I fell in love with hip hop around 2013 when I listened to my first rap album, Drake’s Nothing Was the Same. To me, hip hop is an art of storytelling, rooted in struggle and triumph. It has its haters and it is not perfect, but it has also saved and changed countless lives.
In the tradition of the 1970s New York City DJs and MCs that founded the genre, the guardians of modern hip hop are innovative, creative and heartfelt. Anyone can pick up the mic and tell their stories. As fans, we just need to turn up the volume on game-changing artists.
Buddah Abusah is a Hamilton-born and raised creator spreading a message of peace and love. He began writing at the age of 11 and rapping seriously at the age of 16. Haviah Mighty is a Toronto-born, Brampton-raised musician who is also a member of the rap group The Sorority. She began rapping at the age of 12, combining her seven years of singing lessons with her newfound interest in hip hop.
I spoke separately to these two local rappers about their thoughts on hip hop. Both artists spoke about the importance of the genre not only because of the music, but because of the culture.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo7s8IlnRTJ/
Buddah Abusah: My inner city message is letting all artists know that no matter where you're from, [as] long as you put your mind to it, you can be successful in your way. [I want to] show people [that if you] put your mind to it and indulge yourself properly, you can get yourself to that gold, platinum status [that] Canadians are doing more often now. Also… the message I want to give out is that all my music is to peace, love and equality. No matter what goes down, just treat it with peace and love because at the end of the day that's what everybody needs.
Haviah Mighty: I definitely like to pull from the rawest, truest points of my life to try to create the most effective message possible, which is usually the things that are most important to me. The narrative will always change based on the shifting of the energies around us and things that are happening. But I would definitely say… just being a Black female, I am political in nature. The hair that I have, the skin tone that I have, the gender that I am and what I chose to do for a career are to some people very oxymoronic. I think naturally just my look and my delivery and my vibe is a little bit of an empowering, stepping out of your element, believing in your true self kind of message before even opening my mouth. I don't think that's something I can really escape or run from and I'm actually very happy to naturally represents that. I feel that people around me resonate with that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt8_KYXAXM5/
BA: Best part is the growth. For me I love seeing individuals or an individual put their mind to something and watch it come into fruition. Right now I'm doing that with a couple people/groups. I've worked with some of them in the past and just watching them help the culture of [Hamilton] is the best part because I know this city will get there. Like everybody knows the city is growing. And it'll be interesting seeing Hamilton have their own culture and their own sound like how Toronto has their own sound. Hamilton is far enough where we see Toronto and we want to be like the [greater Toronto area] and be included like the GTA, but we still want our own.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BorVUiiHLRt/
HM: The best part of the hip hop community is the community. I think hip hop is very cultural and the community is very culture-based… [W]ithin hip hop in my experience, you can go to different venues and it's like these are people that you've grown up with because at the cultural level, you guys are so connected. It might be the same for punk music and rock and stuff [but] I'm not as embedded in those communities to know. I think for me it's the beautiful marriage between the sonic vibe of hip hop and then just like the community of hip hop and how different yet similar those two things are.
BA: I'm going to be releasing new material spring, summer time. I've just been working with other artists, doing some production, audio engineering. And other than that, I'm just taking my sweet, sweet time. I'm not trying to [give] you the exact same trap sound that you're always hearing on the radio or that your friends play. I'm here giving you something completely different. I'm giving you good vibes, I'm giving you vibes for strictly hippies… My goal with this is creating an entirety of a sound for the city.
HM: I have an album coming out. I'm hoping that this can really open up some interesting conversations. I'm really hoping that we can see some shifts in female hip hop and what we expect from being a female in hip hop and what we expect from I guess just the gender expectations. I would love to see some of those surpassed with some of the stuff I'm coming out with. But definitely just trying to contribute positively to the hip hop community and that hip hop culture and to tell good, impactful stories that can make some good change.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp-dJixASg6/
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Being a woman in a male-dominated scene, specifically in music, is never the easiest course of action, but prominent Hamilton DJs are making waves within the scene.
The fight for a place in the music scene has created a supportive community of women who are working together to make their beats heard. With a focus on helping each other through collaboration and promotion, these women are making sure that their respective music scenes see an inclusive space for everyone.
