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When news broke that Drake and The Weeknd would be the latest contemporary artists to receive their own University course, in their original stomping ground of Toronto nonetheless, local veterans assumed that only one man could be behind such a cerebral affair. Dalton Higgins might actually be too qualified for the job. A longtime fixture of the GTA, Higgins has become something of an officiated scholar on the deeper aspects of Drake’s branding and music, releasing his definitive biography Far From Over… and producing This is Not a Drake Podcast.
It reaches beyond his contributions to CNN and Billboard or the elite connections of his publicity company; Dalton has always held an attachment to our changing society and how its pop landscape strives and struggles to keep up.
The latest project in which he is involved, New Monuments (dir. Karen Chapman) streaming now for free on CBC tackles the existence of archaic statues in an increasingly multicultural landscape and collects supreme local talent from high level choreographer Tanisha Scott, iconic videographer Director X, and a troupe of 40 dancers pulled from various societies throughout the city. Initially, it was co-curator Umbereen Inayet, a former colleague of Higgins and her ability to aggregate top tier creatives that led Dalton to devote his resources to getting New Monuments seen:
“Toronto needs New Monuments,” Higgins declares simply, “Canada in general, but Toronto in particular.” He continues, “Think about how offensive it would be to attend a university, ‘Ryerson’ (where Higgins teaches) named after the man who put together the blueprint for residential schools. It’s not acceptable and it’s insane. As people become more aware of these things, schools need a name change.” In reaction to the atrocities of its namesake, Ergerton Ryerson, many people are calling the university “X” until it is renamed.
“It’s a very simple concept that any human being should grasp,” Higgins uses more recent crimes against humanity to indicate the severity of the situation: “The idea that a Jewish person would have to go to a school named after someone who was complicit in the Holocaust and who is responsible for the persecution of Jews is disgusting.”
“We’re more forward thinking about culture now, so there’s no excuse to not do better. There’s more awareness on human rights abuses and civil rights atrocities committed against a lot of racialized communities in Canada namely the Indigenous […] It’s 2021. If you know better, do better.” It’s a concept explored by co-creative director “Director X” in his recent interview to Complex Canada where he calls for the takedown of Egerton Ryerson’s statue explicitly:
“We (Black people) cancelled R. Kelly, so no one can talk to us. We haven’t played “Step In the Name of Love” and we loved those records. But guess what? He crossed lines. He had his time and he had his moment. Ryerson had his time with the statue, but that’s done. We can’t ignore what’s been done. When you’ve committed actual crimes against humanity, you don’t get to have a statue anymore. Sorry.”
“Director X is a guy I’ve seen around at events, parties, TIFF, things like that. He’s been on the scene as long as I have,” which Higgins defines as back when he wrote for The Source and Vibe while living in New York. “In the late 90s to the early 2000s, there were a bunch of people from Toronto who were making waves in the U.S. and his name [then Julien] would always come up.” Director X has since directed music videos for a virtual who’s who of modern icons from Justin Bieber to Kendrick Lamar with much of his current work now allocated through Fela, the production company which he owns.
Higgins and X meet on New Monuments to help purvey social issues. On if Drake and The Weeknd, the focus of Higgins’ curriculum this Winter term, are doing as much to bring awareness to issues pertaining to race and youth as him and Director X, Higgins thinks both parties like most celebrities, can be doing more.
“Drake and The Weeknd can essentially change the world. Let’s say that kids in Toronto aren’t interested in doing Post-Secondary, Drake and The Weeknd can essentially put out a joint statement endorsing university and see the enrollment spike like no tomorrow.” We both laughed at the improbability of the endorsement. “A simple call for their fans to get out and vote and influence the political figures that can engage interests based on their issues would see poll numbers skyrocket.” We both paused at the improbability of the endorsement.
“These guys have made $100 million. Was your legacy to create dance tunes or save youth by getting involved in issues tied to race, culture, gender, homophobia?” Higgins refers to Kendrick Lamar, Rapsody, Frank Ocean, and even the scholarship program behind “God’s Plan” (a rare meeting where Drake’s music met the world’s realities) as examples of artist’s work becoming an agent of social change.
