The Converse Messengers: how rap is a form of journalism

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On a Monday evening in May, seven young Montrealers gathered in the spaces of The Converse. For most, it was the first time they had met. They are then on the verge of creating bonds that will unite them forever. Some arrive almost an hour before the appointment time, others rush at the last moment. Once they have all arrived, young adults grow closer to the person who will serve as their mentor for the next few weeks. Raccoon, still with his iced coffee in hand, then began the first “rapological” writing workshop, which will be used by everyone to write their common project, that of Converse messengers.

The idea is simple, but particular: resume the sound production of “Suburbs” by Kery James in order to remix it and bring it up to date and... Montreal. It is therefore in a spirit of community and commitment that Terry Wouj, Kamilou, Youbee, Youbee, SteinZ, Dreamkid, Snowside and Enomis combine their know-how for a rap piece. The objective is to invite young Montrealers for whom rap is an integral part of their lives to participate in a unique project.

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Why “Suburbs”?

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The eponymous piece by rapper Kery James, of French and Haitian nationalities, often defines him as a “committed rapper”. For many, the 45-year-old artist is one of the most important committed rappers in France. This is partly because of the subjects of public and political interest that he mentions, but also because of the problems that France has suffered from in recent decades, according to him.

Topics such as poverty, corruption, racism, Islamophobia are present in what Kery James tells us. In “Banlieusards”, released in 2008, the author points out the stigma experienced by young people in French suburbs. Using his words, the artist then tried to improve their image, which was often tarnished in the mainstream media and public opinion.

In Montreal, similar topics — but not limited to these — are of concern to young people in relegated neighborhoods. It is through these writing workshops that Raccoon teaches Converse messengers that these concerns are being addressed. Among these, young people talk in particular about precariousness, poverty and the social isolation of certain communities. In their texts, the Converse messengers talk about problems that affect them personally, but so does society as a whole. Expressions such as “Poverty what idiocy; it is the leaders who control it” (Youbee) or “They label my people minority; gentrification of neighbourhoods is a priority” (Snowside) are proof of this and materialize these difficulties experienced by the authors.

But the Converse messengers also talk about their personal concerns. Like Kery James, these young people hope, through their project, that they themselves are not destined for a dark life. The optimism and the prospect of a dignified life for them are expressed through the lyrics of the song; but also through the complete work of the rapper.

Taking up this classic of committed rap and applying it to the realities of young people and neighborhoods in the Montreal metropolis is an editorial choice of The Converse, supported by the organizing team, and even deemed necessary by Raccoon thanks to his abilities as a lyricist for this project with young people.

Kery James' work still resonates around the world today. Young people from neighborhoods all over the Francophonie feel called to mind by the message of the French artist, from the Parisian suburbs to the streets of Saint-Michel in Montreal. “Illegality is not a road to follow, because it is a path where there are only two ends: death or prison”, are lyrics covered by Arris, a young teenager who once confided in The Converse on the crime and violence that are affecting more and more young people in his neighborhood.

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Who are the MC — Converse messengers ?

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It is a group of seven artists who make up the edition MC Converse of this year. Among the participants, there are personalities that are as different as they are complementary, from all backgrounds and stories in Montreal. “What is important for me is that the participants feel comfortable, believes Raccoon, in connection with her mentoring exercise at Converse messengers. The main thing is that they learn something. I wanted them to be part of a project they love, to come out of this experience with a certain background.”

Coming from the four corners of Montreal, the Converse messengers are all young people who have been marked by the routine and dreary lives of their respective neighborhoods. From Saint-Laurent to Saint-Michel, via Côte-des-Neiges and Villeray, daily life in Montreal's most disadvantaged neighborhoods is experienced differently by each artist. Through their lines, their concerns were materialized and shared in the art of committed rap.

