Hip-Hop Summit Held in Montreal

By Roger A. Muhammad | Last updated: Jul 18, 2011 - 3:54:11 PM

Radio Host Don Smooth, Rev Gray, Hostess Keithy Antoine, DJ Crook, Henry Francoi Gelot

MONTREAL (FinalCall.com) - On June 11, the Muhammad Study Group of Montreal, under the coordination of Student Minister Meredith Muhammad, organized its 1st Annual Montreal Hip-Hop Summit. In light of the tragic death of Montreal rap artist and harmonicist Paul “Bad News Brown” Frappier (whom Nas called “one of the greatest artists he ever met), the Study Group joined up with Reverend Darryl G. Gray of the Imani & Full Gospel Church to organize an event that would foster dialogue and promote unity among a much divided scene.

With the help of CKUT 90.3FM, 514Smoke.biz and other hip-hop and community organizations, the Study Group reached out to artists, managers, label owners and executives from various backgrounds. The summit was done in two parts, the first being a closed roundtable symposium between some of Montreal's and Toronto's most respected figures in the Canadian Hip-Hop world. It also allowed for a discussion between the French and English side of the community about the language divide in the city and country.

The second part of the summit featured performances by some of Montreal's top recording artists, as well as a special tribute to Bad News Brown by his former manager Henry-François Gelot and his friend and stage partner DJ Crook, who spoke about the BNB Foundation for underprivileged children.

The summit featured its own theme song and video produced by popular Montreal artist Chaplin, who dedicated the song “LOVE THYSELF” and all of its proceeds on iTunes to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam (a remix with Jasiri X is on the way).

Lifetime Hip-Hop Achievement awards were handed to luminaries of the scene like DJ Butcher T, who was honored for being the first ambassador of Hip-Hop outside of the United States. In fact, DJ Butcher T received his first records from none other than DJ Kool Herc, who in a sense “commissioned” Butcher T with the task of bringing hip-hop music and culture to Canada, which of course he did.

The historic event closed out with a lecture by the student and representative of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Brother Nuri Muhammad. His lecture, titled “Hip-Hop: The Gift or The Curse?”completely mesmerized the audience with deep explanations about the power of words in the context of hip-hop. Bro. Nuri shared profound metaphors and cogently created a spiritual dovetail between nature and music, likening the drum to a heartbeat and the ocean waves to the hand claps and cheers of the crowd.

Many of the artists, managers, label owners and executives who were present were exposed for their first time to the Wisdom and Teaching of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In that regard, Brother Nuri's lecture was very helpful in dispelling many of the misunderstandings and misconceptions people had about the Nation of Islam in Montreal.

Artist French Blanco performs.

The cultural and ethnic diversity of the event also drove the point home that the Nation of Islam not only can speak to Black People in America, but it can speak to all of humanity all over the world. In that regard, the beauty, quality and inclusiveness of the language used by Bro. Nuri truly resonated with this culturally rich audience.

As the largest event the Muhammad Study Group of Montreal held in over 15 years, which was broadcasted live on CKUT 90.3FM during the Masters at Work show, a new page was turned. Many felt that a new spirit was emerging in the city and that a momentum once lost was gradually coming back.

As Bro. Meredith stated, “without the direct permission and support of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for this summit, none of this would have been possible.” Moreover, under the leadership and stewardship of Student Regional Captain Majied Muhammad, who designated his right-hand in the Region, Brother Eric Muhammad, to come personally to Montreal, Canada, the FOI and MGT & GCC mobilized from all over the Eastern Region to help the small Study Group cover down on security and logistics.

The summit made such an impact that a long and very positive article was written about it on Hiphopcanada.com (the country's largest and most prominent hip-hop website) and now a second roundtable discussion is planned for August with special guest and artist Jasiri X as the keynote speaker. With this new spirit growing in Montreal, Canada, we can truly say that the theme of the 1st Annual Montreal Hip Hop Summit was commensurate with its outcome: IT'S BIGGER THAN HIP-HOP!

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