Hood love

>> Hailing from different districts,
Royal Peasants would rather
unite than fight

KINGS AND DESPERATE MEN: Royal Peasants

by LATEEF MARTIN

The first time I saw Royal Peasants was at la Sala Rossa with Kalmunity, Preach and other talented musicians for a Côte d’Ivoire fundraiser. They splashed up on the stage five deep with bangin’ beats and the charisma of Wu-Tang. The quintet of MCs and producers represent a cross-section of Montreal, hailing from CV (Côte Vertu), DG (Notre Dame de Grace), uptown (Côte des Neiges) and beyond.

Lo$$ One, Fflex, Meduza, UrbN LogiX and Da Blast have been making a little noise over the past couple of years, keeping the crowds moving with extended family members like Ceas Rock and Shaolin jumping on the mic on occasion. The Peasants built on their success with their first mixtape, Royal Peasantry Vol. 1: The Hood Legacy Begins. Early in 2008, they will release Vol. 2: The Hood Legacy Continues.

Chilling out in their studio on the border of Little Burgundy and St-Henri, the Peasants announce that they have a slew of mixtapes planned. There’s Urban Rock with UrbN LogiX and Ceas Rock, Quiet Ones featuring Lo$$ One and Fflex, Loss and Logic with Lo$$ One and UrbN LogiX. and One Borough with Da Blast, UrbN LogiX and more. “There’s a lot of conflict between NDG and CDN,” explains Da Blast. “We’re trying to bring them together with One Borough. We’re bringing a whole bunch of artists from both hoods together on that one, maybe even the ones who are beefin’.”

“If you can’t live with people from different neighbourhoods,” asks Meduza, the Peasants’ songstress, who is also a part of Nomadic Massive, “how can you live with different ethnicities, mentalities and people around the world?”

Beyond the core quintet are myriad DJs, producers, writers and MCs who work their own thing but also contribute to R.P. “Shout out to Chase1 and Elms Entertainment, who supplied beats for us,” says UrbN LogiX. “Also, a shout out to Cypha Star. The police shot him in the head, April 27 in DG. They chased him into an alley. He was unarmed.

“A lot of shit is going down and we talk about it in our records. But what you can really expect in 2008 is that Royal Peasants will be doing it real big.”