A few days after passing through the large plateau of Star Academy to receive a plaque certifying the 80,000 copies sold of its success Copilot (in duet with FouKi), Jay Scøtt launches without warning an album of covers of key titles in the history of Quebec rap.
After a dozen years evolving in the shadow of the music industry, the author, composer, performer, rapper and producer has become the transmission belt between the rap scene and mainstream variety: “I’m really happy the position I occupy: I can do a more radio pop song and then go and do one with Koriass, and both will be equally accepted and respected. »
The surprise is twofold: for his fans, and for the rappers whose songs appear on the album. RapQueb Vol. 1. With his style mixing pop, R&B and folk (due to the acoustic guitar), Jay Scøtt revisits It’s made FU by Yvon Krevé, Your eyes live your life and stay alive by KC LMNOP, What it was of Alaclair Ensemble and SAPOUD des Anticipateurs, among other successes, popular or underground. Between old classics and songs still fresh in our memory, “I wanted to represent Quebec rap globally,” comments the musician from Terrebonne, who recognizes in the same breath that he wants to present songs differently to his new audience. who have marked our musical history.
Incredible writers
“Sometimes the codes of rap” and the prejudices that stick to them “are such that people are not inclined to listen to the messages of the songs, analyzes Scøtt. I find it interesting to approach this repertoire from another angle, more sung, more pop, giving new attention to the lyrics, because I have always considered rappers to be incredible writers who talk about our time. “Even Sir Pathétik, whose song he takes up The hitch of the trippe 2 ? “In high school, we listened nonstop! testifies the 32-year-old musician. It was the most popular song of all time on burned CDs! »
And, he adds, an artist who, as mocked as he is today, “opened the door to a lot of rappers back then. I think what he did for the scene—same thing for KC LMNOP—that guy opened the door for so many rappers.”
I’m really happy with the position I’m in: I can do a more radio pop song and then go do one with Koriass, and both will be equally accepted and respected.
Casually, it was as a composer and rapper that Jay Scøtt cut his teeth in the musical world, working then under the stage name PL3. “Rap fell on me a bit by chance,” he says. I was mainly interested in production, in the software that made it possible to make beats. My original goal wasn’t to rap, but somehow I enjoyed the art, especially the lyrics — there’s an honesty in rap that you don’t find in pop. »
After several songs posted on his Bandcamp and YouTube pages since 2011, he returned to guitar singing “around 2020, just because that was what inspired me at that time. When I noticed that it generated a good buzzI simply said to myself that it was worth continuing on this path”. Copilot testifies to its success, so much so that today, Jay Scøtt is solicited from everywhere for collaborations.
After having distinguished himself on the albums of FouKi and Souldia, among other big names in local rap, Jay Scøtt will appear on Makeshift Shelter (for End of the World), Koriass’ next album, due next Friday. His contribution to matusalem is remarkable, because his voice and guitar playing take up most of the space, with the MC merely rapping the intro and singing a verse at the heart of the song. It’s to Koriass’ credit to leave so much space for the new pop star on his album, and to any benefit, the song having the potential of a radio hit.
As is Copilot. “I have no idea why this song was so successful,” Jay Scøtt says candidly. I wrote it at the end of 2019; it’s a two-minute song that doesn’t really have a chorus, just a little hum, but I felt it created a good little buzz when I put it on the internet. It was when I took it over with FouKi [sur l’album Grignotines de luxe, 2020] it exploded. I think the format was good for radio, I also think there wasn’t really a summer song when this version came out. »
Matter of timingsays in short Jay Scøtt, to whom the timing smile these days. “How did I experience the pandemic? This is the period when I started to be listened to by people! he laughs, adding that the past few months have motivated him to work even harder on his songs. He’s been making a living from his art for just over a year, but has been composing and recording since he was a teenager, first stepping into the music world as bassist and vocalist for a heavy metal band called Crosley, “like the name of the old jukebox company”.
His appearance at Star Academyas well as his participation in the concert The OSM to the rhythm of hip-hop presented at the Maison symphonique de Montréal on March 29 and 30 (with FouKi, Sarahmée, Calamine, Alaclair Ensemble and many others), serves as a consecration, after years of hard work. ” Star Academy, it’s not nothing, but at the same time, it’s not the kind of program that I listen to, that is to say that to participate in it does not put a pressure on my shoulders as much than someone who consumes this kind of program. For me, it was just an amazing experience. »
“It struck me when, on the air, they started doing my resume a bit, just before our performance. I said to myself: “Ah well tabarnouche, it’s true that by putting all this end to end, I can be proud!” »