Toronto has been growing skywards at a remarkable rate for the past 15 years or so and has taken on a whole new life along the way. Looming towers of glass and stone stand tall over stately Edwardian architecture, red-brick factories and stoic smokestacks that reflect a bygone era. Building cranes are as common as Canada geese.

But a city such as Toronto isn’t defined by its real estate. It’s the people, the rich blend of cultures, the palpable energy and hometown pride that give this place its distinct character. To help capture the true spirit of The 6, we caught up with the coolest guys in the city, the creative forces who are shaping local culture and making waves around the world. As their star power and influence continue to grow, each has made a concerted effort to keep his roots firmly planted in Toronto’s rich terroir, cultivate the scene and hone his craft. Together they represent a new guard that is proudly representing their city on the global stage.

There’s something delightfully infectious about Majid Jordan’s music. You’ve probably had one of their songs stuck in your head without even knowing it. Case in point: the Canadian R&B duo’s smash-hit collab with Drake, “Hold On, We’re Going Home”. Comprising singer Mr Majid Al Maskati and producer Mr Jordan Ullman, Majid Jordan have been releasing a stream of acclaimed albums and hit singles since 2011, perfecting the slow jam in the process. Their latest track, “Superstar”, ignited airwaves the second it dropped in October and is an apt description of their current status.

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How did you guys link up and realise you could make music together?

Mr Jordan Ullman:  It was pretty instant. We had an initial conversation. We saw each other on the street probably a few months after that and then started recording in my makeshift dorm studio. We were just two young guys trying to create.

Mr Majid Al Maskati:  When I first met Jordan, I was like, “Yo! This guy has some skills that I’ve never seen before.” I’ve never been in a situation where I was able to record and produce so seamlessly. He’s so easy-going and open-minded and eclectic in his tastes. That all led to wanting to work together.

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What is the key to a good creative partnership?

Mr Al Maskati:  Communication. Respect. Just trying to put yourself in one another’s position. Also, patience with one another and with yourself. We all have good days and bad days. If I’m having a rough day, he can lift me up. You have to motivate each other. It’s easier to motivate one another than to constantly motivate yourself.

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There’s so much incredible music coming out of Toronto. What’s driving that?

Mr Ullman:  It’s almost like an optimistic competition with the world. I was born and raised here, and it’s friendly enough that you don’t feel isolated. It’s also big enough that you don’t feel limited and small enough that you really feel like you can do something major.

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How does it feel to do a show in front of your hometown crowd?

Mr Al Maskati:  Oh, man, we get mad love. That’s why we’re so proud to be from Toronto, because the people that come to our shows, they sing almost every single word. We sold out two nights in a row on our last tour and we just want to keep giving back to them. The fans are really what got us this far.

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What’s in store for 2020?

Mr Ullman:  We’re really taking our time with what we’re working on because it’s a whole new decade of music.

Mr Al Maskati:  No pressure!

Mr Ullman:  I’ve literally been thinking about it like that. You spend so much time working to make something that can speak to people for ever. So, we’re working on our third album and hopefully seeing more places around the world.

Mr Al Maskati:  Maybe we’ll go to Bahrain and record over there. That’s where I’m originally from and, with Jordan, I want to help build a bridge between these two places and start creating some things across the borders.

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Mr Bobby Bowen is a stylist and creative director celebrated for turning the local fashion industry on its head and injecting the scene with a new sense of relevance. After experiencing a relentless series of closed doors early on in his career, Mr Bowen decided to knock them down, opening up the playing field for a new generation of creatives. His magazine, Bully, is a testament to his efforts – a launchpad for his fresh ideas and a bold new aesthetic that is taking the city by storm.

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How did you break into fashion?

Basically, I started by assisting another stylist. I went to school for the business of fashion arts programme, then I started assisting this stylist and I stopped going to school so I could work in the industry. She was so busy, so she would give me jobs that she couldn’t do, which helped me build my book.

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Were there any obstacles along the way?

Yeah. Toronto is a city that plays it very safe, especially back then. Now it’s opening up to a lot more ideas. When I first started, it was very hard. I didn’t get the response that I get now. There were a lot of “no”s. I found obstacles trying to get clothing and trying to pull clothes in the city. It was much harder.

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The US has always been called a melting pot. Toronto is considered more of a cultural mosaic. Is that accurate?

