{"id":21,"date":"2019-04-20T04:54:07","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T04:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/blacknoise\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2019-05-15T21:05:27","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T21:05:27","slug":"part-4-the-scale","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/blacknoise\/part-4-the-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 4: THE SCALE"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.22.3″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”THE SCALE” subhead=”\/sk\u0101l\/: 1. an arrangement of the notes in any system of music in ascending or descending order of pitch; 2. the relative size or extent of something” header_fullscreen=”on” _builder_version=”3.22.5″ title_font=”Montserrat|200|||||||” title_font_size=”80px” subhead_font=”Oswald|200|||||||” subhead_font_size=”24px” subhead_letter_spacing=”1px” subhead_line_height=”1.4em” background_image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/blacknoise\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/04\/28667477016_fe52ac7c39_k-1.jpg” background_position=”top_right” z_index_tablet=”500″ text_shadow_style=”preset3″ custom_css_subtitle=”width: 700px;”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22.3″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.22.3″][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.22.5″ text_font=”|300|||||||” z_index_tablet=”500″]<\/p>\n

Even with the challenges that black artists in Toronto face, the music that\u2019s come out of the city has seen considerable success, both nationally and globally. David \u2018Click\u2019 Cox has had first hand experience with the popularity of Toronto\u2019s sound.<\/p>\n

In the 90s, Cox was a member of The Maximum Definitive, a Canadian rap trio. The group would go on to be nominated for a Juno in 1993 for Best Rap Recording for their single The Jungle Man<\/em>. The track features synth piano chords and some vaguely tribal chanting and though Cox is in the video, he isn\u2019t featured on the track. He played a more administrative role for the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn’t the rapper. I wasn’t even the producer. I was like a hype man-dancer in the group, but I also was the business guy,\u201d says Cox. \u201cI was the guy who would ask a lot of questions … and the other guys in the group weren’t really those guys. I kind of found the business was my thing and as I got older. I’ve realized this is kind of second nature to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox took that budding business acumen and made use of it long after he left the group. For 15 years he worked as an A&R scout for Universal Records, finding talent in Toronto.<\/p>\n

And now he owns CLK Creative Works, an artist managing and consulting agency he founded 10 years ago in the city.<\/p>\n

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He says he\u2019s \u201cworn all the hats\u201d in the music industry, from concert promotion to radio hosting, and he uses his experience to develop the talent he finds. Cox says he tends to work more often with artists of colour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s just kind of what’s resonated with me or what is connected to me or what values I have. I’m a black man, myself. Maybe that’s part of it,\u201d he says. \u201cI’m not into taking on an artist who’s trying to appropriate our music either. I look for artists who … I feel are coming from a real, organic space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being in the music industry for more than 20 years has given him a nuanced view of the city\u2019s black music scene. He says that it was the work done by black artists in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s \u2014 like Saukrates, Kardinal Offishall, Maestro Fresh-Wes, the Dream Warriors and Michie Mee \u2014 that paved the way for Toronto\u2019s artists who\u2019ve gone global.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you have the Drakes, The Weeknds, the Tory Lanzes, the PARTYNEXTDOORs, the list is growing and growing. And there’s even more artists even in our own city who are getting a lot of love on the ground as well. The patriotic love in our own backyard is super huge,\u201d says Cox.<\/p>\n

A lot of it comes down to the people like Jordon Manswell who work in production.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of strong producers from Toronto, black producers at that, too, in the hip hop and R&B world. The Boi-1das, the WondaGurls, T-Minuses. There’s a lot of guys who have gone on to produce number one hits,\u201d says Cox.<\/p>\n

Ebony Naomi Oshunrinde, aka WondaGurl, is one of them. The Nigerian-Canadian producer has worked with some of hip hop and R&B\u2019s biggest names, producing tracks like Teen Spirit<\/em> for SZA and co-producing Bitch Better Have My Money<\/em> by Rihanna, both American artists. But the Brampton native has also worked with black Canadian talent as well, producing Used To<\/em> and co-producing Company<\/em> on Drake’s hit 2015 mixtape If You\u2019re Reading This It\u2019s Too Late<\/em>. Canadian R&B singer Jahkoy also worked with\u00a0Oshunrinde on Odd Future<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Boi-1da, whose real name is Matthew Jehu Samuels, is another Toronto-based producer who\u2019s worked closely with Drake on several singles and projects, as well as hip hop heavyweights like Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Jay-Z.<\/p>\n

