Devon Martin, better known as Devon, is 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 of ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

who rose to prominence in 1990 for his song titled "Mr. Metro", a controversial single about police

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

. "Mr. Metro" subsequently became an alias of the artist.

Biography and early career

Devon was born in England, but raised in the Mississauga suburb of Malton,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. He formed his first band, Shock Waves, at the age of 14, releasing an independent single in 1977. Later he was a member of the reggae band 20th Century Rebels, and served as a backing musician for Bong Conga Nistas, Messenjah,

Judy Mowatt Judith Veronica Mowatt, (born 1952) is a Jamaican reggae artist. As well as being a solo artist, from 1974 she was also a member of the I Threes, the trio of backing vocalists for Bob Marley & The Wailers. Early life Mowatt was born in Gor ...

and

Lillian Allen Lillian Allen (born 5 April 1951) is a Canadian dub poet, reggae musician, writer and Juno Award winner. Biography Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she left that country in 1969, first moving to New York City, where she studied English at the C ...

Career during 1990s

"Mr. Metro" video

Although the title of his single "Mr. Metro" referred to the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

, the song was in fact inspired by incidents of police racism across North America, including his own detention by police in

Redondo Beach, California Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent Beach Cities, b ...

, rather than in Toronto alone. Despite this, the Toronto Police Service threatened to arrest him on defamation charges, forcing him to black out parts of the video which might have been perceived as identifying Toronto police officers. The video went on to win a

MuchMusic Video Award The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMus ...

in 1990.

Other work

In 1990, he collaborated on the one-off single "Can't Repress the Cause", a plea for greater inclusion of hip hop music in the Canadian music scene, with

Dance Appeal Dance Appeal was a Canadian supergroup of dance, rhythm and blues, reggae and hip hop artists, who released the one-off single "Can't Repress the Cause" in 1990. The song, a plea for greater inclusion of these predominantly black music genres in ...

, a supergroup of Toronto-area musicians that included

Maestro Fresh Wes Wesley "Wes" Williams (born March 31, 1968) is a Canadian rapper, record producer, actor, and author. He is known professionally by his stage names Maestro Fresh Wes (formerly Maestro Fresh-Wes) or Maestro as a musician, and is credited by his ...

, Dream Warriors, Michie Mee, B-Kool,

, Eria Fachin, HDV, Dionne, Thando Hyman, Carla Marshall, Messenjah, Jillian Mendez, Lorraine Scott, Lorraine Segato, Self Defense,

Leroy Sibbles Leroy Sibbles (born Leroy Sibblies, 29 January 1949) is a Jamaican reggae musician and producer. He was the lead singer for The Heptones in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to his work with The Heptones, Sibbles was a session bassist and arra ...

, Zama and Thyron Lee White. After the song "Mr. Metro", Devon released his first solo album ''It's My Nature'' in 1992. The following year (1993), he won the Juno Award for Best Rap Recording with the album ''Keep It Slammin. In 1997, he relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

and signed to indie label Rated-R Recordz owned by Ray "Rated-R" Montani, where he released the EP and single both entitled ''Pressure'', which were released in 1998, and feature Orin Isaacs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devon Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian male rappers 20th-century Canadian rappers 20th-century Black Canadian male singers English emigrants to Canada Canadian reggae musicians Musicians from Mississauga Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year winners 20th-century Canadian male musicians 1960s births