Higgins also discussed how Toronto’s mentality to pull down acts that see success across the border, a principle referred to locally as ‘screwface capital’ has also yet to properly deviate since Drake and The Weeknd took over the global pop scene. “We don’t take risks here,” Higgins says outright, “[…]what we consider risky like signing young or racialized acts to represent demographic and contemporary music realities isn’t even considered risky elsewhere.” Professor Higgins considers many aspects of the Canadian music industry “stuck in the Stone Ages” and the attachment of music to youth and people of colour is not happening at the speed and pace it is in America, a country perhaps benefitting in some way from a population ten times our size. He does hold hope in us however, giving credit to both XO and OvO among others, “Daniel Caesar and the people around him, this generation more so get it – bringing each other up together.” I eat, my whole team eat indeed.
Professor Higgins will be teaching RTA 950: Selected Topics in Media, Deconstructing Drake & The Weeknd this January at X University. In the meantime, stream New Monuments streaming now on CBC and check out This is Not a Drake Podcast.
Drinkin’ Hipnotiq with Glenn Lewis, I been through it
Glenn Lewis is a national R&B hero, one of the most talented R&B vocalists to come out of this country and he never got his slice of the pie. He had the look; he was handsome, an amazing natural singer. Perhaps between management and the label, he didn’t blow up how he should have and became a local symbol for the barriers and struggles of the music industry.
This is just Drake representing Toronto, it’s even in the song’s title “Weston Road Flows?” I don’t live far from Weston Road and a lot of my friends from the neighbourhood who went to Weston collegiate Institute hear him repping that part of the city and that’s a great thing. The mere fact that it’s going to get gazillions of streams on Tidal and Spotify outweighs any critic who thinks he’s appropriating their voice. Putting that part of the city on the map for Americans who have no clue as to what it is and have to google it, he’s putting it on the map.
Music got you lost, nights pass so much quicker than the days did
Same clothes, you ain't ready for your day shift
This place will burn you up…
When it comes to the night life, getting lost in the sauce, the subtext behind it, the debauchery, counterproductive lifestyles…Drake and The Weeknd aren’t making it up. We shouldn’t fault them for keeping a finger on the pulse of reality whether it be doing a line, being promiscuous, or not knowing what day it is, but within that, it can be a bit problematic. I would love to see some balance, especially since these party songs are getting redundant. How about a song from either of the two tied to Justin Trudeau and how Canada’s political system treats indigenous people or fails to provide their communities with clean drinking water – now that’s a song I’d like to see make the top of Spotify playlists!
And all the wrongs she committed
She was numb and she was so co-dependent
She was young and all she had was the city
But I don't mind, I don't mind
Yeaaaah…this is pretty problematic. When a male artist weighs in on the position of women and how women maneuver and navigate living in big cities and their life circumstances, I oftentimes don’t take it seriously. As men, we don’t qualify to critique the types of choices and decisions that young women make. The feminist in me tunes out. I’m not even interested in how they interpret the life choices women make. I’m more interested in hearing about what Lauryn Hill says about the female experience than Wyclef. It’s its own kind of monument that badly needs replacing.
Think we got too sexy for that metro housin' [Way too sexy]
Diamond popped out, almost swallowed sixty thousand [Sixty piece]
Drake is a master of capturing the imagination of this generation. Tried and tested formulas to get people talking and streaming – as a music enthusiast I prefer something like “Started From the Bottom” – which is more interesting because it deals with roots and class, nepotism, hard work.
“Hotline Bling” is cute, but I’m a hardcore hip hop head and in terms of artistic integrity, that doesn’t really resonate with me. I prefer “bars” Drake, to (meme-intentional) Drake. That guy can rhyme -with a nice catalogue of songs where he’s just spitting lyrics. I will say that Drake and The Weeknd are considering the imaginations of people across seven continents and trying to make their music digestible to people of other cultures. Universal ideas like “STARBOY” that kids in Palestine, Germany, Copenhagen, and Vancouver can sing along and understand, the fact that “Tootsie Slide” can be danced by people of any age…all of this is super intentional.
Read our profile on Drake’s investments here, then go read about how Drake’s romantic history consumes most of CLB here.
