by SCOTT C

Montreal's first-ever hip hop awards ceremony went down this past weekend at Club Colors, where the Montreal Underground Hip Hop Gala took place. The 2004-2005 edition rewarded local MCs FP Crew with not one but three awards, including English Group of the Year, Video of the Year for "Les rues de Montréal" and Best English Album of the Year for Exposé. The triple crown of braggin' rights also went out to Daniel Russo Garrido, aka Boogat, who took French Album of the Year for Tristes et belles histoires, French Artist of the Year and French Song of the Year for "Le jour ou rien n'a changé." Butta Babees took a bow for "Baby Mother," which took English Song of the Year, while the Club DJ of the Year award went to DR One. Dramatik's "I Love, I Leave, I Love" was voted Single of the Year, while Ray Ray got some dap with an award for Producer of the Year. There were also a whole lot of awards given out that you can read about on the Gala site at www.galamu.com, but for now, congratulations go out to all the people who were nominated, and who won.

Ray Ray's wasting no time, adding to his long list of achievements the aforementioned Producer of the Year award, and now a new solo album due to hit stores May 10. The LP, called La Cité, will be released by Militant Music and Fusion III, and will feature collaborations with Bless, Busta Flex, SAT from FF, Stratège/ Cobna and OL1KU to name a few. The rep grows bigger.

As of March 22, Rockdeep Tuesdays over at Saphir will be no more. Since July 2001, dancers, music lovers and more dancers have enjoyed the sounds of DJ Static, Professor Groove and Cheeba Cheeba Kid as they dropped a variety of classic, underground hip hop, funk, soul and original breaks. On the way out the door, they're having one final party at Saphir this Tuesday, March 22, with some of the guest DJs they've welcomed over the last few years. Five bucks get you in. Rockdeep makes the move to the basement at Kunta Lounge this Thursday, March 17, with the official launch of their new night on March 24.

Those of you looking for something to dust off your Easter best for should check out a party called Smooth Criminal: The Hotel Party Sequel, happening Friday, March 25 at the stush Europa Hotel at 1240 Drummond. This semiformal get-down may frown on jeans, but people will be gettin' loose just the same thanks to the sounds of DJs Blaster and 2Nice, and Ottawa's Ebony & Ivory Sound Crew. And what kind of high-class affair would this be if it wasn't hosted by Original Silkey and Smooth Operator? Additional info can be found at www.horsemenent.com/intro.html.

Got beats? Lemme know, because Turf Builder 2 is ready to go, March 30...

THINGS ARE STARTING TO GET GAMEY... fathead@videotron.ca

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