Canada Post’s newest Black History Month stamp set celebrates the vibrant roots of hip-hop in Canada.
The stamps pay tribute to three of the country’s most dynamic hip-hop trailblazers – Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee and Muzion. Each of the artists is recognized for helping to shape the genre in Canada, while infusing the music with a uniquely Canadian sound.
Hear Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee and Muzion describe their reaction to finding out they were going to be featured on a stamp below.
Maestro Fresh Wes
With his 1989 debut album Symphony in Effect, Maestro Fresh Wes (b. Wesley Williams, 1968) became the first Canadian MC to break into the mainstream.
The album’s monster hit single “Let Your Backbone Slide” was the first Canadian rap song to go gold, while the album itself went platinum. In 1991, the JUNO Awards introduced a new category, Best Rap Recording – Symphony in Effect took the win. Over his career, Maestro released nine studio albums and became an author, actor and motivational speaker.
In 2024, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
Find out what Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee and Muzion have to say about their legacies
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Michie Mee
Michie Mee (b. Michelle McCullock, 1970) was Canada’s first hip-hop superstar and built a reputation for continually pushing boundaries.
The iconic MC exploded onto the scene in the late 1980s and was among the first to bring Jamaican Patois into her rhymes. In 1987, she released her debut single “Elements of Style,” which was an instant hit. A year later, she became the first Canadian MC to sign with a major U.S. label. In 1991, she released her first album, Jamaican Funk – Canadian Style, which combined rap with dancehall and reggae. Later that decade she joined Raggadeath, a group known for fusing heavy metal and reggae.
Find out what Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee and Muzion have to say about the early days of hip-hop in Canada
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Muzion
Hailing from Montréal, Muzion brought a distinct sound to the world of hip-hop, layering French, English and Haitian Creole into their music.
The group was formed in 1996 by MCs J.Kyll (Jenny Salgado), Imposs (Stanley Salgado) and Dramatik (Jocelyn Bruno). Their two albums Mentalité moune morne… (Ils n’ont pas compris) (1999) and J’rêvolutionne (2002) received multiple honours, including Félix Awards for Hip-Hop Album of the Year. Their hit single “La vi ti nèg” won a 2004 Canadian Urban Music Award.
Muzion’s influence stretched into the wider culture. The trio, who were all born to Haitian parents, helped
