The world is celebrating hip-hop's 50th birthday. Montreal is about to join the party

As cities around the world get ready to celebrate hip-hop's 50th anniversary, some Montrealers are about to put on a party of their own — and they're trying to go big.

Things kick off Saturday with a free outdoor party at Vinet park in the city's Little Burgundy neighbourhood from noon to 11 p.m.

It will feature a wide range of performers from the worlds of DJing and MCing. Graffiti and b-boying, aspects that were later added to the culture, will also be showcased.

The event's organizer wants to recreate the atmosphere of the New York City block parties that saw the emergence of hip-hop culture in the 1970s.

"It's not like a festival where the stage is high up and you've got barricades. You have to feel like you're in the Bronx,'' said Kevin Calixte, referring to the New York City borough that holds bragging rights as hip-hop's birthplace.

"This is an opportunity to thank, to highlight and to celebrate hip-hop."

An 'omnipresent' culture

Hip-hop's anniversary will be celebrated by people around the world on Aug. 11.

On that day in 1973, a legendary block party featured Clive Campbell, most commonly known as DJ Kool Herc, pioneering the art of the break.

Hip-hop's 50th anniversary has already been celebrated at several award shows this year, including the Grammys and the Juno Awards. Legendary producer DJ Premier performed at this year's Montreal Jazz Festival, paying tribute to hip-hop.

But overall, Calixte felt not enough was being done in Montreal to acknowledge a culture he's been immersed in since he was five years old, one that he describes as "omnipresent."

"You go in your car [and turn on the radio], you go to a coffee shop, a lounge, a terrasse, a club or a wedding, and you hear it, it's everywhere," said Calixte, who has been involved in Montreal's hip-hop scene for years as a show promoter and is the co-host of a weekly podcast called Rapolitik, which features interviews with prominent and up-and-coming local hip-hop artists.

Celebration within a celebration

If hip-hop is the star of Saturday's show, the supporting acts will be a long list of the city's performers, including DJ Manifest, DJ Godfather D and Nicholas Craven, who will put the spotlight on the local scene's strength and history.

The block party will also include kiosks, food, activities for children and a live painting show.

Kayiri, a violinist and an MC, is slated to perform a tribute to Bad News Brown, an MC whose violent death in 2011 rocked the local scene.

In addition to the block party, Harlem of the North is also organizing panel discussions on Sunday regarding various themes related to hip-hop.

Max C. Borgella, who performs under the name Outra La Pieuvre, and Youri Dominique, who goes by Naufrage, will take the stage to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Armageddon, as the hip-hop group Rainmen.

"Celebrating the 25th is an important milestone in our career (...) It's a quarter of a century. I find it interesting because the Wu-Tang Clan is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their first album in November (...) This synchronization around mythical projects is great," said Naufrage.

The duo will be joined by several artists who have collaborated with them over the years.

"This type of event keeps our name and the culture alive. It's important for the local hip-hop scene to gain worldwide recognition and for the city to become a hub. We don't want Montreal to look like a city begging for big-name artists," said Outra La Pieuvre.

Rainmen is expected to release a project in the fall.

Carrying love of hip-hop across the ocean

When singer and MC Meryem Saci got the call about performing at the outdoor party, she accepted without hesitation.

Saci says hip-hop helped her when she was going through the difficult times of a civil war that ravaged Algeria during the 1990s.

"Something captivated me in rap like nothing else while I was in Algeria, which felt like, for the first time, I was able to hear things that we were going through articulated," said Saci.

She says hip-hop made her feel like there was "a way out of the struggle."

The former group member of Nomadic Massive recently released a collaborative hip-hop album with Akhenaton, one of the pioneers of French hip-hop and a former group member of IAM.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop and her official debut as a hip-hop artist, Saci will be performing in Arabic, French and English.

"I'm going to play most of my tracks and do some medleys of old school beats and freestyle on them for a little bit just to salute the culture in every way that it has impacted me,'' said Saci.

"When we're thinking about festivals in Montreal, we have not had enough space to celebrate hip-hop," she said. "It has to be celebrated, it has to be in the forefront, it has to be shouted out."

"I can't wait to see what Montreal does with this celebration."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.