Author: Kevin Bourne

Last night, Montreal rapper Narcy rocked the stage at Queen St. Fare in downtown Ottawa. The Arab-Canadian rapper, once known for his in-your-face activist rap, treated the crowd to everything from class boom bap to Latin and Arab inspired sounds. Opening for Narcy was local hip-hop artist Hevve, performing his first show of 2019 alongside drummer and sometimes hypeman Timal Garnier. Hevve opened his set with some of his slower tracks, including “Five” and “Victim of the City” before speeding it up with “Chance”, “Hit ‘Em Up” and his biggest song to date, “On It”. He closed with his new…

A multi-faceted artist living in Montreal, Narcy is an Iraqi-Canadian artist who has dipped his hand in a variety of different creative disciplines, establishing himself as a leader and ambassador for the Arab-Canadian community. His unapologetic nature coupled with his natural talent and disciplined work ethic have allowed him to succeed both here in Canada and abroad. Below is Reda Zarrug’s interview with Narcy ahead of his show at Queen St. Fare in Ottawa. Reda: Have you always been this comfortable in allowing your identity to be influenced by your eastern roots and your western upbringing? And how? Narcy: I…

Here it is, the night where the best musicians and recording artists in the world are rewarded for their work. For us fashion lovers, the Grammys are also an opportunity to get some well-needed fashion inspiration. For the 61st edition of the Grammy Awards, celebrities once again brought their best suits and dresses to the red carpet. While some went for a classic and timeless look, others decided to take some risks. Here are six celebrity styles from the Grammys. 1. Black is always chic For an event like the Grammys, black is always a safe bet. The South Korean…

We’re in the thick of winter and with it has come the same dilemma we face every winter. Should I dress warm and keep my favourite outfits in the back of the closet, or risk getting sick but stay classy? Well, who told you you had to choose? Here are three easy tips to stay warm and stylist this winter. Tip #1: Choose the right fabrics If you want to stay warm and comfortable which fabrics should you choose? I could write an entire article just about fabrics but to keep it simple, we can classify the different fabrics in…

Last night, The Launch Season 2 contestant Vi, joined by close friends SVLM and Jayen x District, performed at Ottawa’s Babylon nightclub in front of a hometown crowd. Although she didn’t win her round of the music competition show, as a finalist, Ottawa and Canada now clearly know “who is Vi”. In the process, she’s managed to provide more well-needed inspiration for artists in the capital. The night began with Jayen x District who performed a few songs off their 2018 release Anywhere but Earth, including “Masquerade”, the highlight of their set. Then it was SVLM’s turn to grace the stage,…

To start the year, we have our longest Ottawa music video roundup ever with 10 videos from the likes of Cheko Salaam, Huey Draper, BLikeBrett, Hevve and more. Similar to December, we’re continuing to see Ottawa being featured in different ways and the bar is being set higher and higher. New to this month, we’re asking you, the fans, to vote for Ottawa’s Video of the Month. Check out the videos below in order of release date, then help us crown the top video in the city for January. If there are any videos we forgot make sure to comment below.…

Female and male athletes are currently held to different standards. Case in point, over the course of modern history, female athletes have been fighting for things like equal pay and still are to this day. Despite significant pay increases and increased media coverage, it isn’t enough. According to Women’s Sport and Fitness Federation, women’s sports only receive 7% of media coverage and only 0.4 percent of commercial investment goes to women’s only sports. On top of that, female athletes are often judged based on their physical appearance while male athletes are judged on performance and skill. For most sports, uniforms…

Swoon Studios, Flee Normality and producer/DJ Lethargie recently launched their new monthly music event UNiTY, at the Happy Goat Coffee in Ottawa’s Hintonburgh neighbourhood. The event is designed to bring a sense of unity to the music community in the capital. With only an hour to prepare, the organizers turned the coffee shop floor, equipped with large industrial coffee grinders, old TV sets and a photo booth, into what looked more like a nightclub. Exact attendance numbers are unknown but the small and intimate venue filled quickly creating a well-needed artsy, big city vibe. Also in attendance was former Art…

The fashion industry is one of the hardest to break into due to its sheer size and high level of competition – that’s no secret. Getting your foot through the door isn’t an obvious task, and according to emerging fashion stylist Anita-Hosanna Kangabe, there’s no set path to “making” it. However, after working as a freelance fashion stylist for just over a year, this Ottawa-based artist was recently nominated for Faces Magazine’s “Favourite Fashion Stylist” Award. She has styled celebrities, including the likes of Mia Martina, and worked alongside well-renowned fashion moguls including Ty Hunter, Beyonce’s stylist. We caught up…

Star Wars is dying. There’s no point in beating around the bush. From the critical reception of The Last Jedi to the box office results of Solo: A Star Wars Story, it seems as though Disney has been doing everything in their power to sabotage their own franchise since they acquired it back in the early 2010’s. Now to be fair, they’re not “actually” trying to kill Star Wars. They’re just doing a very bad job running it and refuse to acknowledge it, which is pretty much the equivalent of pointing a flaming pistol at the damn thing. For a while,…

Toronto-based Twentytwenty Arts just concluded their latest mental health awareness campaign, Life on the Line, a public art project featuring 20 unique submission-based artworks that reflect on the personal experiences of mental illness. One hundred posters, five of each design, were exhibited on the Toronto TTC Subway from November 19th, 2018 to January 6th, 2019. Twentytwenty Arts created Life on the Line to raise awareness, visibility and funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Toronto’s Holiday Gift Program. Now in its 63rd year, CMHA Toronto’s Holiday Gift Program bought gifts and necessities that were assembled by hundreds of volunteers…

By now I’m sure many of you have seen Surviving R. Kelly. Let’s talk. Why did we give R. Kelly a pass for so long? As a community (specifically the black community), we continuously forgave and forgave, and then forgot. We forgave him of things that we would never allow our fathers, brothers and friends to get away with. There was never a day of reckoning. With the current investigation and the airing of Lifetime’s three-part documentary Surviving R. Kelly, that day is coming. Now, just to give you the heads up, this documentary is intense and can be a…