If you don’t know Aly Ndiaye, you should.
Aly Ndiaye, alias Webster, is Québec City’s premier hip hop artist. His unique brand of thoughtful and thought-provoking rap thrills both die-hard fans and those who are new to the genre. With seven records to his credit, he has proven his worth in the industry. For the 2014 edition of Québec City’s Summer Music Festival, Webster warmed up the audience for SoCal’s Snoop Dogg. He wowed the local crowd with several of his biggest hits, including my favorite, Qc History X, which chronicles 400 years of Québec history in 3 minutes 40 seconds. Check it out:
Since we are on the subject… Aly is an historian as well. Specializing in black history, he brings clarity and, especially, attention to an aspect of Québec and Canadian history that has been underestimated and under-analyzed. I have seen him present his research, and he is riveting. His research, in fact, has allowed me to bring new depth to my tours of Québec City.
Aly also teaches writing. He travels throughout the world, explaining the nuances of the French language to captivated audiences. One of the foundational elements of his philosophy is that the mélange of rhythm, rhyme, and metaphor that gives hip hop its distinctive style is the same that makes great writing great. University students everywhere – Harvard and MIT, most notably – have benefited from Aly’s unique writing workshops.
If you don’t know Aly Ndiaye, you should.
(Cover Photo Credit: Elisabeth Schwartz)
Very interesting post. I now know Aly and I want to know more – thanks Neil.
Wow!Never heard of Ali before your post Neil! Thanks for letting me know about a new hip hop artist from Qc! He’s very intelligent raper. I like the instrumental on this song too.
Very interesting, I will use it in my guiding class!
did you know that Karim Ouellet studied in the Tourism program at Collège mérici? Then he went for music, where he really belongs…but he did not forget his Quebec guiding class!!
Bravo.
Hello Neil,
Very, really very fascinating topic. It’s so crazy to realize how many communities were simply excluded from the official history of many countries and Empires. If you want to know more about the exclusion of Indians in North America history, take a look at this book recently published “The Inconvenient Indian” which is also very instructive.
I certainly look forward reading your next chronicle. We’ll see soon, I hope…
Denis Laberge
Very cool. I wish I could understand it! Nonetheless, I can appreciate the message and the music is good.
Very good article Neil. I discovered a new artist and yes, it gives us a good opportunity to add new elements in our tours. I just shared it on Nomad Tours Québec’s facebook page!
Neil, thanks so much for introducing us to Aly! I’m sorry to say that I didn’t know him until now …
I met Webster at a conference on slavery. A very talented and diplomatic man. Somehow, he found a way to unwind us and even make us laugh while still giving us the bad and the ugly on slavery in Quebec.