Dubmatique is a

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

hip hop group formed in the 1990s in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Groupmates Dj Choice, OTMC, and Jérôme-Philippe are the first French-language hip-hop group from Canada to have a number one hit single on the francophone pop charts. Dubmatique is often regarded as one of the groups that launched French Canadian Hip Hop, and within this category they are the only group to have an album certified Platinum.

Career

1980s to breakthrough: early career and breakthrough

In the 1980s, Disoul and OTMC became friends in the country of

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

. In the early 1990s Disoul moved to

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, Canada. He joined a hip-hop radio show named Dubmatique, with co-host Cedric it was eventually decided that it would become a group. In the mid-1990s, OTMC came to Canada and joined the group. Shortly after, they invited Dj Choice. In 1994, they made their first appearance by doing a freestyle on the mix-tape ''Tape 9-Too Leust'' by

Cut Killer Anouar Hajoui ( ar, أنور حجوي, link=no, Latn, ar, Anwar Hājawiy; born 6 May 1971), better known as DJ Cut Killer or simply Cut Killer, is a Moroccan-born French DJ and record producer with a versatile repertoire of hip hop music. He ...

. By 1995, the group were doing shows in local clubs. They participated at the launch of the album ''Simple et Funky'' by Alliance Ethnik and the soundtrack for the movie ''

La Haine ''La Haine'' (, ; released in the United States as ''Hate'') is a 1995 French crime drama film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui, the film chronicles a day and nig ...

''. They won the award Best Hip Hop Group of the Year at the Gala Mimi. That same summer, they performed at the music festival Les FrancoFolies de Montréal. In 1997, on the French Canadian market, they released their first album named ''La force de comprendre''. It was soon certified platinum, selling over 125,000 copies. Because of the singles and music videos for ''Soul Pleureur, La force de comprendre,'' and ''Plus rien n’est pareil'', they reached the top of the charts on commercial radio stations and TV channels for music videos. The reviews were favourable on both lyrics and the production. The album featured French rappers Menelik and 2 Bal. Dubmatique went on to perform 150 shows on stages throughout

. At the

equivalent of the "

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

s" called "Le Gala de L'

ADISQ ADISQ (french: Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video; eng, Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries, link=yes) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the indepen ...

", the band won the

Félix Award The Félix Award (french: Trophée Félix or Prix Félix) is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' ( ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian ...

of "Best Rock Alternative Album" (Their first year at "Le Gala de L'

", there was no Hip Hop section). They were nominated for Group of the year, and Revelation of the year. In 1998 the band won the Félix Award for Group of the year, and two more nominations for Show of the year and Best Seller. On the English side of Canada they were nominated for a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for the Best selling Francophone album.

1999 to 2001: subsequent success

Their second album, the self-titled Dubmatique was released in 1999. They launched the singles and music videos of ''La vie est si fragile'' with the violinist

Ashley MacIsaac Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac (born February 24, 1975) is a Canadian fiddler, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at the Juno A ...

and ''Mémoires''. The album was certified gold and sold 35,000 copies in the first week. They collaborated with two members of the group

IAM IAM may refer to: Concepts * Identity and access management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies * Indo-Aryan migration, the theory that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages migrated into the Indian subcontinent dur ...

: Shurik’n was featured on the song ''L’avenir'', and Akhenathon remixed the single ''La force de comprendre'' from the first album. Montreal artists were also featured: El Winner of Latitude Nord, D-Shade of Shades of Culture and Mr. Len. The record was well received and Dubmatique continued to perform around Quebec and fill up large venues. Finally at "Le Gala de L'

", they won the Félix Award for "Hip Hop Album of the year", were nominated for Group of the year. Additionally at "Le Gala Soba" they won two Sound of Blackness Awards for Best Group of the year, and Best Francophone Hip Hop Group of the year. Dj Choice did not participate on the production of their third album. Disoul and OTMC worked with Sonny Black, Jaynaz, Ray Ray, and Stéphane Dufour. In 2001 they released the album ''Influences''. ''Ragga Dub'' and ''Sexcite-Moi,'' a collaboration with the rock singer Éric Lapointe, were chosen as the singles and music videos to launch the album. The group continued to do well on the charts. They won the

for Best Hip Hop Album of the year. This record is also annotated to be the first appearance by best selling R&B singer

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

on a professional project.

2004 to present day: solo projects and reunions

In 2004, their label Tox released the compilation ''Mémoires'' that contained all of their hits. Shortly after, Disoul and OTMC launched solo projects. In 2005, Disoul decided to use his real name, Jérôme-Philippe and released a self-titled album where he mixed rapping and singing. OTMC followed up in 2006 with a Hip Hop album named ''Sincérité volontaire''. Their respective songs would play on the radios throughout Quebec and sales were respectable. In 2008, a group was created by a fan on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

to urge Dubmatique to reunite, and over 50,000 fans joined. This motivated OTMC and Disoul to make an album. In 2009 they launched ''Trait d’union''. Dj Choice participated and produced the song ''Patience'' a collaboration with Sir Pathetik,

Imposs Stanley Rimsky Salgado, known by his stage name Imposs, is a Haitian-Canadian rapper based in Quebec. Before becoming a solo artist, he was part of Muzion, one of the well-known hip hop bands of Quebec. He has collaborated on many occasions with ...

and John John. Singers Barnev Valsaint, Jennifer Silencieux, and Mike Coriolan also participated. Singles and music videos for ''La Vibe'' and ''Cold World'' were released. Les FrancoFolies de Montréal music festival organised their first reunion show.

Awards

1995 Meeting Group of the Year 1997 Gala de l'

Win: Best Rock Alternative Album ((at the time the "gala de l'ADISQ" did't have a Hip Hop section)) *Félix Award Nomination: Group of the year *Félix Award Nomination: Revelation of the year 1998 Gala de l'

Win: Group of SHEESHHHthe year *Félix Award Nomination:Show of the year by writer-composer-performer *Félix Award Nomination: Best selling album 1998

*Juno Award Nomination: Best Selling Francophone Album 1998

Much Music Video Awards The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

*Much Music Video Awards Win: Best French Video 1999 Gala de l'

Win: Best Hip Hop Album *Félix Award Nomination: Group of the year 1999 Soba Gala *Sound of Blackness Award Win: Best Group of the year *Sound of Blackness Award Win: Best Francophone Hip Hop Group of the year 2002 Gala de l'

*Félix Award Win: Best Hip Hop Album

Collaborations

"Tape 9-Too Leust" (1994) - Freestyle - *

"Freestyle Canada" (1999) - Freestyle - *Online "Everest" (2010) - Superstar -

Discography

* 1997: ''La force de comprendre'' * 1998: ''Dubmatique'' * 2001: ''Influences'' * 2009: ''Trait d'union''

References

;Citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubmatique Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups from Montreal Canadian hip hop groups Black Canadian musical groups