Canadian Cult Classics 9 months ago
I'm currently setting up an interview with Toronto saxophone legend Demo Cates. Many of you may not know this, but Demo was part of a four-man team in Toronto that worked on a number of Canada's earliest Hip-Hop projects (1979-1982). The crew consisted of Jay McGhee (alias Mr. Q), Bob Boyer (Bobby/Demo), Demo Cates (Barry/Demo & Bobby/Demo) and record shop/label owner George Lewis (Monica's Productions/Scorpio Records). Together, they released over a dozen singles, and Canada's first full length Hip-Hop album "Rap The Night Away" on George's various imprints. These various projects were cut in a handful of Toronto studios (Kensington Sound, The Sound Kitchen and Integrated Sound Studios) using a regular backing band consisting of some of Toronto's top session players (and many ex-members of Toronto Funk/Soul band Crack Of Dawn): Gary Steed (Drums), George Flint (Bass/Guitar), Kingsley Etienne (Piano/Keyboards), Butch Flint (Percussion) and Demo Cates (Saxophone/Percussion). As Mr. Q, Jay McGhee will go down in history as Canada's first recorded Hip-Hop act. His debut single "Ladies Delight" released in September/October 1979 used a redone version of Cameo's "I Just Want To Be" and was a tongue and cheek reference to the recently released (September 16th, 1979) "Rapper's Delight" by New York's Sugarhill Gang. "Ladies Delight" could also contain the first interior diss in Hip-Hop History, calling out Sugarhill Gang with these lines: "Now I heard about Sugar, I heard about Hill Let me say they got no skill All these guys wish they could rap Ought to go somewhere and shut their yap" [Photos in order: Demo Cates, Bob Boyer, Jay McGhee, Rap The Night Away cover, Scorpio Records logo]
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