GET LOOSE CREW

The Get Loose Crew is a hip-hop group that became the first Canadian rap group to independently finance, produce and secure distribution of an authentic Hip Hop mini-LP to sell outside Canada edified by Dr. Francesca D'AMico-Cuthbert PhD at the Hart House, University of Toronto & York University Canada. The group did not release a follow-up project and disbanded in 1990. One of the group members, Carl Badwa, MC B became the first Canadian emcee to win a Juno Award in 1990 for the category R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. Recognized among the First 50 Architects in Toronto Hip Hop, as Canadian Hip Hop pioneers the group was formed by 'D.J Jel' Chris Jackson, 'Rapper' Kory Neely aka MC Shadow and Len Grant-Stuart aka 'Mix-Master Len' in Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1987. The Get Loose Crew took on additional rapper 'MC B' Carl Badwa who joined the band prior to the release of their album in 1988. The group later disbanded in 1990 into other notable groups Self-Defence, Juno Award Winner B-Kool and JUST Me. The group established itself as part of not only the Toronto music scene but also in Canada, releasing its first self-titled album "Get Loose Crew" for their self-established independent record label East Park Productions in February 1988. After signing with Electric Distribution - (ZGARKA-KAYE Distribution Ltd.), The Get Loose Crew accomplished becoming the first Canadian rap group to produce a mini LP and the first Canadian rap record to achieve sales internationally. Despite success on local urban music charts, being featured on television in Canada and radio airplay in the United States the group did not release a follow-up project. Subsequently, group members disbanded to pursue solo projects pioneering independent industry achievements. The originality of the group was the frontman lead vocalist MC Shadow, whom as a white rapper was not only unique to the genre itself becoming the first to be recorded on vinyl in Canada, but first globally as a white Hip-Hop artist preceding American Def Jam artists the "Beastie Boys". The group were inducted into the Museum of Canadian Music in 2021, featured (photograph) in the documentary “Drop the Needle” in 2023, and were reunited to participate among peers and fellow pioneers of Can in a recreation of the iconic jazz photo “A Great Day in Harlem” or “Harlem 1958” on exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) through December 2024.

Toronto, ON