Oh, I like that. One hundred per cent. Even in my neighbourhood, Parkdale, there are all these different ethnicities, every background. I love being able to leave my house and see that I’m surrounded by Hispanics and Africans and Jamaicans, everyone. It’s beautiful. I love all the different cultures. I come from a Caribbean background and I need to be able to see that all around me.

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What’s the story behind your magazine, Bully?

When I first started, the type of styling I wanted to do wasn’t really accepted, so I felt like the whole industry bullied me. Now it’s our turn to kinda bully back by giving new artists a chance. We want to bully back, but in a nice way. I want Bully to create opportunities, to create a bridge between Toronto and other cities.

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TOBi is a singer and rapper whose songs effortlessly blend soul and hip-hop to create a mesmerising sound driven by profound lyricism. Born in Nigeria, he moved to the Greater Toronto Area when he was eight years old. His multicultural upbringing in the diverse suburb of Brampton, he says, shaped him as a songwriter. TOBi’s verses, especially on tracks such as “City Blues” and “Sweet Poison”, stand out as introspective streams of consciousness that carry a resounding message for the modern era, one that dismantles toxic masculinity, questions the system and celebrates personal growth in the face of adversity.

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How did it feel releasing your debut studio album, Still, earlier this year?

It was cathartic for me. Creating that album did so much for me mentally, emotionally. To put that out into the world felt so right and so good. I know people will relate to certain aspects of it.

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What was the process like working on that album?

It took about two-and-a-half years and went through different iterations. The final form that was released was not my initial project. It found a life of its own through time. Thematically, I knew exactly what I was going into it with. Sonically, it changed up over the years. As far as the sound, I wanted it to be varied. I wanted to show the different sides of me as an artist, from the R&B, groove, blues type of joints to more hip-hop, percussion-driven songs.

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What goes into your songwriting?

I definitely approach it like I’m writing poetry. I take a lot of pride in the lyrics and the words that I’m saying. I really care about what I’m putting out there. The truth is when people listen to music, they listen to the beats, but they internalise the words, so I’m very conscious about what I put out there.

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What sets Toronto apart from other cities?

For one, there’s a real emphasis on community here. Different communities have their own spaces where they can thrive, but there are also places where people can come together. In Toronto, we’re learning and understanding how important it is to provide resources that will allow them to thrive and lift up other communities. We all influence each other so much. Marginalised groups influence the culture here. Their stamp is all over the city. That’s the energy I’m on.

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Sports and entertainment marketer Mr Ahmed Ismail has had the career dreams are made of, thanks to hard work, ingenuity and sheer hustle. Now he’s channelling that energy into a platform for young creatives who might not have the resources and guidance they need to prosper. Mr Ismail started HXOUSE with Mr La Mar Taylor, The Weeknd’s longtime creative director, as an incubator for local talent and to offer the tools both men wish they had had when they started out. A year in, HXOUSE has established itself as a major player within the Toronto community and a global powerhouse in the making.

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During the shoot, you mentioned that Toronto Island is your favourite part of the city. Why is that?

The Island was always that magical place for me where I could escape the city. You have this place that is protected parkland, no sprawl, no development. It’s this quiet area where you can go for walks on trails, where you can escape with a 15-minute boat ride.

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What sets Toronto apart?

Toronto prepares you for the rest of the world. Growing up, even though I had an identity and I had a nationality, there are 150-plus cultures, countries, people from different places all in this city. And there’s no one dominant community. We got to experience everybody’s culture and society and quickly adapted to it because it wasn’t frowned upon to be different in Canada.

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It’s been a year since you and Mr La Mar Taylor launched HXOUSE. What are your thoughts as you look back on it?

Unbelievable. Remarkable. Hard to process. Rewarding. All of my emotions are more elaborate even than that. To see something that La Mar and I have sat with, went back and forth on, debated over, become accepted culturally as a pillar of the creative ecosystem, not only in Toronto but around the world – it took me a minute to absorb that.

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What did you set out to accomplish as a creative incubator?

Young people have big ideas in their heads, but they don’t always know how to get them into a cohesive place where they could become something. We’re trying to surround them with the resources and tools that we wish we’d had when we were prototyping our personal brands. We try to push a lot of inspiration through our ecosystem to keep them either pursuing their dream or pivoting to another bigger idea or better version of that idea.

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There are so many new outlets these days, whether it’s social media or self-publishing, that might seem like a shortcut. Are they land mines on the road to success?