DJing in general began to take off in the 1960s and 70s, finding influence particularly within the hippie and disco eras. Most of the DJs shaping the movement during this time were almost exclusively part of the LGBTQ+ scene and after the Stonewall riots in New York City, nightclubs became a popular scene and became a more inclusive space.
From the beginning, DJing has served as a space for loud self-expression, a cultural movement founded on peace, love, unity and respect. From there, the evolution of the nightclub scene took form, reflecting the needs for particular styles and communities and creating various types of music genres that we know today.
Female DJs have always been an inspirational force within the scene, with the earliest female DJ on the scene being traced back to 1912. In 1922, Sybil True was one of the first people to ever play records on the radio, borrowing records from 6a local record store and playing them on air to encourage young people to gain interest in radio broadcasting careers.
Another important woman on the scene is Annie Nightingale, who was one of the first globally famous radio DJs. Her beginnings in 1963 at BBC Radio 1 is still one of the highest-revered positions on the charts, and in history.
With the help of a few prominent Hamilton DJs, including DJ Fazooli, DJ I Heart Hamilton, DJ Donna Lovejoy and DJ Rosé, women in Hamilton will have the opportunity to mix up the scene.
The early years of DJ Fazooli (Julie Fazooli Marquis)’s career, there were several instances that made it difficult to be a female DJ. There were very few other female DJs when she first stepped onto the rave scene in Toronto in the late 1990s and the misogyny was rampant.
For that reason, Fazooli took it upon herself to learn how to spin by actively watching her heroes while they played, and “obsessively” listening to mixes trying to figure out how it was done.
“Any time I asked someone to teach me how to spin, they always assumed I wanted to date them,” said Fazooli. “My first live performance at a rave was filmed, and when I saw the footage, they had pretty much focused my whole screen time with the camera pointing up the back of my skirt. I got intimidated regularly by men who would line up in front of the turntables to stare me down and watch every movement of my hands.”
https://www.facebook.com/FazooliArt/
Despite these instances of misogyny within the scene, Fazooli continued learning and teaching herself the ways of the turntable. She continues to DJ today, playing a multitude of venues within the city including Club Absinthe, the Casbah, Sous Bas and This Ain’t Hollywood, to name a few.
“I’m the type that bites back when annoyed, so now I get treated with a ton more respect and people know I am very capable of what I do, and not mess with me,” said Fazooli. “You gotta be tough sometimes — there’s no room to be passive and sometimes people need to be reminded that women are just as talented as men when it comes to DJing.”
Last year, Fazooli and other other female DJs in Hamilton, including Donna Lovejoy, I Heart Hamilton and DJ Rosé, came together to create the Diamond DJ Collective. The collective serves as an alliance to combine their different strengths and to promote themselves within the community.
Each DJ within the collective uses different styles and genres of music together that blend well when they play together. They also come from a variety of different social backgrounds and immersed into each one.
“The tides are turning. By having conversations and being open about experiences we’ve had, it’s so empowering to voice it and be validated by other women,” said DJ I Heart Hamilton (Kristin Archer). “From there we can figure out how to make the scene more inclusive. There’s a lot to unpack but we won’t get anywhere without having some tough conversations.”
https://www.facebook.com/diamondDJcollective/
To keep up with the stamina that female DJs have been seeing over the past few years, Fazooli and fellow DJ, Donna Lovejoy, launched a series of workshops. Under the title of Women’s DJ Workshop, the pair are teaching introductory classes to women and non-binary folk in Hamilton.
Women’s DJ Workshop originally came to the pair after being approached by the Art Gallery of Hamilton to create a series of workshops, but found that logistics would be costly, making it inaccessible for individuals to join. The duo then condensed it to an introductory, one-afternoon workshop so that people could test the waters first.
“DJing is incredibly intensive in both time spent practicing and finding records, and the financial burden of buying pricey equipment and building a proper vinyl collection,” said Fazooli. “You need to have an insatiable thirst for music and playing with music to even consider it as a hobby, as it’s a big investment on both of those levels. So a proper introduction to test the waters to see if it’s a good fit is key.”
