Rap group Dubmatique will take the stage for Canada Day in Ottawa for the first time in almost six years. Though their latest project dates back to 2009, the Quebec rap pioneers know fans will stick by their date.
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“Dubmatique is like a tune that you have in your head and you have to hear it,” jokes OTMC, one of the group’s founding members.
Jokes aside, the rapper notes that the oldest MC worshipers behind La Force de comprehension still aren’t backing down.
“We still have the unwavering support of our fans,” he said. “Our lyrics are still as relevant as they were in the 1990s.”
We have to believe OTMC as the song Soul Pleureur, released in 1997, surpassed one million plays on Spotify. Dubmatique, which peaked in the late 1990s, has over 15,000 monthly listeners on this app; The streaming platform only went live in 2006.
“We’ll see our old fans with their kids on their shoulders,” says the rapper, who is looking forward to his return to the stage.
Pioneers for Loud and Souldia
Dubmatique, even at its peak, was far from the time when Quebec rap could afford to dream of the Bell Centre. Disoul, also the founder of the group, is proud to have been part of the boom in this style of music.
“It makes us proud to say that we’ve managed to put a small stone on top of the great building that rap has become,” he says. “It’s heartwarming when people like Souldia and Loud tell us they watched us when they started.”
While rappers have been able to achieve greater success thanks to Dubmatique, so have record companies such as Joy Ride Records and Disques 7ième Ciel.
Carlos Munoz [fondateur de Joy Ride] and Steve Jolin [fondateur de 7ième Ciel] thanked us by telling us that if their labels are so solid, they owe it to pioneers like us.
Nothing new on the horizon
Disoul and OTMC may not be opposed to the idea of proposing new material to their audience, but according to their statements; One after the other.
“We’re starting to orient ourselves and do reunion-style shows, a matter of then better assessing our position.”
Dubmatique will perform two of his classics on Canada Day in Ottawa and return to Quebec for the Expo de Trois-Rivières on July 7, where the group will perform a full show.
Dubmatique in three highlights
1997 was a successful year for the group, whose album “La Force de comprehension” went platinum for selling more than 150,000 copies. That same year, Dubmatique appeared as the opening act for the Backstreet Boys at the famous boy band’s four Quebec dates.
In 1998, Dubmatique won the Félix for Group of the Year at the ADISQ Gala and was also selected for the Juno Gala for best selling French language album.
In the late 1990s, the band merged with Tox Records, the same label that once represented Mitsou and the BBs, among others.