Cox says there\u2019s been a distinct shift in the conversation around black Canadian artists since his days as an A&R representative over a decade ago. Now, globally, they\u2019re in higher demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was knocking on doors trying to get guys signed. I was knocking on doors, actually, trying to get Drake interest because I wanted to sign Drake at one time. That was not easy. I didn’t have people returning my phone calls. I had other A&Rs in America telling me straight to my face that ‘There’ll never be a Canadian rap star. It won’t happen’,\u201d he says. \u201cThat is totally upside down now to the point where I have individuals in America contacting me asking me who’s hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Despite the success of black Canadian music makers abroad, there have been questions when it comes to the reception within our borders. There\u2019s been tension at one particular point in Canada\u2019s cultural landscape: The Juno Awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get invited to the Junos, that means you’re doing something well, right?\u201d says Mark Campbell. \u201cBut the Junos is also a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they don’t like black people.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Junos have celebrated those at the nexus of artistic and technical talent in Canada, some have noticed an unflattering side. Campbell is referring to the show\u2019s history that\u2019s been marked by a lack of recognition for genres of black music.<\/p>\n

He wrote a piece in the Globe and Mail<\/a>\u00a0in 2017 about how some black artists in the country are treated as they come up against a floundering music industry. \u201cFor many young hip-hop artists in Canada, it may appear that a co-sign from Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records is the only way to successfully build a career. Sadly, the Canadian music industry has serious issues with developing and supporting Canadian hip-hop and R&B music,\u201d he wrote. Campbell says he believes that an absence of appreciation within the awards have dulled their lustre to the hip hop community.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrake doesn’t go anymore. It doesn’t do anything for your career. Kaytranada doesn’t need them, Daniel Cesar doesn’t need them, [The Junos] need those artists,\u201d he says. An \u201canti-black\u201d sentiment, as he describes it, is at the foundation of the awards themselves.<\/p>\n

Erin Ashley agrees. She\u2019s also written about the Junos\u2019 somewhat trying relationship with black genres of music. In a piece she wrote for Noisey in 2018, she recounted the tale of The Rascalz<\/a>, a Vancouver-based hip hop group that was nominated for Rap Recording of the Year in 1998 for their album, Cash Crop<\/em>. The ceremony for that particular award was not televised and the group joked that should they win, they would not take the Juno. The group did go on to win and did not accept the award \u2014 a Juno first.<\/p>\n

Ashley said she found herself at the intersection of two generations of music when she wrote the piece. \u201cThe generation that was with [Kardinal Offishall] and Rascalz at the time when they were not given the award originally years ago. And then there’s the second wave generation that I’m more so in where Drake wasn\u2019t given his praise due and none of this has changed over the past 20 odd years,\u201d she said. \u201cNothing has changed in terms of how the music industry at large treats hip hop and R&B and black music in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a mistrust of the Junos that Ashley said still shrouds Canada\u2019s hip hop and rap communities. As she mentioned, Drake was also snubbed at the awards. In 2011 his debut album, Thank Me Later<\/em>, was nominated in six different Juno categories, including Album of the Year. He was also the first rapper to host the show. Drake, whose debut received critical acclaim and commercial success, lost in every category. His music has since seen more success at the Awards but he hasn\u2019t made another appearance.<\/p>\n

While hip hop and R&B have captured the attention of a new generation of listeners, the relevance of the award itself is still in question. \u201cYou can ask somebody and ask them if it\u2019s relevant and a lot of rappers will tell you no,\u201d said Ashley. \u201cThey have a new generation coming up and as great as a Juno Award is when it comes to corporate dollars and being able to say \u2018I’m a Juno Award winning artist so you need to pay me X amount of money,\u2019 is it going to launch an artist into this Drake dream?\u201d she asks. \u201cIt probably won’t.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The conversation about black Canadian artists and recognition is a layered one. There are those that hold steadfastly that more needs to be done to support black music in Toronto, but others are more focused on where the music has a wider breadth of influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say to people \u2018Why do you care if you’re literally running shit?\u2019\u201d says Vivian Barclay.<\/p>\n

Barclay, 46, is the general manager at Warner\/Chappell Music Canada and she’s been a prolific presence in Toronto\u2019s music scene. Born in Kitchener, she spent her youth in Jamaica, raised by a Greek mother and a Jamaican father. She returned to Canada and completed a degree in radio and television at Ryerson University and would go onto become the program director at the Ryerson radio station and host of her own show.<\/p>\n

From there, she worked for Jones & Jones, a management and production company, when the opportunity to work with Warner\/Chappell came up in 2001. At the time, Barclay said Warner\/Chappell was at the forefront of black music in Toronto, having signed names like Saukrates and Kardinal Offishall in the early stages their careers.<\/p>\n

Barclay, like Cox, is more concerned with the global reach of the music. She said that Toronto\u2019s influence in the conversation about black music is irrefutable.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur producers and our artists are at the top of the game so obviously we are a part of it. Whether or not people acknowledge we’re a part of it is a whole different story but by the sheer, actual reality, we are,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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