Single: Wasiu – “Cigarettes & Poutine” ft. Basics (Prod. by Planet Giza)

The Highsnobiety-Premiered, Planet Giza-Produced Track is the First Single from the Upcoming MTLiens 2

9.12.2017

Critical Praise for Wasiu:

“Wasiu is the hip-hop voice of Montreal.” – i-D

“The young Montreal rapper has been working steadily to make a name for himself and it looks like he’s on the right track.” – Pigeons & Planes

“Wasiu is another one to look out for this year.” – Complex

“Many rappers twice his age would be wise to take notes…” – Okayplayer

“Wasiu is pretty much the embodiment of Montreal’s cultural shift.” – Noisey

“Wasiu is a rapper in a league of his own” – High Snobiety

The Single:

A perpetual outsider and a gifted rhyming technician, Wasiu can transform any situation into a tasteful, speaker-knocking single. Rhapsodizing about nights in his home city of Montreal, Wasiu shares an elegant rider’s anthem with “Cigarettes & Poutine.” Showcasing his forceful and smooth delivery over gurgling synths and snapping snares, Wasiu crafts a narrative of riding the metro alone, vibing to his headphones, and smelling the city’s signature scents–cigarette smoke and french fries. Aided by the golden pipes of Basics and produced by Planet Giza, who hails from the flourishing Montreal beat scene that produced Kaytranada, “Cigarettes & Poutine” is the first single from MTLiens 2, Wasiu’s next project and the sequel to his 2015 project MTLiens. Premiered by Highsnobiety, “Cigarettes & Poutine” is a cerebral banger that only could have come out of Canada and the warped mind of Wasiu.

“When describing environments the olfactory sense is often neglected,” explains Wasiu to Highsnobiety. “Everybody wanna talk about how shit looks or how shit sounds but rarely do we pay attention to how it smells. Years ago I was on my way back from Toronto and as soon as I came off the bus I tweeted my first thoughts which were ‘It smells like cigarettes and poutine, home sweet home.’ Anyone who lives here has come home smelling like they bathed in a pool of sin made of cigarettes, weed, booze, Poutine, cheap perfume, cheaper food and a whole lotta bad decisions. This song is about a regular Saturday night on Saint Laurent that my mother smelled on my clothes.”

Always eager to exploit a clever lyrical concept, Wasiu doubled up Jay-Z’s classic “22 Two’s” into “44:4 (44 Four’s)” in a video single last month, with a brilliant verse, using 44 variations of the words “for” and “four” in two and a half minutes. The video, premiered by Mass Appeal, playfully brings the concept to life, with the Afro-Canadian rapper emceeing in a large amphitheater, generating a clone of himself every time he says a variation of “4.” Earlier this Summer, Wasiu released Snow Mexican, an accomplished, politically charged EP. Inspired by a fake (yet believable) Donald Trump tweet and stuffed with innovative electronic production from the likes of Tommy Kruise, Dear Lola, and others, Snow Mexican finds Wasiu exploring what it means to be an outsider–approaching issues from the perspective of an African in Canada, an English-speaker in a French-speaking city, and a Canadian trying to make it in the American rap industry. In the past year, Wasiu performed at SXSW, The Montreal Jazz Fest, POP Montreal, and Canadian Music Week, and opened for Little Simz, Jazz Cartier, BADBADNOTGOOD, Grandmaster Flash, Dead Obies, Sean Leon, and others. Watch out for MTLiens 2, Wasiu’s next full album, coming later this year.

Listen to “Cigarettes & Poutine” ft. Basic (Prod. by Planet Giza): https://soundcloud.com/afrowasiu/cigspoutine

Check out the Highsnobiety premiere: http://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/09/12/wasiu-cigarettes-and-poutine-premiere/

Please contact Michelle or Dharmic if interested in talking with Wasiu.

Wasiu Background:

For Wasiu, being a pariah has always been a constant. A child of divorce from a Nigerian Muslim father and Haitian Protestant-Christian mother, he was torn between worlds, seen by both communities as impure, and a “mixed breed”—not entirely Haitian, not quite Nigerian. Even though he’s Québecois (a Québec native), his immigrant parents tainted his claim to the province. Raised by his mother after his father moved to Toronto, he felt obliged to fit in with her side of the family. Resentments towards his father’s beliefs and culture led him to drop his father-given middle name—Wasiu—so that he wouldn’t be teased in his predominantly white school, where he battled black stereotypes by pushing his intellect past expectations.

Overcoming adversity and using those lessons as lyrical fuel is Wasiu’s strongest suit. He is preparing his debut album which funnels his life experiences into a culturally defining opus that balances both optimistic and pessimistic perspectives on human themes. “I’m showing what people view as both the good and the bad,” he says, “and how without the bad, you can’t have the good, and so you start to appreciate the bad… for the good.”