THE DREAM WARRIORS – LEGENDARY CANADIAN HIP HOP CREW ON UNCOMPROMISING CULTURE AND THE COUNTER-STEREOTYPICAL REALITY OF FANBOY HIP HOP HEADS (MF GALAXY 144)


WHY DREAM WARRIORS ALBUM COVERS DIDN’T FEATURE CARS OR SCANTILY-CLAD  DANCING WOMEN, WHY MANY ARTISTS AND FANS DON’T REVEAL THEIR TRUE SELVES  AND PASSIONS

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Back in the late 80s and early 90s, even though there were  artists across the country, the Canadian hip hop recording and video  industry was centered on Toronto, and the three giants were Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee, and this episode’s guests, The Dream Warriors.

The Dream Warriors included Toronto’s King Lou and Capital Q, and for the second album Subliminal Simulations  added DJ Luv and also the rapper Spek from Montreal. Their top hits  included “Wash Your Face in My Sink” and “Ludi,” and along the way  members collaborated with Michie Mee, MC Lyte, Maestro, Lillian Allen, Messanjah, Butterfly from Digable Planets, and Gang Starr. They also  recorded “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” for the soundtrack to the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Even though Buffy  the movie was far from the pop culture icon that the TV series became,  the crossed paths of Buffy and the Dream Warriors makes sense today. The  Dream Warriors weren’t interested in rapping about many of the  fixations of the early 1990s—no degradation of African women; no  celebration of the murder of African men.

Instead, the albums  contained enigmatic wordplay, references to fan culture including role  playing games, Warlock comics, and Star Wars, and Canadian pop  references such as their unforgettable hit, using a sample from the  theme song to the long-running Canadian game show Definition, a song written by the great composer Quincy Jones. It’s called “My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style.”

While the band released a third album called The Master Plan, that 1996 recording wasn’t published in the US. Spek and DJ Luv both left the group in 1997; the 2002 album The Legacy Continues saw distribution in Canada only. But for fans of the Canadian hip hop scene, the band will live forever.

In the fall of 1994 the group was touring Canada to promote their second album, Subliminal Simulations. The group spoke with me by telephone from Toronto and I recorded our conversation at CJSR FM-88 Edmonton for The Terrordome and The United Nation of Hip Hop, my radio shows of the time. We discussed:
  • Reactions to Subliminal Simulations’ new musical directions
  • The importance of embracing other cultures without rejecting one’s own
  • The  counter-stereotypical reality of young African-Canadians in the 1980s  and 90s who loved comics, science fiction, and RPG board games as much  as they loved hip hop
  • Why Dream Warriors album covers didn’t feature cars or scantily-clad dancing women, which was a typical look for the time, and
  • Why many artists and fans don’t reveal their true selves and passions

My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style



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