BLACK NOISE
How black music in Toronto influenced the world and where it stands at home
By Danielle Edwards
Black Noise
Sounds of the 6ix
T-dot. The 6ix. Toronto.
For a time, the sound coming out of Canada’s largest urban center was the sound of rock and roll and jazz. But now, arguably, the sound the city is best known for is one being pioneered by black artists through genres like hip hop and R&B. That sound was, at one point, defined by the somber tone and dark production popularized by artists like Drake and The Weeknd, but that has changed.
The city’s variety of black voices and experiences have begun to create a new sound that defies strict definition, even while Toronto’s black artists struggle to be heard in a city that can’t shake its rock and roll roots.