For those who felt intimidated by the technical aspects, the workshop created a friendly and educational atmosphere. By pointing out all of the similarities between all of the different brands of equipment, the workshop ensured that new DJs were able to confidently adapt to changes when they were faced with an unfamiliar set-up in a live situation.
https://www.facebook.com/WomensDJWorkshop/
The major goal of the workshop was to start a conversation and about what it would be like to become a DJ without overwhelming students. Fazooli stresses that DJing is not an easy set of skills to earn, so the workshops aim to make it as simple as possible to understand, taking away the fear of misconception or obstacle for students.
“I think when people are put in front of all of this equipment and a few crates of records they get easily overwhelmed,” said Fazooli. “So this was a chance to kind of simplify
and break it down so that people could see that once you practice and get the techniques and concepts down, the world opens right up for you and it begins to be a lot of fun.”
In future workshops, Lovejoy and Fazooli will be covering more information about troubleshooting and specific technical aspects to ensure students feel armed with knowledge of how to overcome stressful technical mishaps.
By preparing students for anything that may come their way, the pair hope to instill a sense of independence, which is a quality that is crucial in DJing, and to create a new wave of empowered individuals, capable of creating new and exciting ventures for themselves in our community.
“The music scene is still very deeply rooted in being open to everyone as it always has been, with very few exceptions,” said Fazooli. “I find it hard to fathom that any scene would exist without women and non-binary people as an intrinsic part of their foundation.”
While DJing in general is heavily male dominated, the support and encouragement from two talented women in the capacity of a student can be crucial. Being backed by a network of women can help other women gain confidence to move forward on their own and have the ability to create their own style.
The workshops will continue on a bi-monthly basis beginning in April, and Women’s DJ Workshop will be hosting a meet and greet DJ session on March 17 at Dr. Disc.
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By: Vanessa Polojac
Hamilton club veteran DJ Cam B brought his modern take on 90s scratch techniques to represent Hamilton on a global stage.
Cameron Ballantyne placed third in the eighth annual Red Bull world DJ championship, Red Bull 3Style, in Krakow, Poland.
Scratching is a DJ and a turntable technique used to produce distinct, variety of percussive sounds.
DJs manipulate sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while using the crossfader on a DJ mixer to open and close audio signals from the two records that are simultaneously played.
While the DJ scene is growing rapidly in the Hamilton community, Ballantyne is considered to be one of the city’s original mixers.
During the Red Bull events, he chose to stick to his scratch record origins.
Ballantyne bought his first scratch-table in 1999 when he was 15 years old. Since then, he has become one of Hamilton’s most well-known DJs. He has performed at Che Burrito & Lounge located in Hess Village for the past nine years. This is where he met performing partner Walter Deans. The two went created a collaborative project titled Buggin Out DJs.
“Walter and I were the only type of scratch DJs in the city at the time. We met in 2005, while we were both performing at a small venue downtown and the owners called it Buggin Out Night. We got on really well and had similar music tastes,” explained Ballantyne.
Ballantyne was strongly influenced by hip-hop music from an early age. House parties and buying Tupac and Biggie on vinyl records in the late 90s inspired him to begin scratching.
“Scratching used to be an underground and secretive type of activity when I was first starting out. Now, with YouTube anyone can learn how to become a scratch DJ,” explained Ballantyne.
“Everything also used to be on vinyl… the internet is now being used and DJs can incorporate any song to their mix.”
Hamilton crowds have been a source of inspiration and connection to youth culture for the 34-year-old DJ, and it shows in his sets.
Ballantyne combined 90s hip-hop cuts and a contemporary club staples in a brilliant combination of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “I’m an Alcoholic” into Beyoncé’s “Drunk In Love”.
“Performing regularly in the Hamilton community for numerous years now has given me inspiration for routines and has also given me knowledge for what audiences like [so I can use those songs] while I am competing,” explained Ballantyne.
To qualify for the championship, Ballantyne had to send in a video of his best DJ mixes.
For the final Red Bull Championship, competitors had to draw from three different genres of music.
Ballantyne’s 15-minute set included “Kid Charlemagne” by Steely Dan, “DNA” by Kendrick Lamar and “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine.
For the latter, he combined Slim Thug’s verse on “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)”, with the song’s famed guitar riff, and replicated the iconic Tom Morello guitar solo with scratch sounds.
