SHIFTER’s Yannick Mutombo talks to Xav, also known as Xavier Trudeau, son of former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, about new music, musical influences, and more. Do you remember falling in love as a teenager? The heebie-jeebies. The butterflies. The yes, this will last forever, and no, we are not too young. A grand gesture (read: promposal). Or, releasing a somber, ambient r&b song—inspired by the likes of Drake and Don Tolliver—to prove to her you are not like the other guys. All’s fair in love and war, and at 17 or 18 years old, it’s every man for himself.…
Author: Yannick Mutombo
Toronto rapper DijahSB is nominated for Rap Album of the Year and Dance Recording of the Year at the 2025 Juno Awards. If you are tapped into Canada’s underground rap scene, then you are familiar with DijahSB. The acclaimed rapper’s steady rise to national recognition was years in the making—a single Google search reveals how they’ve performed (or is scheduled to perform) on just about every stage, in just about every province. They were nominated for Canada’s Polaris Music Prize—a cash prize awarded to the best full-length Canadian album judged solely on artistic merit—in 2021 and 2024. Now, they have…
From Beyoncé to Kehlani and Chance The Rapper, SHIFTER’s Yannick Mutombo takes a look at the most anticipated Hip-hop and R&B albums of 2024. Phew. 2023 was…a year! Losing the great Tina Turner cut deep. And the ongoing genocides in Sudan, Congo, Tigray, and Palestine — amongst many others — left us disillusioned by the state of the world. Music was the silver lining. Beyoncé was everywhere (in the best way possible), and the female rap boom finally kicked into full gear. We also got to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and hip-hop veterans such…
