Eman : the fruit of The hard work

On <em>1036</em>, Eman is a tribute to the studio of the rue Cartier, where he created earlier in his career.

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24 June 2020

Updated on June 27, 2020 to 4h17

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Eman : the fruit of The hard work

Geneviève Bouchard

The Sun

With over 20 years of music behind the tie, Eman can claim the title of veteran. In the duo Accrophone, and then of the training Alaclair Ensemble, in related projects or in solo, the rapper from Quebec has advanced in cultivating authenticity. With his new album, 1036, it sheds light on the path.

“I have 36 years old. In a rap career, it is still quite old. But me, I embrace my coming years, honestly. I’m really not someone who is disappointed to age. It makes me a great good”, he says.

The title of his new collection of songs makes reference to an address “mythical” of the avenue Cartier, where the accomplice Claude Bégin had installed his studio. His door is always open, the apartment became a cornerstone of the scene of the capital. In turn, nearly all the members of the collective Alaclair Ensemble have lived and created the music (the nod to Tamp you where the Roommates made by Eman on the room Yeah do resonates stronger…).

The studio no longer exists, Bégin has moved to its new home. But his fellow Accrophone and Alaclair wanted to make a posthumous tribute to these walls, which were attended by so much talent.

“It has been a place of meeting and creation of groups that have marked the genre in their own way, sums up the rapper. The foundation of Alaclair Ensemble, it was at the time when Claude had worked on the project of Karim Ouellet. It happened like this : full of people who worked constantly. Claude gave me the keys to the studio when he finished his day with Karim and me, I was doing other songs with other people. The fact that Claude left the door open to all the world, it has created a lot of projects here. Claude Bégin is the responsible for it. It is he who first dwelt there.”

Celebrate his career

Without being a concept album, 1036 provides several opportunities to Emmanuel Lajoie-Blouin (his real name) to take a look at the past. Sometimes by being rebellious or out of the map of the ego : “every time we drop a new trick we win ADISQ / It not a joke I start to run out of space for my Felix”, lance-t-he in the room Pressure.

“This is the greatest tribute that you can have as a musician in Quebec. I am very proud of it. It is a little bit to make the joke with our fellow rappers : “We are picking up often… You, okay?”” laugh Eman, who also plays humility to acknowledge the work dedicated to their approach by him and his fellow Alaclair, some of which (KNLO, Maybe Watson, Claude Bégin) join him on 1036.

“There is clearly something about the celebration of the life course, to have borrowed of the paths may be brighter. There has not been swayed by several defeats on the course. It is the fruit of a long work. Alaclair, there has been a lot independent. There have been ups and downs. We created it from scratch to making our head a lot,” says Eman, glad to be able to say that he lives for his music for the past few years.

“We created this kind of company, this group of people who bring all of the bread on their table and feed their children with rap,” he adds. It is the fruit of hard work, a little…”

Anchored in Quebec city

Beyond the title of the album, the rhymes of Eman are well established in the capital, where he still resides with his family. Here a reference to a supermarket on Cartier, a tip of the hat to Gilles Kègle, the nurse of the rue Saint-Roch district for which Alaclair Ensemble has sold a Félix award in order to encourage its foundation.

“I am proud to live in the city of Quebec. It is necessary that it be part of my literature. These referents, it is totally my city. I pass very often in front of Gilles Kègle. Sometimes, I stop and talk. It is someone who is part of my life. This is a person who deserves to be mentioned in several books. It is an impressive man,” explains Eman.

“For people who have a success in music, it is easier to go to Montreal. Me, the road, it doesn’t bother me. But then, I take a good break and it’s good for you”, takes it to about the current pandemic, which has set the schedule of the shows on pause and that gave him the opportunity to spend a good time with his family.

It is also in the streets of the capital that Eman has turned to night the music video of the piece Diamonds, on which he shared the microphone with Sarahmée and what you may see in the coming days .

“It is a long time friend, sums up Eman. It should be 15 years that I have known. She is held a lot at 1036 also. It is the sister of Karim Ouellet, she was part of the family entourage. It really is like a sister. She has a big career that she is in the process of managing.”

Without spoiling too much, Eman says it is extremely pleased with the concept of the video directed by The Ged with the constraints of distance physical. “We try to make art, be it beautiful and interesting,” he notes. There are several factors with which we must deal, but it puts the creativity in the challenge to bottom…”

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