Dead Obies

The billingual rap collective released their critically-acclaimed debut album, Montréal $ud, in November 2013.

Dead Obies, known for the intermingling of English and French in their lyrics, have decided to sidestep the language questions that have followed them since their inception entirely by giving their critically acclaimed second full-length album a highfalutin German name. "Kunstwerk means work of art, and Gesamt means total," explained MC 20Some (real name: Charles-André Vincelette). "So a total work of art. An oeuvre d'art totale, which is an esthetic concept brought up mainly by Richard Wagner in Germany in the 19th century."

A remarkable sense of brevity. This is the first thing that strikes when discovering the new material of the (now) quintet: the desire to go straight to the point. With shorter songs, less triturated lyrics, much more pop melodies, almost as pop as the ones we discovered on the amazing microalbum Air Max that the band had offered in the spring of 2017, one year after they had thrown away the daring and complex Gesamtkunstwerk. Less progressive and left-field than its predecessor, Dead Obies' third album is no less diverse, torn between the pop refrain and leaping rhythm of the first single Run Away and the low-frequency scraping of the corrosive André. And in between these two extremes, a few trapy flights of fancy, Royautés, F1 and 24.

One of the most iconic Quebec hip-hop groups of the past fifteen years, Dead Obies have played a key role in transforming the province's musical landscape by helping to establish rap as an essential force in popular culture, leaving their mark on an entire generation in the process. Critically acclaimed upon its release in 2013, their debut album Montréal $ud hit the Quebec rap scene like a ton of bricks, propelling the group straight to its forefront.

The second album by Dead Obies, Gesamtkunstwerk, came out in 2016. Back in stock on vinyl for its 10th anniversary, this classic record from the Quebecois rap landscape was partially recorded live at Montreal's PHI Centre.