Drumless HipHop:

A new generation of independant artists

By Lucas Sodano

Montreal’s music scene has known a pretty noticable period of growth over the last decade, espacially in hip hop. Throughout the 90s and 2000s, an important ground work has been laid out by veterans of the game allowing a number of new artists to rise to fame with a better chance of actually making a living out of it. Trap, drill, gangsta rap and pop rap have been put to the forefront of Quebec’s music industry by the new generation of artists and music labels like joyride records, 7e Ciel and more. However, a new subgenre of hip hop often reffered to as  “drumless”, lead by a number of independant artists has been attracting a lot of attention recently. Characterized by looped samples taken from old records, decorated with little to no drums, Drumless hip hop productions mostly accompany the voices of rappers delivering bars in a slow and nonchalant way like we can hear in tracks like Linked In by Jimmie D, Designer Drugs from Nicholas craven & Boldy James or E. Coli from The Alchemist and Earl Sweatshirt. It offers a fresh developpement in the genre, moving away from what we have been used to hear over the last 20 years.

This new wave takes its roots in early 2010s united states, popularized by artists such as Tha God Fahim, Mac-Hommy, MF DOOM, West side gunn, earl sweatshirt, the alchemist and many more. Although, some montrealers like nicholas craven and mike shabb have been adding their contibution internationally. They have been collaborating with artists from the U.S. and their names are starting to be known by some important personalities like Earl Sweatshirt, Joe Budden and Westsiide Gun. Some like Seinssucrer, Jimmie D and CHUNG have also been making waves in the city. They are the pioneers of this new subgenre in the province and their work is significant considering that most of them are independant*.

It all started in 2016 when Montreal based Rapper Jimmie D collaborated with producer Nicholas Craven on the project Trout and Brussel Sprouts which Craven qualified as the first Drumless album released in the province. “Ça, C’est le premier album de drumless québécois de tous les temps.” (Craven, 2023). At the time, it was not a sound that people in general (much less in Montreal) were very much used to in hip hop. 2016 is a year that was known for the rise of soundcloud rap and the number one genre was trap music. This project was definitely ahead of its time.

The Montreal based producer, also collaborated with big names from both sides of the Atlantic like Akhenaton from France and on the Intro to Hassen Lupin on Latin Quartier, Part 2 we can even hear the voice of Famous french actor Omar Sy. Even if language is a considerable factor in slowing down the success of many artists in Quebec, Montreal is proving year after year that the talent is here and has always been. This generation of independent artists are finally starting to get the recognition they deserve. If they don’t get it here, they know they have what it takes to go get it down south, or on the other side of the ocean.

It is only recently that drumless started getting the recognition it deserved. Craven released a full album with detroit rapper Boldy James in september 2022 and he also collaborated with proheminant figures of american hip hop like method man, freddie gibbs and the game. He even posted a picture on instagram posing alongside Jay-Z.

Craven has been making beats since 2006, as per his Instagram bio. His production technique revolves around sampling old soul and r&b records that he finds spending a lot of time crate digging in record stores. He then creates a relaxed, laid down vibe evoking a feeling similar to the one influenced by drugs like weed or codein, which has been a significant part of hip hop culture since the end of the 90s. It is even featured on the cover of « Fair Exchange No Robbery », which is inpired by the cans of « Pure Maple Syrup ».