Magnum .357: “Expos Fitted”
October 23, 2010 § 1 Comment
A tip of the hat to Sarah, who posted a comment in response to Nos Amours (and check out the original post at NCPH’s Off The Wall), directing us to a video of Montréal rapper Magnum .357 and his début single/video, “Expos Fitted.” She posted the video in her comment, but I think it deserves wider exposure. I especially love the nostalgia of the Expos dressed up as gangsta rap.
Mag .357 is practically my neighbour, he hails from Montréal’s Anglo-Black neighbourhood, Little Burgundy, which is across the Lachine Canal from me here in Pointe-Saint-Charles. Burgundy is a curious neighbourhood, as it is home to both inner-city gang violence and yuppies who have gentrified the old worker’s cottages and triplexes that line the streets. It is also one of the oldest Black communities in Canada.
Burgundy also has a long history of being a centre of entertainment in Montréal. In the wake of Prohibition in the US and before the rise of Jean Drapeau as mayor of the city in 1960, Burgundy was home to various jazz clubs, most notably the legendary Rufus Rockhead’s Paradise. Oscar Peterson and his student Oliver Jones, the two greatest jazz musicians this country has ever produced, also grew up on the streets of Burgundy. In this sense, Mag .357 is carrying on the tradition.
I have to say, I love this track and I’ve been checking out his MySpace page. Enjoy.
Matthew Barlow 
[…] stream of comments, both on that site and into my inbox, as well, to a lesser degree, here at Spatialities. One of my readers, Sarah, pointed out Montréal rapper Magnum .357′s track “Expos […]