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Music

PREMIERE: Watch the Video for Montreal Rapper Wasiu's "Physical," Produced by Kaytranada

Meet Wasiu, the Montreal rapper who embodies the city's new wave of musical culture.

Montreal is not known as a hip-hop city for obvious reasons, chief among them that the official language of Quebec is French. But the last couple years have seen a sudden explosion in the city’s hip-hop culture, with groups like the Dead Obies and The Posterz packing out parties and artists in the local piu piu electronic scene bridging the gap between dance music and rap. Production luminary Kaytranada has become a new staple in hip-hop’s electronic-tinged avant-garde, reaching across the border and working with budding stars like Vic Mensa and GoldLink. With a recent influx of Haitian and African immigrants, the tone of Montreal’s nightlife is no longer so traditionally European French.

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So it should come as no surprise that there are a few more dope Montreal rappers waiting in the wings or that Kaytranada, who, once again, is one of the shepherds of this scene, would do something exciting with said rappers. Meet Wasiu, whose new video for “Physical” Noisey is premiering below. Wasiu is pretty much the embodiment of Montreal’s cultural shift: Of Nigerian and Hatian descent but born in Quebec, he grew up listening to artists like 50 Cent and Eminem. Now he raps, and, in addition to working with Kaytranada, he has collaborations with Key!, Father, Lil Herb, Vic Mensa, and other foreign neighbors on his upcoming but as-yet-untitled album.

“Physical,” the first single and video from that album, finds Wasiu talking about a relationship that is—you guessed it—purely physical on his end but is maybe not seen that way on the other party’s end.

“'Physical' is about casual sex where love is strictly forbidden," Wasiu said over email. "The lyric 'I can't feel your love cause I'm numb to it' explains how years of emotional pain can make someone emotionless, and consequently this can turn a once seeker of love into a seeker of numbers, seeking phone numbers to increase body count. The cover art for the single embodies this notion and depicts the numbers/barcode/body count wordplay.” He added that “Physical” was inspired by Drake’s hook on “Forever” and the FKA Twigs song “Numbers.”

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“Drake said, 'I'm shutting shit down in the mall, and telling every girl she the one for me,' and I was like, although in a personal sense that's not what I did, but a guy could've used that lie just to have sex with the girl,” he explained. “She would then be under the impression for something more than sex, but then the dude gives her the surprise that in reality she wasn't the one, and that she was just a sexual object added onto his body count and an unsaved phone number. A beautiful tactic, but you can see how it can be repulsive due to the female being the victim in this sense. You can see the female perspective of that in the FKA Twigs song ‘Numbers’: She's all like ‘Was I just a number to you? Why you gotta hurt me babe? Why you gotta go and make me cry? I just wanted to see you.’ A girl can react like that whether or not you go the Drake route and lie to her that she's the one, or go my route where I never gave any indication of love or a relationship.”

The video, directed by 5 Pound Media, plays out the scenario, while also letting Wasiu and his friends show off all their dope Supreme and Margiela and Bape and Rick Owens gear. Check it out below:

Follow Kyle Kramer on Twitter.