My friend Chris Douglas Robert, a former NBA player, gave me one line that still sticks with me: you can’t cheat the grind. I feel like all this instant love is hard to maintain because it’s fleeting. The love that you get at the beginning won’t be the love that you get throughout your journey unless you have a system that you’ve built inside yourself, one of discipline, that continually pushes you to produce consistent quality results. You can’t cheat the grind.

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Mr Roy Woods isn’t necessarily a lone wolf, but his independent spirit is amplified by a sound all his own. Born and raised in Brampton with the accent to match, Mr Woods is the epitome of homegrown talent and a formidable asset in the OVO Sound stable. His distinct vocal stylings seamlessly ride the waves of dancehall and classic R&B influences, transporting listeners to a nocturnal sonic landscape of chilled beats, smooth basslines and jazzy piano riffs. He also runs a collective called Unlock the Underground, which spins his boundless energy into a line of streetwear that captures downtown Toronto’s unrivalled spirit.

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What’s the story behind Unlock the Underground?

My boy and I were just talking about the underground and the music scene because that’s what we were a part of. We were just in conversation about that, then “unlock” came into my head. He was into it, so we built upon that and have taken it to where it is now. We went through so much as a team. Seeing how we’ve grown is beautiful.

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Were you always into fashion?

Oh, yeah. My style was weird when I was in high school, but then I started to care about fashion. I used to wear a lot of vintage, like football players on the sidelines in the 1990s. I still dress like that depending on my mood. That old-school stuff is my shit.

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What was it like joining the OVO family when you first signed?

You know what? It was different. My first impression was, I have no idea what the hell is going on. Everything was so brand new to me. Me, Majid and the guys are super close. I love that, our bond. I don’t really have a lot of friends, so the label really is like a family. It’s always been like that. Just love straight from the jump.

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Tell us about growing up in Brampton.

I feel like if I grew up anywhere else, I probably wouldn’t be involved in music. I was separated from a lot of people, so being by myself allowed me to focus on my craft. If I was in a big city like Toronto, it’d be a different story.

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How has the city changed over the years?

Oh my God, it’s not the same city from when I grew up. The skyline is completely different. And the music scene has grown so much. You have a whole new wave, a new generation of kids doing things no one would have been doing 10 years ago. The scene has changed, the city has changed, but it’s a good change.

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The term “Renaissance man” gets thrown around a lot these days, but the multifaceted artist and rapper Just John personifies it in every way. Born to Jamaican parents and raised in the Scarborough neighbourhood of Toronto, Just John has worn many hats (most notably his signature black beret), including journalism student, breakdancer, art collective co-founder and DIY trailblazer. Everything he does serves as a platform for marginalised voices. His tracks, produced by his creative partner Dom Dias, carry a raw punk energy with politically charged lyrics that cannot be ignored.

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What brought you to Toronto?

I was born and raised in Scarborough, then I came to Toronto when I started an art collective called Blank Canvas. Essentially, we were moving around nomadically putting on music showcases, art shows, panels and workshops. Eventually, we got to the point where we opened a bricks and mortar space. That’s when I really moved to Toronto. It was a catalyst for a lot of culture and became an exciting, eccentric incubator for art and voices from marginalised artists.

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What was it like seeing Blank Canvas come to life?

It was pure liberation. When I was in university studying journalism, I was into these ideologies of taking up space and ownership and becoming a full actualisation of myself. As soon as I finished university, I wasn’t trying to work for anybody. We all had this ideology of working toward something.

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Why was it important for you to foster other young artists?

Because community is everything. Without the people, you can’t be anybody. That’s always been my mindset, and I really believe that it’s the youth that really pushes the revolution forward. Everything that we did was to empower other voices. We’re in the midst of a renaissance in Toronto right now. I feel like a lot of creators have had their hand in shifting the cultural landscape. My music and my movement is just my way of contributing to the renaissance that’s happening.

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How did growing up here shape your art?

Oh, man, I sharpened my teeth here. The cool thing about Toronto is that it’s absolutely the most diverse city in the world. That’s really cool for artists because it shows everybody is pulling from so many different places, cultures, styles. That’s really exciting, especially in the underground. Another part is the landscape. It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s moody, it’s wet. I think that shapes my music, for sure. If you can make it in Toronto, you can make it anywhere. This place breeds a certain kind of artist.

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What message do you want listeners to take away from your music?

To live in love, not fear. Embrace the wonder. Be yourself. Be unapologetically you.

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