I came in nervous of course. But I wasn’t nervous about the prize itself, I was more nervous about the performance. This year it’s the other way around. Last year I was not confident. You still have your doubts but this year I’m feeling pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished. Pretty proud of the record that we’ve produced. No matter what happens at the end of the day, we’re still gonna keep creating and keep doing our thing. But to win this, it’s like a life-changing award. We’re just living in the moment and excited to be here.”
13th Floor
Havhiah Mighty’s 13th Floor record dealt with a ton of powerful themes about race, gender, and speaking her truth. The record feels like a true triumph where someone who was marginalized for being herself is still speaking her truth unabashedly. Remaining unwavering in her convictions with a perpetual desire to learn more and improve even more so. Mighty said, “I found the perfect blend and marriage of my own stuff and what other people are doing with 13th Floor. For this project, it was a really good blend and amalgamation of what it is I’m really good at. The things that didn’t make as much sense for me to do, I would seek the right resource to do it. I feel like that’s why this album is so strong. The right people were involved to do the right things.”
Haviah Mighty came from a musical family but became enamored by the elements of wordplay in hip hop and took that interest to Letsbeef.com as Mizz Grimey. Mighty said, “I started off doing kind of essentially battle rapping. Not actually battle rapping because I was a bedroom artist but I was battle rapping through the internet. So my original thing with being a lyricist was being a lyricist. That was the first thing and I really focused on my wordplay. Playing with syllables and how you bring in your metaphors. And diction and pronunciation. Those were my really early focuses. To have that acknowledged is a great thing because there’s a lot of music out there, particularly rap where that’s not really a necessity to be super lyrical.”
New School and Old School
In Haviah’s song “In Women Colour” she says ‘I courier the boom bap over new trap’. This is a refreshing viewpoint considering how much infighting seems to happen in hip hop discourse amongst “old heads” and newer fans to the medium. There’s a.desire for Haviah Mighty to learn more about hip hop forefathers but Mighty is a young person and is embracing new, vibrant sounds popping off today.
Mighty has a sound that is quite eclectic and the reference points in her lyrics paint pictures of the greater Toronto area. With some hip hop nowadays having a nebulous sense of city/ area-based identity, it seems like GTA artists take a measure of pride in repping their area. Haviah Mighty has done this in the past by shouting out Queen Street and Kennedy but it goes far deeper than that.
Mighty said, “Queen Street and Kennedy not so specific to that area in terms of like sound development. Just that it is a centralized hub in Brampton. I’ve lived in Brampton for over half of my life and more in the adult part of my life. So I do feel like Brampton has a lot to do with the sound that I have. The school systems, the society in itself, it must right? Born in Toronto, so that obviously factors in. But I do think more than anything, the GTA, in general, the Greater Toronto Area is multicultural. With that you get a combination of and a variety of sounds and vibes and energies. People from different cultures and I think all of that also becomes a blend that has worked is way into my sonic sound. I think more than anything I sound like GTA overall.”
Unique Snapshots in time
The incremental forward progression has always been there for Mighty who makes measurable leaps in improvements between records. Trying out different things all while refining the elements she’s spent years thoughtfully honing. It’s been a long road since her DIY album No Studio.
Mighty said, “That’s actually my first record ever. No Studio it was a lack of resources and that’s why there was no studio. It was a bedroom and I was a bedroom artist and I was proud of that. I was proud of my ability to put a project out and upload it to I-Tunes. Wow! Like that was a big thing back then. To be able to do that without a label or a distribution deal or something like that. Also to be able to record myself, sing, rap, mix it myself, and put it out. When you listen to it quality-wise you can hear that it was done DIY but I think that that’s a large part of my growth. I’ve gone back and forth with my first five records before this one doing DIY and not; working with other producers.”
Mighty continued, “I think in a way each one is a unique snapshot in time but I think that unique snapshot still pushes the next snapshot. Technically just being better at rapping, being better at writing, I think that’s the biggest thing that you’d notice listening to my records. There are some parallels in some of my old work with 13th Floor but the way that they’re refined are definitely different.” Getting these insights from Haviah Mighty will prove to be important as you read later on into my 2019 Polaris Music Prize Gala Recap.
Trapline
Snotty Nose Rez Kids were also representing for the hip hop community at the 2019 Polaris Music Gala. This was something that SNRK noted and were happy about. Nyce stated, “Enjoying the fact that there’s three rap records in on this year’s Polaris Prize. It’s like chilling with fam right now.”