When news broke that Drake and The Weeknd would be the latest contemporary artists to receive their own University course, in their original stomping ground of Toronto nonetheless, local veterans assumed that only one man could be behind such a cerebral affair. Dalton Higgins might actually be too qualified for the job. A longtime fixture of the GTA, Higgins has become something of an officiated scholar on the deeper aspects of Drake’s branding and music, releasing his definitive biography Far From Over… and producing This is Not a Drake Podcast.
It reaches beyond his contributions to CNN and Billboard or the elite connections of his publicity company; Dalton has always held an attachment to our changing society and how its pop landscape strives and struggles to keep up.
The latest project in which he is involved, New Monuments (dir. Karen Chapman) streaming now for free on CBC tackles the existence of archaic statues in an increasingly multicultural landscape and collects supreme local talent from high level choreographer Tanisha Scott, iconic videographer Director X, and a troupe of 40 dancers pulled from various societies throughout the city. Initially, it was co-curator Umbereen Inayet, a former colleague of Higgins and her ability to aggregate top tier creatives that led Dalton to devote his resources to getting New Monuments seen:
“Toronto needs New Monuments,” Higgins declares simply, “Canada in general, but Toronto in particular.” He continues, “Think about how offensive it would be to attend a university, ‘Ryerson’ (where Higgins teaches) named after the man who put together the blueprint for residential schools. It’s not acceptable and it’s insane. As people become more aware of these things, schools need a name change.” In reaction to the atrocities of its namesake, Ergerton Ryerson, many people are calling the university “X” until it is renamed.
“It’s a very simple concept that any human being should grasp,” Higgins uses more recent crimes against humanity to indicate the severity of the situation: “The idea that a Jewish person would have to go to a school named after someone who was complicit in the Holocaust and who is responsible for the persecution of Jews is disgusting.”
“We’re more forward thinking about culture now, so there’s no excuse to not do better. There’s more awareness on human rights abuses and civil rights atrocities committed against a lot of racialized communities in Canada namely the Indigenous […] It’s 2021. If you know better, do better.” It’s a concept explored by co-creative director “Director X” in his recent interview to Complex Canada where he calls for the takedown of Egerton Ryerson’s statue explicitly:
“We (Black people) cancelled R. Kelly, so no one can talk to us. We haven’t played “Step In the Name of Love” and we loved those records. But guess what? He crossed lines. He had his time and he had his moment. Ryerson had his time with the statue, but that’s done. We can’t ignore what’s been done. When you’ve committed actual crimes against humanity, you don’t get to have a statue anymore. Sorry.”
“Director X is a guy I’ve seen around at events, parties, TIFF, things like that. He’s been on the scene as long as I have,” which Higgins defines as back when he wrote for The Source and Vibe while living in New York. “In the late 90s to the early 2000s, there were a bunch of people from Toronto who were making waves in the U.S. and his name [then Julien] would always come up.” Director X has since directed music videos for a virtual who’s who of modern icons from Justin Bieber to Kendrick Lamar with much of his current work now allocated through Fela, the production company which he owns.
Higgins and X meet on New Monuments to help purvey social issues. On if Drake and The Weeknd, the focus of Higgins’ curriculum this Winter term, are doing as much to bring awareness to issues pertaining to race and youth as him and Director X, Higgins thinks both parties like most celebrities, can be doing more.
“Drake and The Weeknd can essentially change the world. Let’s say that kids in Toronto aren’t interested in doing Post-Secondary, Drake and The Weeknd can essentially put out a joint statement endorsing university and see the enrollment spike like no tomorrow.” We both laughed at the improbability of the endorsement. “A simple call for their fans to get out and vote and influence the political figures that can engage interests based on their issues would see poll numbers skyrocket.” We both paused at the improbability of the endorsement.
“These guys have made $100 million. Was your legacy to create dance tunes or save youth by getting involved in issues tied to race, culture, gender, homophobia?” Higgins refers to Kendrick Lamar, Rapsody, Frank Ocean, and even the scholarship program behind “God’s Plan” (a rare meeting where Drake’s music met the world’s realities) as examples of artist’s work becoming an agent of social change.
