Organized Rhyme is a group that may or may not ring a bell.  Especially if you’re Canadian.  Our boys over at The Meaning of Dope have posted a little clip of these cats and you can get a little taste of them below.
What makes them so amusing?  For one, they’re three white Canadians rapping about things like hockey and orange juice.  And, well, Tom Green is one of them.
That alone is worth a laugh.  But still, somehow they’ve captured the hearts of some weird subset of the population.
Either way, they …

More dopeness from the girls on CFUV’s The Corner: an interview with Classified, one of Canada’s finest emcees.  Check it out below, and tune in to The Corner every Friday from 5 to 6 pm Pacific time on CFUV 101.9, or online at cfuv.uvic.ca.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
 

Buck 65 and Cadence Weapon are the binary stars (it’s called a metaphor) of avant-garde Canadian hip-hop. And by avant-garde I mean dope. Both musicians blend thought-provoking, often obtuse raps over eclectic, unconventional beats, resulting in a unique brand of hip-hop that is difficult to describe yet uniquely Canadian. The two are sometimes compared to American underground rappers like Aesop Rock or most of the anticon stable, yet such comparisons fail to capture the multiform, genre-bending sound one encounters on albums like Buck 65’s Talkin’ Honky Blues and Cadence Weapon’s Breaking Kayfabe.
Buck 65 (aka …

The Chicharones – When Pigs Fly (2005)
Mixing astute, introspective rhymes with irony and self-deprecating humour, the Chicharones (aka Vancouver’s Josh Martinez and the Oldominion crew’s Sleep) are a talented, yet underrated duo. On When Pigs Fly, their first full-length album, the Chicharones combine dope beats and dope rhymes (what more do y’all want?) into “a tuneful and catchy piece of mature hip-hop.” Martinez and Sleep’s verbal back-and-forth on tracks like “Surf Rock” will remind you of Golden Age mc duos like Tribe and EPMD, while more serious fare such as …

Maestro Fresh-Wes – Symphony In Effect (1989)
Awww yeah, this joint is a straight up classic! Released in 1989, Maestro Fresh-Wes’ first LP remains the biggest selling Canadian hip-hop album of all time. The album’s first single, “Let Your Backbone Slide,” was the first Top 40 single by a Canadian mc and remains the only Canadian hip-hop single to be certified gold. These figures are amazing, especially considering Symphony In Effect was released nearly 20 years ago!
Produced when it was still kosher to sample from obvious sources (and before other sources …

Whether or not you agree with the political content of this cat’s rhymes, there’s no denying the Narcicyst, formerly of the Euphrates crew, is nice on the mic. With roots in Basra, the Narcicyst was born and raised in Dubai and now resides in Montreal. Rhyming in both English and Arabic, his complex, compelling lyrics address some of the most politically charged issues of our time, including the 9/11 attacks, the invasion of Iraq, Islamaphobia and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
To listen to his music, check out his myspace at http://www.myspace.com/euphrates or …