High Level Hip Hop CJSR 88.5 FM

A special episode for CJSR 88.5FM's 2021 Fundrive! Listen to our producers retrospectively look back on the season and revisit the exclusive tracks recorded live at the CJSR studios this past summer.

That’s a wrap on our inaugural season! What a ride it’s been. Much love to all those who have been tuning in and listening with us along the way.

There is no set recipe for how to become a hip hop artist. The path is defined by our own experiences and develops as an extension of our true personality. Such is the case with this week’s artist, Thug Shells, a local Edmonton hip hop artist, freestyler, community builder, and Twitch streamer.

High Level Hip Hop producer, Tristan Cruz, catches up with Thug Shells to discuss her unique breakthrough into the local music scene and to find out what “Gangster Adorability” truly means.

This episode also features the exclusive debut of "Lift Off" by Thug Shells, recorded live this summer at CJSR Studios.

To hear more from Thug Shells, find her on Spotify, Bandcamp, or your preferred streaming service. For more information on what she has coming up, visit her website at thugshells.ca

Subscribe to High Level Hip Hop so that you never miss an episode and for future announcements on series to come. You can also follow the show on Instagram or send us an email at highlevelhiphop@gmail.com. If you enjoyed this week's episode, show your support by leaving a review!

How many of you have pondered where hip hop began? Maybe you learned of its rise in America with shows like ‘Hip Hop evolution” on Netflix, but have you ever considered Edmonton as being one of the hubs for this rich cultural phenomenon?

High Level Hip Hop Producer, Vanessa Viveiros, catches up with Kaz Mega to uncover some answers. KazMega, a multi-dimensional community builder and creative. As admirably described on his LinkedIn profile, “he is a journeyman welder of artistic expression, trained to apply hot fiyah to seemingly inflexible topics and forge completely new yet sturdy observations.”

With lifelong influence from some of the OG’s of hip hop, Kaz sheds light on when and where hip hop started. We discover not only was Edmonton one of the hubs for hip hop music when it all began, but Kaz’s father played a key role in what we discover as being one of the 4 elements of hip hop. With influence from the youth forging a new path and the cats that watched it all begin, Kaz is an invaluable human for us to connect with on this show.

Kaz also shares his involvement in the community through a wide range of initiatives and sheds light on how hip hop is his way of life. Checkout his song ‘Part Time Apartheid Reprise’ recorded live this summer at CJSR studios at the end of the episode, exclusively on HLHH.

To hear more from Kaz Mega, checkout his Bandcamp. For more information and links to other socials, checkout his Webiste at http://www.kazmega.com/

Subscribe to High Level Hip Hop so you never miss an episode. You can also follow our show on Instagram @highlevelhiphop or send us an email at highlevelhiphop@gmail.com. If you enjoyed this week’s episode, show your support by leaving a review!

Being an emerging artist is a constant struggle between you and your inner critic, and before you can have run-ins with corrupt managers, feuding bandmates, or obsessive fans, the first hurdle you have to overcome is yourself. On this week's episode of High Level Hip Hop, producer Tom Ndekezi talks to Cxtotheworld about encounters with self-doubt, his own journey of discovery as an artist, and why hip hop is such a uniquely competitive genre.

This episode also features the exclusive debut of "Letter to Myself" by Cxtotheworld, recorded live this summer at CJSR Studios.

To hear more from Cxtotheworld, make sure to search for him on Apple Music, Spotify or your preferred streaming service.

Subscribe to High Level Hip Hop so that you never miss an episode. You can also follow the show on Instagram or send us an email at highlevelhiphop@gmail.com. If you enjoyed this week's episode, show your support by leaving a review!

There’s a beauty in juxtaposition - in holding on to seemingly opposite ideas at the same time. On this week’s episode, High Level Hip Hop host, Biboye Onanuga, speaks with local artist Selassie Drah about the conflicting truths that motivate his work and make up the unique artist he is.

The Ghanaian-Canadian is both a rapper and recluse; striving to be authentic, but mindful of the vulnerability in living as your true self; and creating art for himself, but releasing it so as not to deprive others of beauty and inspiration. Underneath all of these divergent realities is a deep awareness of our mortality that impels Selassie to self-express. “There’s a sad truth about life, that we’re not gonna get to do everything that we want, and that’s ok. But we can work towards it little by little”.

We close with a brand new take on Selassie’s track, Falling, recorded live at CJSR this summer. A reflective song addressing the fine line between an artist’s public visibility, and shrinking back to privacy Selassie balances as an artist. You can checkout his track on Youtube with this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryS-VaRfQ5o.


Many thanks to Selassie for contributing his time and wisdom to this episode. To hear more music from Selassie, visit his Bandcamp at https://selassiedrah.bandcamp.com/.

How many of you out there have ever felt alone and under-represented? Or felt the need to express yourself on your own terms and control how you define yourself?

On this episode, High Level Hip Hop producer Tristan Cruz caught up with Alberta-based artist, PLEASEBENiCE, to discuss her experience fitting into the local music scene and how she creates her own brand of hip hop and hyper pop.

Exclusive to this episode, we take a listen to “Can’t Believe I Found You”, a track which demonstrates PLEASEBENiCE’s experimental and DIY approach, recorded live this summer at CJSR Studios.