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Music

Sabo Forte Is Banned From Slam Poetry in Canada

We spoke to the rapper about growing up with two deaf parents and how his passion for rap is leading him on a personal mission.

Sabo Forte is generally very animated when he talks, but one moment in our two-hour conversation where he really lights up is when he starts to talk about his Dad. “He’s a bit of a celebrity in the deaf community I guess,” he says proudly. He tells me about his Dad’s bronze medal in basketball in the Deaflympics, how he went to “regular” university and played three different competitive sports, how he taught high school for years to hearing students, and also how he has “the most impressive speaking voice you’ve ever heard.” Sabo points out that perhaps his love of music was, in a way, dependent on the fact that both his parents and his stepmom are all deaf. Growing up, he always had full reign over the stereo and could blast music—especially the Thriller cassette—as loud as he liked.

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“A spoken word artist with deaf parents,” he laughs, referring to his slamming past. And I call it his “past” for a reason: Sabo, real name Robey Stothart, competed on a national level as a slam poet before a feud with Sheri-D Wilson, a prominent poet who is the de facto head of slam in Canada, left him banned from the community altogether. The story goes that one day back in 2008, Sabo made a phone call to Wilson with the intention of making a simple suggestion about changing the format of Calgary slam competitions to align with those at a national level. That phone call quickly went sour when Sheri-D flat out refused to entertain his suggestion. “I called her tyrannical,” Sabo admits, “but then she just absolutely lost it. We were both saying things we shouldn't have, but I never ever threatened her.” He would find out later that police reports she filed would say different. She promptly banned him from competing and even attending local slams, or representing his city at any national events. While he jokingly calls her “Sheri D Minus,” Sabo puts the witticisms aside when I ask him how he feels today about his six-years-and-counting embargo. “It’s very upsetting that this one woman—who has never even slammed in Canada—has barred me from practicing my craft that I love. Poetry is supposed to be freeing, but there’s just so much politics in the slam poetry community.”

But he always had his other craft. While he might not have slammed since 2008, Sabo never stopped writing. Over the years, he has amassed an extensive musical catalog that includes a full-length album for each of the last four years. It’s a pretty impressive feat, and one that he's proud of. “People can say whatever they want about me. They can say that I’m an awkward white boy who shouldn’t be in the game, but I still make more music than you, and I still make better music than you.”

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His penchant for pumping out music is what makes me believe him when he declares he’s putting out four different EPs in the next 10 months. Before that happens though, he wants to let his latest offering Shiners have its moment in the spotlight. Produced entirely by Juno nominee Fresh Kils, Sabo calls the 13-track offering “my favourite thing I’ve ever made.”

Noisey: We already know that your parents let you listen to music as loud as you wanted, but when did you start really thinking you could make music?
Sabo Forte: Well, I was in my first band when I was 15. Even then I was in punk bands, but if someone would break a string or something I would start to rap, and people would come up to me after and compliment that rap shit I was doing, even thought it was kind of a joke. And then I went and saw Buck 65. And he was so awkward. And so white. And so popular! And I just thought, there’s absolutely no reason I can’t do this. Seeing him really gave me the confidence to share my awkwardness.

What can you tell us about the new album?
I feel like my last two albums were me trying to show people what I made of. This one, I don’t even care. I know it's a polished disc and I feel like it speaks for itself. All the beats are by Fresh Kils, who I’ve worked with before, and it features a couple of other artists – Ghettosocks, Bedroc Ox, The Skinny, and KazMega.

Can you explain the title?
I didn’t even have an album name until July. It was all recorded and I was like, I need to name this fucking album. I wrote it song by song, and at the end I listened to them all and started making a list of topics of the songs. I wrote three words for each song, and after looked at all of them and realized a common thread was “resilience.” It’s been a shitty year, a really transitional year. And I saw a photo of a black eye and started thinking about the word “Shiners.” I like it because it has the word “Shine” in it, and came up with this idea that you have to shine on, even when you get hit or have a black eye.

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How do you describe your style of hip-hop?
Throwback style, yet still progressive and fresh. I really feel like the new generation has to redefine itself; the modern gangster shit is so fake and phoney. I hate it.

What is it about new rap that drives you crazy?
It all just feels like over-the-top bragging. I would never write a song about being famous. There’s one track on the album called “Jeebus” and there’s a line I have: “I’m putting you on the winning team.” It’s a complete joke. That whole song is basically about how awesome I am because that’s what rappers do. They just rap about how awesome they are and cut down anyone else. I just like true school hip-hop you’d hear at barbecues or block parties. The type of shit that makes the gangsters want to put their guns away on a Sunday, you know.

What do your parents think about you doing music? Wait—this might be really ignorant but do deaf people listen to music?
(Laughs) That’s why I love to say nobody listens to music; we all feel it. I’ll never forget when my dad bought a new car that had a factory CD player in it. He called it a “CD adapter.” He asked me if I had some CDs so I brought some in the car and turned up the speakers and the bass so my dad could “hear.” I told him, “These are the settings you want.” I played him some Tribe. And he was bopping his head side to side and asked me, “What are we listening to?” Listening. And I said, “It’s A Tribe Called Quest and this is rap music.” And he said, “Rap music? This is rap music? I like it.” And he asked me if I could get him some CDs and I was just like, “Wow. My deaf dad just asked me for some CDs.”

That’s hilarious. So what did you give him?
Well, one day I sat with him and my stepmom for hours, sitting on the floor with their hands on the speakers so they could “feel” the music. They liked everything that was a huge hit, like The Beatles and stuff like that. So there’s definitely something to be said about pop music, whether it’s the beat or the tempo or whatever it is. I played them Rage Against The Machine, and without them being able to hear or know what the band name was, my stepmom said, “It sounds angry!” That was one of the coolest days. But yeah, I made them some CDs and the last song on one of them was “Baby Got Back.” And keep in mind, when they listen to music in the car, they have to have it on full blast to feel it. I always laugh when I think about them cruising around, two old people in their 70’s jamming to “Baby Got Back.”

Can you tell us anything about your upcoming EPs?
Yeah all four of them are collaborative. One with Loophole, one with Apeface, and one with Bedroc, who is on Shiners. And then one will be with Blist, which is a duo I’m part of.

Who do you make music for these days? Is it for you or for everyone else?
When I make music it's therapeutic for me. I try to write songs that are solutions to problems I might be dealing with, but all these problems are common. There are definitely a few verses that are a page out of my diary, but everything else is a broader social or political commentary. I don't get too personal with it anymore. When I first did spoken word it was way more page outta my diary type stuff. But now I think about forever a lot, and just being happy with my place in the world. I write less about myself because I don’t really want everything I am going through to be out there. I just want to make shit that’s timeless.

Josephine Cruz is so so def and lives in Calgary - @jayemkayem