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Terry Wouj, from Port-au-Prince to Montreal

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Terry is a young aspiring artist from Haiti. Although he has been playing rap alone or with his loved ones for a good four years, it is this year that he decided to officially dip his foot in the public world of Hip-Hop. To be a Converse messenger allowed the young citizen of Montréal-Nord to share his unique daily life through the writing of a very personal verse.

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Arriving in Montreal North at the age of eight, Terry took time to adapt to his new life in Montreal. “In Haiti, everyone is black. There is less difference between the majority and the minority since it is not based on skin color. When I arrived here, it was the opposite that shocked me,” he says in connection with his identity. “I see and experience problems that no one would have in my country of origin. Things like racial profiling, for example, don't exist in Haiti,” he continues in the same vein. In connection with the words of his verse where he affirms: “I am tired of being underrepresented; where I come from, the police are of my ethnicity”, Terry points out in particular the injustices linked to racism, which are much more present in certain places in the city, such as in Montreal North.

To understand Terry's various references to his original culture, Haitian culture, one must look at his personal history. He talks a lot about what makes Montreal, his Hoods and its culture. Of course, he mentions the melting pot of external influences that created a unique place on the island, but also the different people he meets in local popular culture. “What motivates me to move forward is to see and be inspired by the people around me. Especially in Montreal,” Terry confides then.

Those who motivated him to start music and to want to succeed were his own Hood Heroes, like Shreez, Tai TL or Pink lemon. “Being Haitian in Montreal, to see that my culture succeeds here is a source of pride. It allowed me to feel more at home, less out of place when I arrived here. I feel that all Montrealers are close to me, just with the Slang, for example.”

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Defeat the Boysclub with Kamilou

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A slightly shy and reserved personality like that of Kamilou — Kamille whose real name is Kamille — can go under the radar within a group. Silent and discreet at first glance, Kamilou is completely transformed when the microphone is in his hands. His contribution to Converse messengers is very personal and deals with the ills of the world based on his personal difficulties.

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In her verse, she mentions a lot about Boysclub which makes up the whole world, but particularly the rap scene. “Here, the Hip-Hop scene is not necessarily exploited by women. There are some, but they don't have the recognition that goes with the work they do, she begins. I pushed myself to rap in public because for some it could be a kind of inspiration or a kind of pat on the back for others to start rapping.”

What inspired Kamilou in writing these lines? In part, it's the special relationship she has with her mother. “My mom raised me alone all my life. She didn't make too much money, and we always lived in low-rent homes. However, I never lacked anything. She inspired me a lot, she's like my “Hood Hero”,” she confides, smiling wistfully. Initially shy to share her story, Kamilou feels confident when it comes to talking about the concerns that prompted her to take the microphone. “Rap has also helped me psychologically.” Laughing, she even adds: “Writing songs is much cheaper than a psychologist, but it helps me enormously.”

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Youbee and the use of words

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Younesse Benkhedda, aka Youbee, is a young Montrealer who started rapping after discovering his love for words and the French language. Agile in the handling of writing, it is rap that allows him to escape and share his vision of the world.

“I consider myself to be a committed rapper. In life, I like to laugh, have a good time, and not overthink negative things. When I write, on the other hand, I see it as an ability to deliver a message. So it's becoming important for me to write things that will affect people,” he explains.

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Only twenty years old, Youbee is of Algerian origin. So he lived his youth as an immigrant in Montreal, and shared his way of seeing his surroundings with his words. His identity as an immigrant in the city makes him see the world differently.

Youbee's contribution to the project MC Converse is very full of meaning. Some lines are political, and clearly denounce the various shortcomings that exist in its environment. Poverty, inequality, racism; his verse is very committed. Beyond political references, what comes up often in her performance is her love and her belonging to Montreal. When asked about his experience with the metropolis, he said “he does not focus on just one neighborhood. [I] grew up in the Plateau and in Villeray, but I associate myself with the whole city. I am always outside, always on the move, whether in Rivière-Des-Prairies or Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.”

