Montreal's Toast Dawg Brings You To Brazivilain

Photo by William Sabourin

It’s a warm, clear-skied Monday night in downtown Montreal, but it isn’t just the weather that’s attracted thousands of people to Place des Arts, the city’s main festival square. The crowd’s come to take part in the ongoing festivities; as part of the Francofolies, Francophone artists of all ages, styles and degree of popularity are invited to perform outdoors for anyone to come and watch, free of charge of course. The streets are closed off and festivalgoers get to inundate the square mile or so hosting les Francos. The crowd isn’t anything like the one that will take over Sainte Hélène Island a few weeks from now for Osheaga. There are no flower crowns, crop tops, or giggling teens asking if you’ve seen Molly. Most people here worked their day job and have come down after dinner to enjoy the music, each celebrating Quebec’s musical culture in their own way, which more often than not involves a lot of Molson Dry. For my part, this is a chance to finally see a DJ whose career spans decades, although you could never tell that just by looking at him. If anything Toast Dawg’s sound has evolved, not aged. From his beginning as DJ Naes, part of collectives Traumaturges, later Atach Tatuq, and Payz Play, to a solo career with numerous collaborations with both old and new names in the Quebec hip-hop and rap scene, Toast Dawg knows how to stay current. Tonight, he’s invited a few of the rappers featured on his latest release, Brazivilain: Revisited, to join him on stage and perform for a crowd of twenty-somethings who’ve grown up on his beats. If there had been seats, or even tickets, the set would have been sold out. As it progresses through the night, the cheers get louder, the dancing gets rowdier and an increasing amount of joints are passed around.

A few days later, I attended another of Toast Dawg’s performances, this time part of Suoni Per Il Popolo, a smaller, fringe festival. The venue, on the top floor of a commercial building, was hard to find without the line-up I expected to help guide me. On my way up, I inadvertently stepped over some guy tuning a guitar, who I later found out was a member of Ratking, — an honest mistake. There could have been a better turnout, to say the least, and this show seemed like an odd follow-up to Monday night’s triumph. Blame it on poor marketing? The only consistency between the Franco set and the Suoni set were Toast Dawg’s beats. After his act, I got to chat with him briefly about what it’s like to be on the scene for almost two decades and where he thinks all of it is going.

Noisey: Hey Toast Dawg, so you’ve been around for about 16 years, correct?
Toast Dawg: Ya, first as a DJ with Traumaturges, then Atach Tatuq, Payz Play and after that I went solo. It’s kinda funny; you know Vice reviewed us in the beginning, twice in the magazine.

That’s pretty cool, kind of a loop. So how did this transition from collectives and groups to a solo career come about?
I think that the era of groups worked while it did, at least where I come from in the local rap scene. I DJed for a group [Traumaturges], I produced for the group then we sort of parted way. Some of us came back as Atach Tatuq and we ended up being like, 12 members. Then for Payz Play we were a couple rappers, couple DJs, that worked well too. After that, I had a phase where I released mashups with one other DJ. We released one a year back when mashups were a big deal. After Team Canada, we were the only ones here with mashups and it really worked, it was cool. Then I decided to do my own thing, basically both EPs and then the remixed version of the second one, Brazivilain: Revisited.

Now, considering Québécois rap has a limited reach, with the language barrier and all, was the transition towards DJing a way to attain a broader audience?
Yes definitely, especially since the Beats scene in Montreal is doing really well. Of course, I’m not part of the same generation as Kaytranada or High Klassified. Those guys are on their own level. Still, I’ve been on the scene for almost two decades and I’m still performing. But yes, I have had more opportunities since I’ve been doing my thing, solo. I get more remix requests, and I have a broader reach. Mind you, since I was in a group, the game’s changed.

Do you think the growing number of bilingual rappers is part of that change or just a phase?
I find that the rap scene in Montreal really holds its own. The success guys like Alaclair and Loud Lary Ajust have had is all great. It’s not only “Rap Queb” anymore. It’s just rap, and it’s on point. I used to think we didn’t match up to Paris or New York but now what we do is global. The Beats scene is so strong in Montreal, and it’s just getting better.

And as a veteran, how would you say your career’s evolved with the changes in the scene?
Well for my remix project I wanted to work with the new guys just as much as the old school ones who are still at it. Like Eman, who’s been there for as long as I have and is still super hyped. I picked kids and old school guys, all really talented and going places.

Martha Cote is a writer living in Montreal. She's on Twitter.

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