Quebec’s most popular rapper at the moment, Fouki, has dropped his fourth album Zayon.
The Disques 7ième Ciel artist from the Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood of Montreal has been riding a wave of momentum in his home province since winning last year’s ADISQ award for Best Song for “Copilote” with frequent collaborator Jay Scott.
He’s dropped singles from the album already: the country-tinged title track and the gratingly kitschy “80’s.” Given where Fouki is at in his career as the rare Montreal rapper who can get on commercial radio, it’s perhaps not surprising his most recent work has taken a more pop turn. That being said, he’s still piling on the catchy, repeatable expressions.
Fouki’s list of producers in the studio remains a who’s who of Quebec’s biggest names: QuietMike, Pops and Poolboy, Ruffsound, Adem Boutlidja, Bynon, and Jay Century. He got guest verses from Muzion legend Imposs and chiac star P’tit Belliveau. Two Belgian rap stars, Primero and Swing, also appear on “No Stress.”
On the visual side, one of Fouki’s longtime collaborators is Chien Champion, who recently designed the limited edition Canadian box for the Nike “Montreal Bagel” dunks.
Fouki has two arena showed planned for Quebec: Apr 8 at Place Bell in Laval and Apr 22 at Centre Videotron in Quebec City.
