Hey y'all,We're nervous as hell. It's finally here. All year we've been working towards this project, and finally all the roadblocks are disappearing and the anticipation is coming to a peak, pun intended.
The history: The Movement Fam's Cee (MC/manager) and Alaiz's Dr. MaD (producer/DJ) have an interesting story. They worked together via a chain of connections beginning with KevinNottingham.com back in 2009, without ever actually speaking. But when Cee moved to Montreal in 2012, the two finally connected in person. MaD made some beats with Cee in mind, and what was supposed to be just a brief collab quickly escalated into a full-scale EP entitled 'Steps To The Peak'.
This project is an eight track love letter to the city of Montreal. It was entirely written, produced, recorded, shot and designed in the 514, with the exception of Notion's mixing and mastering in Toronto (he's part of The Movement Fam so it's cool). Dr. MaD's production is enveloped in the art of sampling, with old Soul and Jazz tunes brought to life by his deft chops, dipping them in Hip Hop on the way out. Cee used this sonic landscape to tell real life stories about his experiences in Canada - leaving his home country of Australia to pursue a dream in the great wide north, the tumultuous move to Montreal, dealings with immigration, and his regular battles with fear, doubt and negative energy. Ultimately, it's a story of two artists connecting through the love of music in order to express their 'amour' for the city, the country and the culture of Hip Hop.
'Steps To The Peak' will be available for free download via Cee's Bandcamp page on Friday September 13th 2013 (13 is Cee's lucky number).
You can also cop 'Steps To The Peak' on iTunes.
You can also catch the video for the first single from the project, 'When The Chips Are Down', in full HD on 9Block's Vimeo page, or roll by The Movement Fam's YouTube channel to check it out.
All photography by Brandon Johnston and design by Liam Liam Liam.
