It will be an evening to mark a milestone for Quebec rap: on November 10, the house Disques 7ième Ciel will celebrate its twentieth anniversary by offering at the Bell Center what could well be the most important gathering of Quebec hip-hop artists on the same scene that we witnessed. FouKi, Souldia, Manu Militari, Shreez, Koriass, Zach Zoya, Alaclair Ensemble and several others will be part of what Steve Jolin, alias Anodajay, describes as a “big family party”. Conversation with the founder of the record company on the place that the hip-hop scene has taken in Quebec in two decades.
It was a promotional morning in this abnormally empty Bell Center, and you don’t see that often. A few rappers from the label had gathered near the faceoff zone for a photo shoot. Steve Jolin invites us to take a seat in his comfortable seats — his own seasonal seats, which he shares with two other cultural companies, in the prestigious Air Canada Signature Club, “gastronomic buffet and full bar” included.
On the small table separating us is the 7th Heaven logo. “I often invite clients, but I rarely do business there,” confides Jolin. It happens more often that I chat with former players, like Réjean Houle — do you know that he also comes from Rouyn-Noranda? »
The origins of Jolin and his record company are part of the founding myth of the rap industry in Quebec. In his early twenties, the basketball fan took the artist name Anodajay and distinguished himself on the Montreal scene in the early 2000s. Except that no record company agreed to publish his first album, First VII, co-directed by DJ Horg, then collaborator of KZ Kombination and Le Cerveau. Anodajay will found 7ième Ciel to bring it to market in 2003.
Twenty years later, Disques 7ième Ciel has become one of the most important independent album production structures in Quebec, with Bonsound and Bravo musique (formerly Dare to Care). The rapper turned businessman contributed to the development of the careers of Manu Militari, Koriass, Alaclair Ensemble, LaF, Brown Family, Zach Zoya. Two of its artists, Souldia and FouKi, are today among the most popular – and profitable – on our scene, all musical genres combined.
All this is to be celebrated. “A crazy idea that we came up with,” says Jolin. Hey, it’s our 20e , do we do something? » Without waiting instead for the symbolic quarter-century milestone? “Why put off until later what we can do now,” he retorts. Right now, I think we’re at the peak in terms of business development, with the artists we have in place and doing well. It is time. And it’s a gift we give ourselves. It was on my list: one day, I will do the Bell Centre. »
“And unless I’m mistaken, I don’t think that another musical company in Quebec has ever offered this,” continues Jolin. Yes, groups have done it”, Les Cowboys Fringants a few times moreover, “artists have done it, but a show corporate, a showcase for the artists associated with the label, I thought it was a beautiful gift that we give to everyone.” A gift which also evokes the great tours of the 1990s and 2000s that the labels of American rap were all over the world.
The opening, the obstacle
Not only would it be unprecedented for a record company to offer itself such a showcase – which, by its boss’s own admission, will not reap any profit, other than “that it solidifies the brand image and amplifies it even more” —, but it will be a first for a company specializing in a musical genre, hip-hop. “Others labels hip-hop existed”, like the late Les Disques MONT REAL which, at the end of the 1990s, launched the careers of Sans Pression and Yvon Krevé, “but a label which lasted over time, in a specific niche, while having a certain success, it is also a bit of the history of rap in Quebec.”
And more generally the Quebec music scene, we should say. In 2023, hip-hop is a dominant economic force in the industry: its artists are listened to en masse on music platforms. streaming and give lucrative touring shows, arguably local rap’s best selling point. In addition to his role as boss of 7ième Ciel, Steve Jolin gives a privileged voice to the hip-hop scene with industry decision-makers, as president of the SODEC Music and Entertainment Commission, vice -President Industry on the board of directors of Musicaction and member of the board of directors of ADISQ.
The entire rap scene stands behind Steve Jolin, a privileged witness to the evolution of perceptions that the Quebec musical establishment has towards rap, a genre that has long been shunned. It is at the level of spectacle that this evolution is most obvious, he notes.
“Before, it was difficult for rappers to be part of the traditional circuits [de diffusion de spectacles], he believes. Today, apart from comedians, rap artists are those who best fill venues. Where I think it really tends to change is when a guy like Souldia shows up in a room, sells all his tickets, it goes well and he thanks everyone at the end,” explains -he, alluding to the image, once sulphurous, that was attributed to the rapper from Limoilou, associated with rougher music, close to the reality of the street.
“Then, it must be said, we are starting to see a new generation of broadcasters emerge. In fact, the actors in the scene, in general, are changing, which makes more room for rap. Example: in a certain venue in Quebec where we were never going to give concerts, suddenly a new presenter arrives, younger, who contacts us saying that he wants to program rap. For several years now, I have been meeting groups of presenters who want to know how to prepare to host rap, because they too understand that the renewal of the public in their venues requires rap. »
Barriers to the influence of Quebec rap nevertheless persist, judges Jolin. On the radio waves, first – a fight that other musical scenes must also wage. “It’s a constant battle! What I find unfortunate — and not just for rap — is that we are stuck in too rigid frameworks imposed by the radio stations. »
As much as the radio success of All women know how to dance by Loud (the first Quebec rapper to visit the Bell Center in 2019) has opened a breach, as much as it is difficult, despite everything, to slip in. “I don’t understand why Souldia doesn’t play on the radio,” underlines Jolin, referring to the pop choruses of his latest album Unconventionalpublished last spring.
“The biggest seller in Quebec at the moment is Souldia, both in terms of show tickets and streams. And it’s proven that even today, one of the best vectors for music discoverability is radio, and even though ADISQ still has to fight for quotas of French-speaking music on the airwaves,” adds Steve Jolin, noting that the latest statistics from the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec indicate that only 8% of Quebec music was listened to on Spotify. “With all the content we find on these platforms, it has become so difficult to navigate. I wonder if, in 2023, it is not too late” to reverse the trend, he says.
“There is an audience for all music, but we have to accept the fact that there is a growing audience for rap and that we have to make room for it because it will stay,” emphasizes Jolin. We must allow these artists to enter the networks [de diffusion de la musique au Québec]. There is an appetite for rap, the proof is there: we sell tickets, we do the Bell Center. » This show of the 20e 7th Heaven’s birthday will be “a big family celebration”. Extended family: many special guests will join the house artists, promises the boss, who will even take his microphone from Anodajay for the occasion. “Get ready, it’s going to end late this show-there ! » warns the entrepreneur-rapper.