“What’s coming is a worldwide takeover,” Nicholas Craven announces with unmistakable seriousness and assurance.
The goal (to conquer the world) is ambitious, but what he has accomplished in just under 10 years shows that he is on the right track. In addition to having produced complete albums of respected American underground rappers such as Ransom, Boldy James and Tha God Fahim, he did the same for Akhenaton, of the legendary group IAM, and launched a solo trilogy, Craven N, on which we can hear Roc Marciano, Westside Gunn and Styles P, among others.
He also designed the beat for Mach-Hommy’s Mozambique Drill, which has nearly 3 million streams on Spotify. It is with the rapper of Haitian origin that Craven recently met Jay-Z, in Los Angeles. Involuntarily, the latter contributed in part to the notoriety of the Quebecer at home. “At the end of 2020, Jay-Z put me on his list of the best songs of the year for Squeaky Hinge, by Mach-Hommy, says the producer from Gatineau. I was a little known in the United States, but no one knew me in Montreal. Being on this list changed that. So in 2021, I decided that would be the year I was going to focus on Montreal. »
Although he claims to have talked to all members of the local hip-hop community during this year, most encounters have not been successful. One of them, however, allowed him to meet Mike Shabb, who raps in English.
Mike Shabb is only 25 years old, but he has made a living from his music since he was 18. He was associated with the Make It Rain Records label, under Bonsound, then had a fair amount of success with Jeune Loup, before the assassination of the latter in August 2021. Some time before this disturbing incident, the young artist from Magog had already begun a process of reflection on his career. “I was tired of doing what I was doing and had been looking for months to reinvent myself with a sound that was uniquely my own,” Shabb says. One night I was on YouTube and saw Dr Bird’s by Griselda. I was gripped! I listened to their whole catalog and it reminded me of what I was doing when I started rapping. »
A few months later, after realizing that some of the beats of Tha God Fahim, another artist he had recently discovered, were the work of a Montrealer named Nicholas Craven, Mike Shabb, who also makes excellent drumless style beats, contacted him on Instagram. Since then, the pair has been almost inseparable.
This first joint offering was produced entirely by Craven. “We probably listened to at least 1,000 beats and ended up doing 6 songs,” Craven says. As with other artists I often work with, I’m beginning to see the nuances and aspects of my work that he likes the most. For example, the Save the Joker beat, I just did it for him. I found the sample and then I was like, “This is for Shabb.” When he heard it, he took it without hesitation. »
“I did the song right after,” confirms the MC. It’s rare that I hear a beat and think that I have to record live. »
In addition to finding a like-minded producer, Shabb found someone to pass on his knowledge of hip-hop. “Two of us are a power house of musical knowledge,” says Shabb. My career has progressed since I listened to what he told me. I tried to make music to please the world. Him, he made me realize that the music, you make it for yourself, then if you make it for yourself, there are people who will gravitate towards it. »
“He’s a super talented dude that I love making music with,” Craven, 30, said of his friend and collaborator. He is able to bring some elements of contemporary rap and mix them with boom bap. There’s no one doing that because there’s no one in that scene who’s 25. Nobody does that in the United States, nobody in Canada. I am witnessing the development of a real new independent artist. Everything he does, he does in his own unique way. It’s just fucking too inspiring! »
