CFXJ-FM is a commercial radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned by the Stingray Group, it broadcasts an adult hits format. Its studios are located on Yonge Street at St. Clair Avenue in Toronto's Deer Park neighbourhood. CFXJ was Canada's first Black-owned radio station. From its launch through 2022, the station aired various urban and rhythmic formats.
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the early 2000s.
Joyful Rebellion is the second album of alternative hip hop artist k-os. It was released 13 August 2004 in Canada by EMI and 21 September 2004 in the United States by Virgin Records. It debuted at number 7 on the Canadian Albums Chart, and went platinum in Canada, selling over 100,000 units.
Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, better known by his stage name Cadence Weapon, is a Canadian-American rapper based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Pemberton released his first album, Breaking Kayfabe, in 2005 with positive reviews. He subsequently signed with the American record label ANTI-, releasing the albums Afterparty Babies in 2008 and Hope in Dirt City in 2012. In 2009, Cadence Weapon was named Edmonton's Poet Laureate. His first book Magnetic Days was published by Metatron in 2014. Cadence Weapon released a self-titled album in 2018.
The Urban Music Association of Canada (UMAC) is a Canadian non-profit organization focused on showcasing and expanding Canadian urban music established in 1996. UMAC offers a variety of service such as workshops, tours and also hosts the Canadian Urban Music Awards. Its president is Trevor Shelton.
Shadrach Kabango, better known as Shad or Shad K, is a Canadian rapper and broadcaster. He has released 7 full-length albums and 3 EP's since his debut in 2005. He won a Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year in 2011 and 5 of his albums have been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, the most short-list nominations of any artist since the prize's creation in 2006. In 2013, CBC Music named Shad the second-greatest Canadian rapper of all time. Shad hosted Q on CBC Radio One from 2015 to 2016 and hosts the International Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary series Hip-Hop Evolution on HBO Canada and Netflix.
Promise Jason Jamal Shepherd, professionally known as Promise, is a Canadian rapper from Toronto. He is also 1/2 of Hip-Hop supergroup Perfeck Strangers, based in Scarborough, Ontario. Promise has collaborated with Jhené Aiko, Montell Jordan, LeCrae, No Malice, MC Jin, J. Ivy, Marco Polo, eLZhi of Slum Village, Royce Da 5'9" of Slaughterhouse, Rhymefest, and Ton3x. He has also collaborated heavily with fellow Toronto native Drake, whom he met on the set of Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Radio Radio is a Canadian electro hip-hop band formed in 2007 from Clare, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick Canada. The duo rap in Chiac, an Acadian French dialect.
TSOL is the third studio album by Canadian rapper Shad. It was released in Canada on May 25, 2010 and in the United States on October 5, 2010. It is his second album released on Black Box Recordings, and his first album of new material since 2007's Polaris Music Prize-nominated The Old Prince.
BadBadNotGood is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. In 2016, they were joined by frequent collaborator Leland Whitty. Among other projects, the group has released five solo studio albums, with the latest, Talk Memory, released in October 2021. They have had critical and crossover success, finding audiences in the hip hop, jazz, and alternative music communities.
DFS Records is a record label founded in 2003 by record producer Dan "DFS" Johnson. The independent label was the former home to award-winning Canadian recording artist Promise. In 2003 the label released its first single "Tonite" featuring Aion Clarke from Promise's debut album The Promise That Heaven Kept, it went on to reach #4 on the Rhythmic Top 10 - Canadian Christian Radio Chart.
Louis Kevin Celestin, known professionally as Kaytranada, is a Haitian-Canadian music producer, rapper, singer and DJ. Celestin rose to prominence after releasing a series of mixtapes, remixes, and original music projects beginning in 2010 under the alias Kaytradamus. By 2013, and under the moniker Kaytranada, he began gaining wider recognition and, the following year, signed a deal with XL Recordings, with whom he would release his critically acclaimed debut studio album 99.9% in 2016. In 2019, he released its follow-up, Bubba, for which he won two Grammy Awards including Best Dance/Electronic Album. Celestin is one half of the hip hop duo The Celestics, along with his brother Lou Phelps.
HipHopDX is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. HipHopDX is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
99.9% is the debut studio album by Canadian electronic music producer Kaytranada, released May 6, 2016, through XL Recordings worldwide and Ultra Records in Canada. The 15-track album features guest contributions from by Anderson .Paak, Vic Mensa, Little Dragon, Syd, Craig David, AlunaGeorge, and BadBadNotGood amongst others. 99.9% was supported by five singles: "Leave Me Alone" featuring Shay Lia, "Drive Me Crazy" featuring Vic Mensa, the Karriem Riggins and River Tiber-assisted instrumental "Bus Ride", "Glowed Up" featuring Anderson .Paak, and "Lite Spots".
The 2016 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 19, 2016 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario. The hosts of the gala were broadcasters Tom Power and Amanda Parris.
Snotty Nose Rez Kids are a First Nations hip hop duo composed of Haisla rappers Darren "Young D" Metz and Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce. They are originally from Kitamaat Village, British Columbia. Their 2017 album The Average Savage was shortlisted for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize, and for the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2019. In 2018, the duo received nominations for Best Hip Hop Album at the Indigenous Music Awards, and for Indigenous Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Their third album TRAPLINE was released on May 10, 2019 and was later shortlisted for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize. Their fourth album Life After (2021) was shortlisted for the 2022 Polaris Music Prize and was followed by their fifth album I’M GOOD, HBU? in 2022.
Haviah Mighty is a Canadian rapper from Brampton, Ontario. She rose to prominence in 2016 as a member of the hip hop group the Sorority, before releasing several EPs on her own, most notably Flower City, in 2017. Her first album, 13th Floor, was released in 2019 and won the Polaris Music Prize. After her debut, XXL named her one of the "15 Toronto rappers you should know" and CBC Music called her one of the "New Faces of Canadian Hip Hop".
Etmet Musa, also known by her alias Ayo Leilani and her stage name Witch Prophet, is an Ethiopian/Eritrean musician based in Toronto, Ontario. As Witch Prophet, she has released 3 albums: The Golden Octave (2018), DNA Activation (2020), and Gateway Experience (2023). She co-founded and is the co-director of 88 Days of Fortune, a collective based in Toronto since 2009 that rebranded as Heart Lake Records in 2018. She also is a member of Above Top Secret, an electro-hip hop group. Above Top Secret has released three studio albums since 2010. DNA Activation was shortlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. In 2021, she released a new song "Leilani", which appeared on the deluxe edition of DNA Activation. The deluxe edition was released July 23, 2021. Her third album as Witch Prophet, entitled Gateway Experience, was released May 1st, 2023. The first single from the album, "Energy Vampire", was released on February 23, 2023 and featured DillanPonders. Gateway Experience was longlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize.
The 2020 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on October 19, 2020. The longlist was announced on June 15, 2020, with the shortlist following on July 15, 2020 and the winner announced on October 19, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional winner's gala did not take place this year, and instead a special cinematic tribute to the shortlist was streamed online by CBC Music and CBC Gem, following which the winner was announced.
Ashanti Mutinta, known professionally as Backxwash, is a Zambian-Canadian rapper and producer based in Montreal, Quebec. She is most noted for her 2020 album God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It, which won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.