This “citizen of Montreal” is driven by a spirit of community. “What I like about the concept of Converse messengers — and with the world of rap in general —, it's this unifying trend. In rap, everyone is equal, everyone shares their vision for others, everyone comes together around an art that they are passionate about. It is this community characteristic that attracted me and that still fills me today,” he concludes.

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The rage to break the cycle and SteinZ

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Coming from the Saint-Laurent neighborhood in the North of the city of Montreal, SteinZ is a 22-year-old rapper of Haitian and Gambian origin. For her, being a woman in a world dominated by male presence like that of Hip-Hop is a form of resistance in itself. “I rap because I want to express myself through my art,” she tells us at first. It's also because I want other people to be able to identify themselves through my words and my story.”

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One of the themes that SteinZ subtly depicts in his verse is the place of family in the lives of young people — especially young Black people. Indeed, she evokes the imperfect relationship that exists between her and her father, and how a significant number of young people can identify with her words. “Did you know that single-parent families where the father is absent constitute 25% of the people in the Caucasian population? Among Hispanic families, the figure rises to 50%. Among black families, we reach around 70%”, *** she tells us.

For SteinZ, all the family issues in these communities are direct historical repercussions of previous social problems. “By telling my story through writing my texts and rapping them, I am helping to break this cycle,” she explains.

The experience MC Converse allowed SteinZ to continue this process. “With the help of the workshops, I understood that even if you have a lot of information to transmit, you can do it eloquently thanks to rap. My verse in the song is a story that I could tell for hours, but I manage it in a few tens of seconds because I learned that there is always a way to share a short story but to reach people for longer,” she concludes.

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The iconic Dreamkid from Saint-Michel

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If you are walking through the streets of Saint-Michel and stopping by for a slice of pizza in one of the popular pizza restaurants in the area, it is very likely that you will come across a young person with a colorful dress style and hilarious humor. A public figure in his neighborhood, DreamKid is a 21-year-old content creator who has recently taken up the art of rap, to “talk about his neighborhood and daily life in Saint-Michel.”

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“I love learning,” Hudlain begins, whose real name is. When I saw the opportunity to learn from Raccoon, one of my favorite local rappers, I jumped at the chance. As I am a “part-time rapper”, I told myself that it could help me tell my texts”, he recalls then, with a little smile on his face. For him, rap has always been associated with violence, crime, drugs, or other life vices. “The guys I know who rap aren't really going to talk about love or politics in depth. But rap is not just that. You can create stories, tell them using metaphors or other writing techniques,” he continues.

According to him, being able to handle this art well is a life “skill”. And it is thanks to this “skill” that he is able to tell his story and that of those around him in his verse on a Kery James instrumental. “Where I come from, it's a neighborhood known to be a bad place. I want to show people that not everything is black and white, and that there is a lot of prejudice against my neighborhood.” He then exclaims: “There are so many things to do in Saint-Michel, but nothing is highlighted. The organizations do not have a lot of resources, the activities are neglected.”

What he wants to do, “is to highlight the neighborhood that [he] grew up in and to avoid prejudices about this place”, he concludes.

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Snowside, straight out of NBS Studio

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Snowside, whose real name is Jevonte Junior, is a 19-year-old who is passionate about rap. “From a very young age, I followed Hip-Hop culture. I spent hours in front of the television watching Hip Hop channels in the United States and listening to music videos from rappers,” begins the Montreal native of Côte-des-Neiges. Asked what motivated him to speak behind a microphone and rap, Snowside replies that writing has always been a form of escape for him. “Music is like a personal diary for me,” he explains. What I write reflects my life, it's real. I don't write to please others, I write for myself.”

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And you can feel these words just by reading the words of his verse in Converse messengers. Snowside talks a lot about hood issues, poverty and precariousness, gentrification, and legal issues that he says “almost all racialized youth faces.” He continues on a more optimistic note: “I was not lucky enough to be born in Hampstead or Westmount into a wealthy family. It was hard for me, my journey was not full of flowers or rainbows. Despite everything, I find the beauty in every day to become a better version of me.”

