Rascalz are a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

hip-hop group from Vancouver, British Columbia. The group played a crucial role in the artistic and commercial development of

Canadian hip hop The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained ...

as well as specifically for the Westcoast scene in Vancouver popularizing the term “Van City”. The group consists of emcees Red1 and Misfit, and record producer DJ Kemo. Breakdancers Zebroc and Dedos were also part of the group.

History

Formed in 1991, the group released an independent album for Calabash Records in 1992. The album, ''Really Livin'', was recorded under the name of Ragga Muffin Rascals, and a reworked major label recording was released the following year in 1993 by Sony Music Canada. Both versions of the album received Juno Award nominations for Best Rap Recording, the Calabash Records version at the

Juno Awards of 1993 The Juno Awards of 1993, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 21 March 1993 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Celine Dion was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast on C ...

and the Sony version at the

Juno Awards of 1995 The Juno Awards of 1995, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 26 March 1995 in Hamilton, Ontario at a ceremony in the Copps Coliseum. Mary Walsh, Rick Mercer and other regulars of the television ...

. In 1994, the group started Figure IV Records. The Rascalz are not Vancouver's first rap group, and have quoted acts such as EQ, Craig Crush and Mike D'Zire as influences. The group moved to BMG Canada in 1997 to record ''Cash Crop''.

Juno Award protest

''Cash Crop'' was nominated for Best Rap Recording at the

Juno Awards of 1998 The Juno Awards of 1998 were presented in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The primary ceremonies at GM Place before an audience of 10 000 on 22 March 1998. Actor Jason Priestley of the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' hoste ...

. Due to Canadian hip hop's limited commercial visibility in the era, however, the rap award had never been presented during the main Juno ceremony, instead being relegated to the untelevised technical awards ceremony during the previous evening."Inside the Junos, episode 2: why Rascalz refused their 1998 award"
'' Inside the Music'', February 13, 2018. This fact had previously been criticized for creating a barrier to the commercial visibility of Canadian hip hop. The band won the award, but alleged that racism was a factor in the award's disadvantageous scheduling, explicitly declined the award on that basis."Kinder, gentler rap, eh? Canadians hip-hop onto centre stage"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newsp ...

'', March 7, 1999. The band had not yet arrived at the ceremony when the award was announced—when they did arrive, they were simply pulled aside and told that they had won the award."Rascalz Refuse Award To Protest Junos: Rap Act Wants R&B Portion Of Ceremony Televised"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', April 4, 1998. Their move sparked considerable media debate about the state of Canadian hip hop. As a result of the controversy, the Juno Awards moved the rap category to the main ceremony the following year.

"Northern Touch"

Also in 1998, Rascalz wrote a special one-off single called "

Northern Touch "Northern Touch" is a Canadian hip hop single, which was released in 1998 by Rascalz in collaboration with Checkmate, Kardinal Offishall, Thrust and Choclair. It is one of the most important individual songs in the history of Canadian hip hop, w ...

", which they recorded with guest rappers

Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall (), is a Canadian rapper, record producer, DJ, and record executive. Often credited as Canada's " hip hop ambassador", he is regarded as one of the countr ...

, Thrust and

Choclair Kareem Blake (born March 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Choclair, is a Canadian rapper. He was one of the most successful Canadian rappers in Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Choclair has been nominated for six Juno Awards, winn ...

. The music video was directed by

Little X Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian filmmaker, commercial director, music video director, and television director. Having directed more than 100 music videos, he is widely known as a pr ...

and featured

Melyssa Ford Melyssa Savannah Ford (born November 7, 1976) is a Canadian media personality, actress, and former video vixen. She attended York University and studied in the field of forensic psychology. She is often referred to as Jessica Rabbit, an animate ...

. Although not on the original pressing of ''Cash Crop'', the song was released as a single, and was quickly adopted as an anthem for Canadian hip hop's resilience and determination. The song broke the odds to become the first Canadian hip hop hit since 1991. At the

Juno Awards of 1999 The Juno Awards of 1999 honouring Canadian music industry achievements were held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The primary ceremonies at Copps Coliseum on 7 March 1999 were broadcast by CBC Television and hosted by Mike Bullard. Nominations we ...

, the first time the rap award was presented during the televised ceremony, Rascalz won the award for "Northern Touch", and performed the song live at the ceremony in Hamilton. This represented the first time that a hip hop band had ever performed on the Juno Awards stage.

Later releases

Rascalz released ''Global Warning'' in 1999. The album contained the hit single "Priceless" (a collaboration with Esthero). In 2001 the group performed in Charlottetown, PEI, with Kardinal Offishall, IRS and Jelleestone."LIVE: Kardinal Offishall, Rascalz, IRS and Jelleestone in PEI"
''Chart Attack'', October 19, 2001. Review by: Ryan O'Connor The hit song "Crazy World" (featuring Notch and Sazon Diamante) appeared on 2002's album ''Reloaded''. They also recorded a song called "Top of the World" from the ''Global Warning'' album, and it featured K-os and

Barrington Levy Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist. Career Levy was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. He formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Bl ...

. Red1 released a solo album, ''Beg For Nothing'' on March 6, 2007, through his own Killawatt Records."justalilhype! Vancouver HYPE Magazine Interview with Red1"
''justalilhype! Vancouver HYPE Magazine'', August 31, 2009. The original release of ''Really Livin was pressed for first time on limited release vinyl in 2019 on Smoke In Records. The Rascalz have officially retired from producing new music for over a decade, however still perform occasionally. In 2021, the Rascalz were credited with their first guest appearance for a Canadian artist in over a decade on the track 'Note To The City' by Boslen. The song appeared on his album 'Dusk to Dawn' and was released by Chaos Club Digital/ Capitol Music Group. The actual segment is a sample of Red1's verse on Blind Wid Da Science off their 1997 Cash Crop album.

Discography

Independent albums

* ''Really Livin (1992)

Studio albums

* ''Really Livin (1993) (reworked major label re-release) * ''

Cash Crop A cash crop or profit crop is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") in subsisten ...

'' (1997) * '' Global Warning'' (1999) * '' Reloaded'' (2002)

Solo projects

* Red1 – ''Beg for Nothing'' (2007)

References

External links

Rascalz

Red1
* {{Authority control Canadian hip hop groups Musical groups established in 1991 Musical groups from Vancouver 1991 establishments in British Columbia Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year winners