65th Grammy Party | Quebecers in orbit with world stars

Thanks to their work for world sizes, Quebec producers could reap Grammy awards on Sunday. The Demy & Clipz duo stand out for their collaboration with the king of online listening, Bad Bunny, while DRTWRK is in the running for the third year in a row at the American music festival.

Demy & Clipz: in the wake of the king of streaming

Originally from Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Étienne Gagnon and Steve Martinez-Funes, alias Demy & Clipz, are music producers. Last May, they worked for the second time with Bad Bunny – Spotify’s global king for three years.

Launched in the spring, the album A Verano Sin Tiby Bad Bunny, on which Demy & Clipz appears, sits at the first position of the Billboard 200 (which ranks record sales in the United States) for the year 2022.

Étienne Gagnon and Steve Martinez-Funes co-produced Corriente, taken from the disc, which had 375 million plays on Spotify at the time of this writing. “We dreamed of a big placement, but we had never imagined something like that”, admits Steve, alias Clipz, interviewed by The Press in December. “For us, it’s still a start,” adds Étienne, nicknamed Demy. That’s the craziest thing. »

Two years earlier, Demy & Clipz had participated in the album YHLQMDLGfrom the same Bad Bunny, awarded at the Grammys in 2021. Two frames, provided by the Recording Academy, are also hung on the wall of the studio of the duo in the Saint-Michel district, in Montreal, where we met the two producers of music.

Solia is the first production that the Montrealers have composed for the Puerto Rican rapper and singer. At the time, he was already the most streamed artist on Spotify.

This Sunday, Étienne Gagnon and Steve Martinez-Funes could very well get their hands on their first statuette since Bad Bunny’s latest effort is in the running for the Grammy for album of the year. No Spanish-speaking artist had yet been a finalist in this prestigious category.

“That in itself is historic,” says Demy, proud to have contributed to the album. His partner, Clipz, tempers his enthusiasm: “It’s a grain of sand that we brought. We have nice credits, our song played a lot, but it’s not our album. »

From Sophie-Barat to the big leagues

Demy and Clipz met in a visual arts class at Sophie-Barat in secondary two. They bonded through Spanish and, later, reggaeton.

Surprisingly, it was Étienne Gagnon who introduced Steve Martinez-Funes, a native of Salvador, to reggaeton. “We were listening to that, but he was really deep in the scene”, Steve explains about Etienne.

Étienne was already “doping” on rap and dancehall when he discovered reggaeton – a mixture of these two styles. “I explored like crazy,” says Étienne. This is where the reggaeton obsession To blow-up. I have obsession solid. And I learned the language [l’espagnol]. »

Étienne received his first computer, he was introduced to beat making and transmits his passion to Steve. In which year ? “In 2004”, he replies without hesitation. Étienne is not just passionate, he also has an elephant’s memory.

While Steve concentrates on school and work, Étienne moves to Puerto Rico in 2007. At 17, he signs on the label Mas Flow Inc. – founded by Luny Tunes (Daddy Yankee, Nicky Jam, Farruko) – with a group of producers he formed with friends he met on the internet, including Freddy Montalvo Jr. of the duo Súbelo NEO. During his stay in Puerto Rico for five months, he met all the stars of the reggaeton scene.

Since 2013 he has focused on his work with Clipz and maintaining his network in Latin America. This also explains some placements: Étienne is still very close to Súbelo NEO, who produced a good part of the album YHLQMDLG by Bad Bunny. Súbelo NEO has also co-produced Me Porto Bonitothe third most-streamed song on Spotify in 2022.

But Demy & Clipz wouldn’t be here without the love of music.

” We are not stick [collés] on a single genre, launches Clipz. We like to use several styles. »

“If you checked what I listen to on Spotify, adds Demy, you would see a lot of stuff: indie, electro, experimental, ambient, garage… We are always on some new different vibe ! »

” Solia [la première chanson de Bad Bunny avec Demy & Clipz] is a good example, he continues. In reggaeton there is no beat which sounds exactly like that. There is a synthwave side with a drum a little konpa, a little dancehall. We wanted to do something reggaeton with our influences. What we listen to. Worse Bad Bunny liked this. »

Their plans now? “Traveling,” answers Demy. Miami is where it’s at! We would like to go there four times a year. »

DRTWRK: Yours and Yours with Kanye West

Michael Suski grew up in Montreal, but was soon immersed in American hip-hop culture and now collaborates regularly with renowned rappers in the United States. Behind the console, the producer, better known under the pseudonym of DRTWRK, has notably created music for J. Cole, Kanye West, DJ Khaled and Lil Wayne.

We are starting to talk about a habit: for the third year in a row, DRTWRK finds itself in the running for the Grammy evening, either for its work on God Did by DJ Khaled (nominee for best rap album). Last year, among a hat-trick of selections, the Montrealer was even a finalist in the top category for album of the year (as a collaborator on the album donda by Kanye West).

Impressed to find yourself among the world’s music elite? In fact, the 38-year-old producer says he has too much work to focus on his past accomplishments. “One day I’m going to be like, ‘Wow, did I really do all that?’ But right now it’s so surreal that I don’t even think about it. »

How do you manage to compose the melodies that you hear behind the voices of such rap heavyweights? DRTWRK became interested in hip-hop “when it wasn’t even cool in the 1990s. As a teenager, he used the game MTV Music Generator on the PlayStation 1 as the premier music composition tool.

What started out as a passion for Michael Suski quietly turned into a livelihood when he came into contact with friends in the mid to early 2000s. Bad News Brown, Haitian-born Montreal rapper dead in 2011 offered him his first professional contract when he was 18 years old. “He was a mentor. He found investors and offered me $20,000, he says. At that age, you have never seen this kind of sum. I signed and we made a lot of good music together. He opened the door for me and I broke it down. »

Show the example to youth

DRTWRK acknowledges that growing up outside the United States may have been a disadvantage for him at a time when the development of the internet was light years away from what it is today. But after more than a decade in the business, his talent was recognized. In 2018, Toronto producer Boi-1da, who has collaborated with the Drakes, Eminem, Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar, brought him along to work on a track with Lil Wayne and Travis Scott on the album Tha Carter V.

Star producer Timbaland later offered DRTWRK to join Kanye West’s team. Michael Suski makes no secret of it: working with Ye has changed his life. “He is literally the most humble person I have met,” says the principal, who claims to know a different person from the one who recently appeared in the media.

There followed contracts with Joyner Lucas, Denzel Curry or Meek Mill, to name a few.

When he thinks about the recognition that rap and hip-hop enjoy today, he finds that it’s night and day compared to when he first started listening to it. “Today, all genres of music – maybe except metal – are influenced by rap. Pop culture lately is super hip-hop. There are so many sub-styles: cloudy, trap, old school… Before, rap was just rap. Now it’s international. »

DRTWRK flew to Los Angeles a few days ago to attend the 65^e Grammy night. Without wanting to tell us with whom exactly, he admits planning recording sessions with “a few big artists”. “I hate talking about projects,” he laughs. I don’t wanna jinx it. »