MC Converse allowed him to express himself through a joint project by relating the reality of a local youth with the power of rap. “The rhymes, the patterns, the style of writing... It's important when you want to express yourself in the right way and reach more strongly the people who listen to us”, he adds, inspired.

“I speak for others who have no voice, or for whom the voice is more difficult to hear. That is my mandate.”

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Enomis, or Simone backwards

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“If it's not for my life, it's at least out of passion that I have to make music”, begins Simone Beaulieu-Cloutier, also known by her stage name Enomis. This passion for writing, which was first personal and then necessary for her, pushed her to enter the world of rap and rap songs. A young Montreal native at just 18, Enomis describes this music as her personal “safe space” that saved her on several occasions in her life.

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In his verse of the piece produced by The Converse, Enomis talks a lot about difference and how difference can be used as a strength rather than a weakness for everyone. “You have to be yourself. Everyone makes their own way, but I also observe that many judge each other at first sight, without necessarily even knowing each other. I wrote this verse because, willy-nilly, we categorize ourselves a lot between individuals”, she begins. Her desire to comfort young people and encourage them to be honest with themselves and their passions inspired the writing of her verse.

While Enomis' words in the song may be perceived differently depending on who listens to her, for her it's a very personal question. “I've been recovering from anorexia for two years now. It is something that is experienced a lot among young people with the arrival of social networks, it is a Struggle and a very sensitive subject,” she tells us. Having gone through a very difficult process on her recovery journey, the young artist is inspired by her own experience to raise awareness among those who listen to her and prevent eating disorders that affect the youngest.

“Anything related to social justice inspires and motivates me to write songs. I try to be committed, because I think it is necessary, rap committed to Montreal,” she concludes then.

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“We are not doomed to failure, we are condemned to success”

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It is therefore in order to give these young people from Montreal neighborhoods the opportunity to share their concerns that these personalities have joined their strengths — but also weaknesses — in a team and community spirit. Raccoon is also at the forefront of the learning and completion of this project.

An artist already at ease in the Montreal rap world, he took part in the game as the mentor of a group of young aspiring rappers established recently. Thus, these are five sessions of writing and mentoring workshops, the organization and the creation of The Converse thanks to which the seven apprentice rappers with little or no experience had the chance to carry out this project.

Himself being a “Hood Hero”, Raccoon understands the importance of a project like this one better than anyone. “My goal is to pass on my passion for words and writing to younger and less experienced people than me. Through writing workshops — which I've been used to giving for years in other contexts — I teach everything I've learned and mastered since I started rapping,” he explains. He also shares his desire to complete a project like this one: “Getting to the end and having a concrete result is essential and important. Without that, it's impossible to see how it can impact the young people who participate in this project.”

In connection with his role as a mentor, he believes that what prompted him to take on his role as an educator was “the concept: cover a committed rap song and adapt it to the realities of young people in Montreal.” For him, it is also an opportunity to share his passion and commitment to what he calls “the next generation of Montreal rap.” The Converse According to him, it was also a “good infrastructure to realize this idea”.

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“Rap is journalism”

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Writing committed rap lines is not just about yourself, but about others as well. “One of the foundations of Hip-Hop culture is to describe realities and emotions,” says Raccoon. For him, there are a lot of similarities between rap and journalism. “It's important to stick to the facts. There is also the whole place of storytelling that connects these two worlds! ”, he continues. Telling a story through facts and emotions can be very informative regardless of the medium used to do it.

In a Montreal where we still associate a pejorative side with the notion of hood, it is becoming essential to let young people who live and who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods express themselves every day. The Converse Messengers were able to meet the challenge that The Converse offered them through the whole process of writing and learning committed rap. Using their own words, they were able to highlight the problems and challenges they face, but also what inspires them on a daily basis and what allows them to aspire to change for a better future.

The Converse Messengers talk a lot about their own Hood Heroes, but may not have realized that they themselves are becoming these heroes in the eyes of others.

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