The Red Bull world DJ championship is the largest international DJ competition in the world.
The Championships have successfully advanced DJ culture and entrained crowds since 2010.
During his time there, Ballantyne learned about where the future for scratch DJs is heading.
https://open.spotify.com/user/redbullmediahouse/playlist/7DxZpM4d3bdMooxqBC6iWd
A new DJ software was announced at the finals called Phase, a wireless tracker for turntable DJs. Now, instead of using cartridges, needles and a control vinyl, Phase will allow scratch DJs to wirelessly control the position of a record with a single control remote.
Competing against DJs from 21 different countries and receiving third place has meant a lot to Ballantyne while, representing Canada and Hamilton to an international crowd.
“Hamilton is this small city that many people foreign to Canada have not heard of. Being so close to Toronto we are often overshadowed and undermined but I think that we are the heart of Ontario, where a lot of great talent and culture comes from.”
For the rest of 2018, Ballantyne hopes to keep on performing regularly with Buggin Out DJs in all over Ontario while also creating new sets and tracks online to show the world what Hamilton’s scratch DJs have to offer.
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Sean Thompson is a Hamilton native who has made a name for himself as a producer-DJ extraordinaire with the moniker “ttwwrrss” (pronounced “towers”). ttwwrrss’ self-titled debut album was released by Hamilton’s own Maisonneuve Music this past April. The eight-song record is a compelling listen that combines pristine synths with the natural grittiness of hip-hop and more unorthodox electronic elements.
In a world where everyone has Fruity Loops on their computer and feels entitled to add “producer” to their Twitter bio, ttwwrrss’ masterful use of sampling is a welcome breath of fresh air. Standout tracks ‘Jungle’ and ‘Sabre’ are fire, whether you let them knock in your car’s speakers or hear them through a club’s more finely tuned sound system.
How old are you now and what did you study after high school?
I’m 20 years old now, and while at Sheridan I was in their Media Arts program. It’s a great school and I highly recommend it.
What prompted you to adopt the name “ttwwrrss”?
To be totally honest I can’t remember how I came to towers... but I do know that once I had it set in my mind that I wanted to be towers, the next task was to get all the necessary social media accounts. Obviously “towers” was taken, “twrs” was open but I didn’t like it because that was right around the time Trust’s album “TRST” came out and I felt like I was stealing. Eventually I decided to double the letters and here we are.
You grew up in a sleepy suburb and went to a high school that was monocultural in the worst way. Bearing that in mind, what compelled you to begin making music that doesn’t sound like anything that you’d hear Stoney Creek bros playing out of their Honda Civics?
I wanted to make music with machines and computers, but I didn’t want to be pidgeonholed into EDM or anything like that, so I always tried to be like NIN.
I never really felt like I had to make a certain type of music based on where I grew up, but looking back I realized everyone else I knew who got into music either “produced” questionable electro-house or trap beats, both essential bro car music genres, so I guess there was a pressure and it just didn’t get to me, thank god.
Did any artists influence you from the get-go? I know you were a big fan of Justice.
Justice was huge for me; Nine Inch Nails is what really made me want to make music. DJ Shadow & Daft Punk made me realize how intricate sampling can be.
Those are the artists that I would consider myself inspired by, rather than simply a fan.
How valuable has the experience you gained during your internship been to you?
I am so thankful for my internships at Catherine North Studios & Cable 14 Television Studio. Although I learned a lot of technical skills that I use everyday from the internships, I really value the personable skills I learned during these times. I used to be very shy but I quickly realized that trait needed to go if I wanted to be successful.
Could you walk me through your normal production process when making a new track?
I used to always start with a sample and I would craft a whole idea then start to build the track around it. I found myself starting with a bass or a lead synth for a lot of my new album. With the new music I’m working on now, almost every song started with a drum kit / beat.
What are your thoughts on the current music scene in Hamilton?
I love the Hamilton scene; it’s super cool seeing it grow with me. I have started to notice more and more people coming to shows and supporting local acts. I am very excited to see where this all goes.
Any acts you want to see at Supercrawl this year?
If I’m not a last minute addition opening for Four-Tet, I’ll most likely be in the front row.
If you could collaborate with any Canadian artists right now, who would you choose?