SNRK have a tight-knit relationship with fellow rapper/ Polaris nominee Haviah Mighty. The two have also collaborated with Haviah Mighty’s crew The Sorority. This can be heard on SNRK’s latest record and the feature meant a tremendous amount to them. Nyce said, “You mentioned how hip hop is male-dominated, that’s why we brought The Sorority onto that record. Those women are some of the baddest MC’s in Canada right now. We’re not exposing them to anything. They’ve already built their land and created their lane. But we wanted to share a record on our album with them where we showcase three of the hardest rappers in this country. So that’s what we did with Son of a Matriarch”
The track ‘Son of a Matriarch’ was certainly a standout track on the record for me so I thought to ask more about that song. Metz quipped, “I myself I grew up with a single mom. And spent a lot of time at grandma’s house too and a lot of time at Aunty’s house on the weekend. That was my dedication to the strong women in my life. My sister as well. Young and hella smart. Will definitely do great things. I’ve always wanted to do a song like that where I just dedicate a strong ass song to the strong ass women in my life. ‘Son of a Matriarch’ is probably one of my favorite records on Trapline.”
Nyce said, “He said he’s always wanted to do that and it’s true. Because last year when we were doing The Average Savage, it was his idea to do ‘The Water’. And that’s our dedication to the women in our lives and to mother earth. And we talked about the connection between both bodies. When we thought about the idea of ‘Son of a Matriarch’ we wanted to really pay homage to the important women in our lives. We come from a matriarchal system. We would be nothing without our big aunties or big cousins. Our moms, our grandmas, all these women.”
Minay Movement
SNRK represent their community in a big way. Those that they care about are part of the all-encompassing minay movement. Minay has a particular definition that SNRK has repurposed a little bit to show love to everyone that they care for.
Metz said, “In our language the X̄a’islak̓ala language, the full word is minaysu that translated into brother. Uncles they all cut it short to minay. We wanted to take it and make it more bigger and stronger and unified. It’s family. Minay, that’s my brother, that’s my sister. That’s my family until the day I die. That’ why we say it’s a movement. The minay movement It doesn’t matter what ethnic background you have. What religion you believe in. We say all my relations for that reason. It’s a minay movement, you know?”
Nyce quipped, “We come from a community. Everyone across turtle island. Now people into Australia and New Zealand, that’s our community. When you talk about minay like you said it means brother but it’s way more expansive than that. It’s togetherness, it’s unity, it’s resurgence more than anything. And as indigenous people we need movements like that. And to be honest we’re just a small working piece of a massive machine right now.”
La nuit est une panthère
The Quebec based artist Vincent Roberge was going to the Polaris Music Prize Gala for the first time but the experience yielded a few firsts for him. Roberge said, “It’s my first time in Toronto. Never went here even for tourism. I slept all day. I didn’t have much time to visit the city. Outside of Drake and the Raptors I don’t have a big knowledge of Toronto but I’m eager to get more.”
Les Louanges described to me the evocative title of his last record La nuit est une panthère. Roberge said, “Initially I stole it from a book. It was a guy who was writing stories for his kids. He wrote a story that was called ‘the little girl who thought the night was a panther’. I found it very rich and very poetic. It means so many things at the same time. The album talks a lot about my life living in the suburbs and all. The night being a panther was the wild side you could do yourself while living in a sleepy suburb”
LP and the Live Show
Odd Future and Frank Ocean influences abound throughout Roberge’s music. Also though you can hear definite touches of old school funk like Sly and the Family Stone as well as Curtis Mayfield. Roberge has a varied sound but pacing the record and sequencing an LP from track to track wasn’t an issue for Roberge. He said, “It was a bit of work to put the whole album together but still it was more about the feeling than being really cerebral.”
The same sentiment extends to taking his nuanced studio-based project into a fully fleshed out live show situation. Roberge said, “My band’s great. The guys are great so they help me a lot with putting the songs together for a live show. It’s not like the album one hundred percent. It’s a bit more aggressive I think live. The whole tour we did the summer, the show was a big party. We just took the songs and made them more dynamic and it works well live.”
Relating to Indigenous Youth
Collective catharsis between artists and fan bases were prevailing themes among some of these nominated artists. Metz said, “We just wanted to show everybody that we all have similar pain. A lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds and the powerful women in our lives on the skits. We wanted to show exactly who we are and who raised us. We wanted to just speak on those topics and instead of saying son of a bitch, Nah let’s flip that. Let’s put strength in that shit. Son of a matriarch. It just empowers people. That’s what we love to do. Just empower and uplift because that’s like an award in itself.”
