More Or Les

By Joshua Ostroff

Underground MCs have long griped about the nihilism of their commercial counterparts and Scarborough, Ont.-born More Or Les's sophomore album finds him similarly concerned with the "crap rappers talk." But he leavens the critiques peppering tracks like Shooting People & Disrespecting Women with a wonderfully deft flow, old school enunciation and comical couplets. Inspired by rap's pre-gangsta golden age -- when good-natured hip-hoppers like Jungle Brothers and Dream Warriors strode the Earth -- Les doesn't just say "it's about fluency with rhyming ingenuity," he proves it. Over tight, jazzy beats built by numerous Canadian producers, including himself, light-hearted Les lists off his favourite local brunch spots, relates the dangers of busking on Queen Street and reminds us on The Truth's penultimate track, and all over the album, that "rapping is fun." - Globe & Mail

By Jason Richards
NOW | MAY 25 - 31, 2006 | VOL. 25 NO. 39

More or Les knows how to sell himself.

Last summer, while other artists sweated it out on Queen West hawking "conscious hiphop no guns no violence," the Scartown MC established himself as the city's first rap busker, freestyling through an amp in the downtown core.

The move got him loads of attention, even catching him the ears and business cards of a few major A&R reps.

More or Les is actually so good at putting himself out there in creative ways that he can smell a terrible approach coming from miles away. And it usually ends with the same phrase, one he named one of his new tracks after: "Yo, let my boy rap!"

"That song title was literally what somebody said to me at a show," says Les, chatting on the phone instead of postering for his album release party because of shitty weather.

"I was DJing, and this guy comes up to me (I don't think he really was a manager) and was like, 'I like what you guys are doing.'

"I was like, 'Cool, thanks.' I thought it was gonna end there. Then he kept saying stuff like 'Yeah, you're doing your thing, you're cutting it up, but you should really hear what my man's saying!' I was like, 'Uh-huh,' and finally he goes, 'Yeah -- like -- yo! Let my boy rap!'"

The phrase would haunt him right through to his times hosting In Divine Style, the former hiphop open mic night at Hooch.

Tracks like Yo, Let My Boy Rap or Everybody Outside (The Busking Song) -- recounting the real-life experiences of the rising rapper, who first caught people's ears with 03's I Only Stop For The Red Ants -- really make his second album.

With a Del-reminiscent flow and a comedian's good-natured wit, Les delivers a refreshingly blunt take on being an MC. Or he goofs off and raps about food (quite a bit -- he'd one day like to follow in Cibo Matto's footsteps with an all-food-themed album).

But his candour is underlined by the 1,000-degree rhythm sections tossed out by The Truth About Rap's 10 producers, himself included.

It should boost an already promising career due to his newfound relationship with the Herbaliser. After he was hooked up for some Canadian jazz fest dates, the deadly Ninja Tune hip-hop band invited him to play in London, England, last November, and back to play France and Belgium this summer.

Shortly thereafter, he'll begin recording on their new album, which could lead to some interesting things, as they're pretty buddy-buddy with Jean Grae, among others.

Between major festival gigs in places like Dour and Ghent (Belgium) and Annecy (France), More or Les tells me he'd kill to do some Euro-busking. He's just making sure he's prepared.

"I'm calling everyone I know there, asking, 'Is there any way I can do this without being arrested, beat up or robbed?'

"Having any of those happen to me in Europe would not be great." - NOW Magazine

by Liisa Ladouceur (Street Spirit section)
Feb. 15, 2007

Do we really need Wavelength anymore? Between the increase in no-name-band-friendly venues and the rocketing of local indie-rockers to main stages worldwide, does this city's music community still depend on the weekly pay-what-you-can series? The two generations of indie kids who packed four nights of Wavelength's seventh anniversary shows Feb. 8-11 certainly believe so.

As do I, having witnessed the super-fun set from More or Les that kicked off Sunday night's final birthday blast at Sneaky Dee's. While the local MC played directly to the WL crowd – delivering hip-hop 101 lessons clad in a cutesy “Hug Life” t-shirt – it was a satisfying to see rap programming at an indie-rock event. (Someone should revive Sesame Street Canada just to have him on singing about brunch.) And if his strongest socially conscious words flowed more like those of a Media in Society prof than a poet, his set was a refreshing change from the Bad Band Revolution-style art student wisecracking that tends to permeate Wavelength. - Eye Magazine, Toronto