Sewaside III, it’s the story of a rapper from Hochelaga who didn’t find his place in the Quebec music industry and who, through hard work, forged a place for himself in a booming American rap scene . With jazzy rhythms and skillful rhymes, Mike Shabb, known as Shabbo, has come of age, while overcoming tragic losses.
The Griselda influence
To understand Shabb’s journey, it is essential to put the history of the American record company Griselda into context. Founded in 2012 by rapper Westside Gunn and his entourage, the label highlighted rap that returns to the roots of the 1990s, towards a style nicknamed “boom bap”, but adding a modern touch. This element is a minimalist approach where drum sounds are not superimposed on the samples chosen to create the beats. It is for this reason that we gave the name drumless to this sound. But that’s not all. This new wave also develops an aesthetic where the choruses are incidental, leaving plenty of room for the writing talent of the rappers. In short, everything for art, hip-hop culture and nothing for commercialization.
And yet, Griselda created a small revolution with this sound, reigniting the hip-hop flame of several rappers and beatmakers of the 1990s retired and bringing new names to the forefront. The record label is now a reference and an international influence that renews current hip-hop identity.
THE beatmaker originally from Gatineau, Nicholas Craven was one of the first here to be interested in this sound. He was quickly noticed in France by the legend that is Akhénaton (IAM), with whom he collaborated, but also by several rappers from Griselda who began to use his productions. The Quebecer therefore traveled regularly to the American engine city, Detroit, to work there with his new collaborators.
“Fair Exchange, No Robbery”
This is where Mike Shabb makes history. Active since adolescence, and designated in 2016 by VICE Quebec as an emerging rapper to watch, the man nicknamed Shabbo began following Craven on his American travels, notably as a sound engineer. Shabb was behind the console during the recording of the album Fair Exchange, No Robbery (FENR) by Nicholas Craven with American rapper Boldy James, one of Griselda’s headliners. FENR has established itself as one of the flagship records of this new sound in full cross-border expansion. Shabb was doing his hand and ear.
Hochelaga is the lowest district, in the East, next to the river… It’s the sewer side, do you understand? But it also comes from a sadder anecdote. My father, when he died five years ago, he put a rope around his neck… He committed suicide.
The young man found himself completely at ease in Detroit where, it must be said, life has not been easy in recent years. The economic crisis of 2008 plunged the metropolis of the state of Michigan into a deep social crisis where poverty and consumption became all too common. “I come from Hochelaga… I’ve seen things! » said Mike Shabb laughing. “Boldy [James] told me, there are a lot of people who go to Detroit and are uncomfortable. Not me or Craven. »
Patience pays off
“I’m a patient guy,” Shabbo continues. I don’t force anything. Even when I didn’t have a lot of money, I took my time. » Like a long-distance runner, he traveled back and forth to Detroit to work with Craven, without thinking of boosting his own career. But over time, bonds were forged there until one day, Westside Gunn asked him for beats. Was he going to use them on an album? Nothing was less certain. But THE rapper who embodies this new sound, the one who is approaching the top of the rap music industry, the one who is now collaborating with the guys from Wu-Tang Clan, Tyler, The Creator, Rick Ross and even Ty Dolla $ign, had asked the Montrealer to provide him with sound and, already, it was an achievement.
“I remember the exact day I heard the news. We were shooting a music video in Montreal with Craven and [la rappeuse] Chung. My phone had run out of battery, so when I got back into the car at the end of filming and plugged it in, I saw that I had received a text […] who congratulated me. During the afternoon, Westside Gunn released the cover of his next album and you could see that one of my beats was on it. But I didn’t know which one exactly! His album came out at midnight. So, from 3 p.m. to midnight, we were hype to know which one it was beat and what he had done with it! »
Mike Shabb’s career immediately took a new turn. Many American rappers began to order him beats. His name was circulating in new networks.
The Sewaside era
This breath of fresh air, blown in 2022, was particularly welcome in Shabb’s life. In 2019, he lost his father, who took his own life. In 2021, he lost rapper Jeune Loup, one of his best friends. Needless to say, the pandemic period was painful for the young man.
The album series Sewaside was born in this wake. He explains the title like this. “Hochelaga is the lowest neighborhood, in the East, next to the river… It’s the sewer side, do you understand? But it also comes from a sadder anecdote. My father, when he died five years ago, he put a noose around his neck… He commit suicide. » Rather than feeling sorry for himself in the face of this ordeal, he chose to build and create from this event, from a therapeutic perspective.
While we felt him in artistic research on volumes one and two of the series Sewaside, the third volume reveals a rapper and beatmaker in full possession of his means. Mike Shabb, whom the hip-hop scene knew as a teenager, has become a mature artist. His beats use jazz and soul samples chosen with taste and precision. The rhythmic variations he imposes allow him to demonstrate the extent of his talent as a rapper. His tone and delivery are instantly recognizable and he speaks about a reality and a universe that is unique to him.
Like a concept album, Sewaside III paints an urban picture on a hot summer night, in a neighborhood not recommended, where desire and danger intersect in the streets beaded with dim street lamps, where hypnotic loops of coppery sound textures echo.
Sewaside III did not benefit from much media visibility in Quebec upon its release on May 21. On the other hand, platforms specializing in hip-hop have caught fire, particularly in the English-speaking world. The influential American trade magazine Pitchfork also criticized it. And Shabb has no intention of playing game of the Quebec music industry to obtain more visibility. He tried this adventure a few years ago with Make It Rain Records (defunct subsidiary of Bonsound), but he was disappointed by his experience. “It’s not for me, I haven’t found my place,” he says.
He can, however, count on an American network increasingly infiltrated by Quebecers to support this project which he considers to be his best and most accomplished to date. In reference to the album which profoundly marked the career of American legend Nas, Shabb concludes: “I think it’s my Illmatic. »