Higgins also discussed how Toronto’s mentality to pull down acts that see success across the border, a principle referred to locally as ‘screwface capital’ has also yet to properly deviate since Drake and The Weeknd took over the global pop scene. “We don’t take risks here,” Higgins says outright, “[…]what we consider risky like signing young or racialized acts to represent demographic and contemporary music realities isn’t even considered risky elsewhere.” Professor Higgins considers many aspects of the Canadian music industry “stuck in the Stone Ages” and the attachment of music to youth and people of colour is not happening at the speed and pace it is in America, a country perhaps benefitting in some way from a population ten times our size. He does hold hope in us however, giving credit to both XO and OvO among others, “Daniel Caesar and the people around him, this generation more so get it – bringing each other up together.” I eat, my whole team eat indeed.
Professor Higgins will be teaching RTA 950: Selected Topics in Media, Deconstructing Drake & The Weeknd this January at X University. In the meantime, stream New Monuments streaming now on CBC and check out This is Not a Drake Podcast.
Drinkin’ Hipnotiq with Glenn Lewis, I been through it
Glenn Lewis is a national R&B hero, one of the most talented R&B vocalists to come out of this country and he never got his slice of the pie. He had the look; he was handsome, an amazing natural singer. Perhaps between management and the label, he didn’t blow up how he should have and became a local symbol for the barriers and struggles of the music industry.
This is just Drake representing Toronto, it’s even in the song’s title “Weston Road Flows?” I don’t live far from Weston Road and a lot of my friends from the neighbourhood who went to Weston collegiate Institute hear him repping that part of the city and that’s a great thing. The mere fact that it’s going to get gazillions of streams on Tidal and Spotify outweighs any critic who thinks he’s appropriating their voice. Putting that part of the city on the map for Americans who have no clue as to what it is and have to google it, he’s putting it on the map.
Music got you lost, nights pass so much quicker than the days did
Same clothes, you ain't ready for your day shift
This place will burn you up…
When it comes to the night life, getting lost in the sauce, the subtext behind it, the debauchery, counterproductive lifestyles…Drake and The Weeknd aren’t making it up. We shouldn’t fault them for keeping a finger on the pulse of reality whether it be doing a line, being promiscuous, or not knowing what day it is, but within that, it can be a bit problematic. I would love to see some balance, especially since these party songs are getting redundant. How about a song from either of the two tied to Justin Trudeau and how Canada’s political system treats indigenous people or fails to provide their communities with clean drinking water – now that’s a song I’d like to see make the top of Spotify playlists!
And all the wrongs she committed
She was numb and she was so co-dependent
She was young and all she had was the city
But I don't mind, I don't mind
Yeaaaah…this is pretty problematic. When a male artist weighs in on the position of women and how women maneuver and navigate living in big cities and their life circumstances, I oftentimes don’t take it seriously. As men, we don’t qualify to critique the types of choices and decisions that young women make. The feminist in me tunes out. I’m not even interested in how they interpret the life choices women make. I’m more interested in hearing about what Lauryn Hill says about the female experience than Wyclef. It’s its own kind of monument that badly needs replacing.
Think we got too sexy for that metro housin' [Way too sexy]
Diamond popped out, almost swallowed sixty thousand [Sixty piece]
Drake is a master of capturing the imagination of this generation. Tried and tested formulas to get people talking and streaming – as a music enthusiast I prefer something like “Started From the Bottom” – which is more interesting because it deals with roots and class, nepotism, hard work.
“Hotline Bling” is cute, but I’m a hardcore hip hop head and in terms of artistic integrity, that doesn’t really resonate with me. I prefer “bars” Drake, to (meme-intentional) Drake. That guy can rhyme -with a nice catalogue of songs where he’s just spitting lyrics. I will say that Drake and The Weeknd are considering the imaginations of people across seven continents and trying to make their music digestible to people of other cultures. Universal ideas like “STARBOY” that kids in Palestine, Germany, Copenhagen, and Vancouver can sing along and understand, the fact that “Tootsie Slide” can be danced by people of any age…all of this is super intentional.
Read our profile on Drake’s investments here, then go read about how Drake’s romantic history consumes most of CLB here.
