Founded in 2018, the duo DawaMafia, formed by brothers Zacka and Tali B, will present their fifth album by the end of the summer, titled Infrequent. Five albums in five years, not to mention the few EPs and singles released “so as not to make us forget”, says Tali B. The most recent, Bastard, appeared last month; these rappers are not idle, it is the case to say it. And it pays off: after participating in the collective concert QCLTUR last fall on the Osheaga poster, they will offer a first concert at Les Francos, at 11 p.m. Thursday evening. “It’s one more step in our career, that’s clear, and it will undoubtedly be a show with a lot of spectators, there will be a little stage fright, but a good stage fright! says Zacka.
We noticed it: this edition of the Francos gave a great leg up to the artists of the local hip-hop scene. On the large outdoor stage, during the opening concert of Koriass, and, next Saturday, for the closing concert featuring Loud Lary Ajust. Two series of outdoor concerts on the stage erected at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Jeanne-Mance streets are devoted to rap, sometimes to its rising stars, such as Calamine (Saturday) and DawaMafia (Thursday evening).
Dark without being threatening, settled but melodic, the sound of DawaMafia could not better embody the spirit of this new rap which does not turn its back on a good well-sung chorus. The guys rap as finely as they sing, which has the merit of making the chronicles of the street that the duo detail in their songs with precise texts, but never vulgar or raw, more digestible. “There are happier or darker texts”, recognizes Tali B, “but we always try to keep something sunny in our songs”.
Fruitful collaborations
“Our sound adapts to all styles,” says Zacka. “I say: even people who are not necessarily fans of this kind of music will find a sound that they can like”, cuts his brother Tali B. The proof on the generous album Loyalone of two feature-length recordings the duo released in 2020: the thrilling trap and boom-bap fusion of Clowns (collaboration with British Columbian MC Kresnt) rubs shoulders with the flowing trap of success Star (with Cupid and Yung Duce), which is approaching three-quarters of a million views on YouTube, and that, flashy and deaf, of Bollorea collaboration this time with none other than Tronel, of the duo Les Anticipateurs, who recently announced the forthcoming release of a solo project.
Zacka continues: “Our sound is an atmosphere — in concert, if you move, I’m fine with it. If you don’t move, there’s a problem — if I see that no one is moving, I’m going to question myself! Originally from Brossard, the siblings got carried away by rap at a very young age: “It happened all by itself, without us even wanting to make a career out of it. In fact, we didn’t even want to rap, assures Zacka. Simply, we wrote stuff on our side, we made freestyles », which, one day, caught the attention of the agent and producer of Quebec Rico Rich. “It was he who pushed us to deepen the art. Without him, we would probably have dropped that, or continued just for fun. »
DawaMafia persisted, until taking root in the parallel milieu of Montreal rap, notably inviting Shreez and Raccoon to its studio sessions — we bet that we will see at least one of them joining the group on stage, in addition to this weight heavyweight of Quebec rap whose name we will keep silent for the pleasure of the surprise and who will collaborate on the duo’s next album. A mini-album, sung and rapped entirely in Arabic, will also be released later this fall, to honor the musicians’ Moroccan roots and try to break into the North African market.