Nyce said, “We make music for ourselves. We make music for indigenous youth to empower them and make them feel at home when they listen to our music. Although we listened to hip hop growing up and that’s all we really listened to, we couldn’t really relate to the music we were listening to in a way that our listeners can these days. But with that said, we like to make bops.”
Nyce continued, “We like to make music that everyone can really relate to. That’s why we made Trapline the way that we did. We took people from different walks of life. Different sections of the world, different backgrounds, different ethnicities. We brought them all on to this one record that me and Darren treasured so deeply and let them tell their story as well. Because at the end of the day like he said we’re not all that different and we just want to let our listeners know that”
Gifting Fans with Songs
Les Louanges has a perception of his relationship with fans whereby his songs are offering sot them and they became gifts that are no longer his property. Roberge said, “At the end of the day, the songs they don’t belong to me no more. They belong to the people who listen to them. The meaning of the songs and the album too.” Roberge continued, “My philosophy is that I do music like everybody does their work. I do my thing and after that, I try my best, and then it’s for the people to enjoy it or not.”
This concurrent catharsis is important to Haviah Mighty who really exposed her raw nerves on this record. The intense personal stories about her own experience which was a vulnerable sort of thing to do. It’s a gamble because there’s not this assured reality of people resonating with it.
Mighty said, “I think that that’s the most important thing. I think when we listen to music that doesn’t really give us that feeling and connectivity, it’s kind of in one ear and out the other. The production can really be great but in what ways are you connecting with your audience? I was unsure of if I was going to be able to connect with the audience because the intention was to discuss things that are my narratives. To see how they relate to other people but not knowing if they do. This is a discussion. What I have learned in the response of this discussion is that people do resonate with what it is that I’m saying. I think that that’s the most important thing is that connection.”
Mighty continued, “The audience having an understanding of where I’m coming from. Maybe not understanding the specifics but understanding enough that they want to contribute and be a part of it. I think if we’re just making listenable music for fun, it’s great. You can make great stuff and it just kind of feels meh. Kind of feels blah. That’s not what I make music for. That’s why I’m so grateful to have been acknowledged by the Polaris where the intention and the main focus for the musician is your artistic merit. And I put so much time and energy into that. I haven’t done it more than I ever have with this project 13th Floor due to the resources and support of the people around me pushing me.”
Future plans
Though he has a nominated LP, there’s already a new Les Louanges EP titled Expansion Pack in the works. Roberge said, “I lived a lot of things since the album came out. I had some things to say just talking about tour life. Even if I’m not big out of Quebec, in Quebec it’s pretty crazy. Like I did thirty-plus shows this summer. Went three times in France this year. I wanted to experience a more electronic sound, a lot more hip hop.”
Roberge continued, “I consider myself more of a musician than a writer. For me, writing is kind of a pain in the ass. It’s the hard part for me. Doing the music, I’m more interested in working around the textures and all. Since the EP I worked with a lot of beatmakers and was inspired by how they were working. But yeah it all starts with a couple words and an idea and then I try to make something out of it. A lot of the creative process that is going on in the mixing part also. We found that with the EP, a quarter of the creation goes into the mixing part. We put effects, panning everything, re-amping everything.”
For SNRK, a mixtape called Rez Bangers and Koolapops was on the table at one point but that now seems to be taking a backseat. Metz stated, “I would never say we’re going to shelf that record forever but……we’re hitting the studio in a couple days and we’ll see what happens, man. We just want to record some new music.” Nyce stated, “We got a few days here out in Toronto and we’re going to get back into Sandbox Studios with our boy KR and we’re just going to lay some shit down on wax, man. Who knows where it’ll take us? We’ve got concepts and ideas in mind but we’re not going to give that away just yet.”
2019 Polaris Music Prize Gala Recap
13th Floor winning the 2019 Polaris Music Prize elicited a raucous reaction from the crowd and yours truly was involved in that. The 13th floor is often used as a foreboding device in some storytelling. A floor to stay away from. Something to be dismissed, the unknown and therefore the feared. It felt like a well-deserved triumph for a record like this to win. and there was a tangible electricity in the room. To summarize a glorious night Mighty said, “I’m really grateful to be here. It’s a great feeling and I’m just grateful to be able to speak my truth. Speak my narratives and perform.”
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