Canada

Canadian rap found its footing in 1989, when Maestro Fresh Wes turned “Let Your Backbone Slide” into the country’s first gold rap single and Symphony in Effect into its first platinum rap album. Through the 1990s, Toronto’s T-dot and Vancouver’s Van City built separate but connected scenes, from Kardinal Offishall and the Circle crew in the east to the Rascalz on the west coast, whose Juno protest and “Northern Touch” posse cut forced the industry to take notice. Swollen Members carried Vancouver’s underground to platinum sales in the early 2000s, while Belly, Snak the Ripper and the Stompdown Killaz crew kept widening the map. Today Canada is one of rap’s most influential exporters.