Pressure cookin’

When I first arrived in Montreal over five years ago, fresh out of my teens, I was a young dude from New York looking for anything that could come close to the hip hop culture I experienced living in the Bronx. I ran around the city like a hungry wolf, waiting for that first kill, the first time I would find the proper boom-bap to satisfy my hunger. The more I asked around, the more I got the same answer: “Yo man, you new to the city? Have you been to Under Pressure? That’s hip hop in Montreal right there.” Eventually, as August came along, I’d made sure a month in advance that I had the day off and I took my ass down to the Under Pressure Festival. As soon as I hit the alley behind Foufounes Électriques, there it was—hip hop heaven. Dozens of cats on scaffolding spread over huge walls, spray cans in hand, blasting wild styles and colours for hundreds of people to see. A half-pipe in the middle of the scene with young and old skating together, shredding all day. On the other side, a huge mass of people gathered around a handful of breakers, guys vs. girls, popping and locking in unison with matching gear. And none other than DJ Kool Herc, the godfather of all this madness, the first man to control turntables, playing records for everybody. Young, old, black, white, yellow, brown, everybody was represented. Better than anything I’d ever seen in New York.

Unfortunately, with the current financial climate, the future of Under Pressure is highly uncertain. If you care about your culture and your city, please help out and donate some money so we can make sure that this decade-old tradition stays alive. Go to underpressure.ca for details on how to donate, and check out the PSA on YouTube with Mark McKay and Classified.

KEEP IT ALIVE, YA’LL… DABEATSEEKER@GMAIL.COM