Grimes! I love her stuff. It might be impossible but I also think a ttwwrrss x MSTRKRFT collab would be rad.
We live in an unusual age. It wasn’t so very long ago that to make it in the music world – to make it big – typically required several prerequisite years of unacknowledged shows in local bars and a few mediocre albums out of the way before a record label paved the path to fortune and fame. Nowadays, all it takes is one song to make a star, and two up-and-coming DJs set to hit Hamilton on Thursday night, are a testament to this phenomenon.
Sak Noel and DJ Rhiannon, despite division by their gender, nationality, style, and intent, share the necessary keys to the world of stardom: a few songs apiece that have garnered enough attention to have them touring around the world. In an interview on Sunday, Sak Noel and DJ Rhiannon opened up about their surprising musical intentions.
If you’ve been to Hess over the past few months, then you’ve probably heard Sak Noel’s popular dance hit “Loca People,” which is one of only three original tracks the Spanish artist has released. This trio, found on Sak Noel’s Crazy Society Trilogy LP, has rocketed the club-owner-turned-DJ to the international stage.
While these songs may be familiar to you, the Spanish artist’s political intent behind them probably isn’t. “The economic crisis [in Spain] is really hard right now and people are unemployed, and there are a lot of sad things going on. So my Crazy Society Trilogy is about that. I try and use that context to make dancefloor songs to make the people forget about that, but at the same time make them aware of what’s going on in Spain,” he explained. Sak Noel believes that there is room in electronic music for communicating messages of substance. “If you want, you can add some subtext to the music. Why not use dance music to share your opinions with the world?”
Fans of Sak Noel can expect more material to be released over the course of this year as a follow-up to Crazy Society Trilogy. “I have three or four projects [on the go]. I want to start to show my music more regularly… I want to spread my music throughout 2013,” he enthused, and hinted that an album is on the way.
DJ Rhiannon also has an album in the works, to be released some time this year. A well-established DJ who has spun with heavyweights such as Tiesto and Deadmau5 (as well as celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg), this University of British Columbia graduate has begun recording her own tracks. Her rap music, which marks a departure from the EDM that she DJ’s in clubs, is aggressively provocative. The three original songs she has released so far – “Like a Slut,” “Nasty Bitch” and “All the Girls Do It” – are extremely sexually explicit. With lyrics like “Eat that shit, grind that clit / Don’t fuckin stop until she spits across the room / Pussy go boom!” it’s unsurprising that Rhiannon has been garnering attention.
In a rap scene dominated by arguably misogynistic male voices, Rhiannon hopes to offer an alternative female voice. “Whenever women talk about explicit subjects, it’s considered more shocking than when men talk about. If you listen to lyrics by Tyga or Lil Wayne, or name a male rapper, they’re usually talking about crazy explicit things,” she said. “I can’t really relate to drugs, I can’t relate to wanting to drive flashy cars, I can’t relate to violence… People talk about what they know. I’d be posing if I talked about anything other than [sex].”
Unlike her colleague Sak Noel’s politicized motivations, Rhiannon is markedly nonpolitical in her approach to the issue of female presence in rap music. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m doing it to feel empowered. I just feel inclined to do it,” she explained. “Ever since I was a kid, I loved getting reactions out of people. I was a jokester, I liked to shock people and do crazy things to get people to laugh or just react. [Producing this kind of music] seemed like the next natural thing to do.”
Both Sak Noel and DJ Rhiannon are eagerly awaiting their upcoming performance and the chance to spread their unique sounds in Southern Ontario. “I’ve never been to Hamilton before but I’m very excited,” Sak Noel professed.
Sak Noel and DJ Rhiannon are performing on Thursday, Jan. 24 at Sizzle in Hess Village as part of VOLV’s BIG ROOM EDM SERIES, which aims to bring big names in the scene to an eager Hamilton audience. Tickets are available from VOLV online at http://volvsaknoel.eventbrite.com/ and at the door, starting at 10 p.m.
Sak Noel's popular hit "Loca People":
[youtube id="-d6b1yn-YhQ" width="620" height="360"]
DJ Rhiannon's song "All the Girls Do It":
[youtube id="rHH-hMSGGjc" width="620" height="360"]
