Seven young people, one message: never too late
MC Converse 2025 participants, supervised by Birdzontrack and Meryem Saci, in the Toosik studio with Alex Papineau. Photo credit: Ismaël Koné
5/7/2025

Seven young people, one message: never too late

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They aren't from the same neighborhood, aren't the same age, and don't share the same backgrounds. Some knew each other already, others not at all. But for two months, they took the time to connect, write, advise each other, laugh, and most importantly, record a "banger" all together. In La Converse studios, a real bond formed between Kester, Imene, Akashi Tonny, Kitana, Amine, Bougelite, and Drippy. Together, they gave birth to a song: "Jamais trop tard" (Never Too Late).

Alex Papineau (sitting), Meryem Saci (standing on the left), Kitana (on the right), at the Toosik studio. Photo credit: Ismaël Koné

Guided by mentor  Meryem Saci, the seven young artists participated in the MC Converse 2025 project. Each recorded a verse or a chorus, fueled by their words, experiences, and reflections, over an original production by Birdzonthetrack. The track was recorded on May 21st at Toosik studio in Ahuntsic. The music video, meanwhile, was filmed a week later, on May 28th, under the Montreal sun.

This journalistic rap tells the story of what young people experience and conveys a message of hope.

Conceived as a project for civic expression through rap, "Jamais trop tard" (Never Too Late) gives a voice to seven young artists who describe what they're living, what they feel, and what they observe around them. Each contributes with their own writing style, their personal experiences, and their perspective.

The title, "Jamais trop tard", reflects the message they want to convey together: it's never too late to overcome challenges, to change, to get back on your feet, to find your way, despite obstacles, mistakes, and doubts.

They don't all tell things in the same way, but all their words come from somewhere: from an experience, from anger, from the desire to succeed, or simply from a need for truth. Behind each verse, there's a person, a story, and a life journey.

Here are the artists behind the track "Jamais trop tard."

Drippy. Photo credit: Édouard Desroches

Drippy, 18, is a voice born between two continents and a heart rooted in Montreal.From Romania to Mexico, all the way to the streets of Ahuntsic-Cartierville, he grew up amidst languages, cultures, and sounds. His father was a DJ, and that's probably where his connection to music comes from. Music has been with him since childhood. It helps him speak when words are stuck, to express what he keeps to himself.

He started at 12, despite the teasing, despite the doubts. From an old phone to his first nocturnal recordings in his room, he moved forward alone, driven by the desire to say what others keep silent. Today, he continues. Not to impress, but to convey.

In his lyrics, he talks about love, breakups, memories, but also the stories of those close to him. He puts himself in others' shoes, recounts their silences, their pains, their desires.

He blends rap, afrobeat, reggaeton, French, Spanish. Everything he is — his roots, his influences, his languages — can be found in his sounds. His influences are diverse: from XXXTentacion to Vacra, including Kaza, Zola, and the Montreal scene he actively listens to.

"Every time I have a little bit of money: studio. Directly. Even if I have to go into debt, I don't care," he asserts with determination.

And incidentally, in the verse he laid down for MC Converse, he mentions an artist who, due to lack of means, takes the wrong path to pay for his music-related expenses.

His ambitions ? "I dream of big stages: Club Soda, Les Francos."

And what keeps him going despite everything: "Every message I receive, every person who recognizes themselves in my words, reminds me that I was right not to give up."

Kester Milhomme, a.k.a. Little Kester. Photo credit: Édouard Desroches

Kester Milhomme, a.k.a. Little Kester, is 19 years old.
Born in Montreal, of Haitian and Brazilian descent "for that little exotic touch," he jokes, he grew up in Rivière-des-Prairies – BGP, for those in the know.

Even before he started rapping, he was already filming humorous videos and posting them online.A content creator at heart, he began writing his first rap lyrics at 13, to make his friends laugh and poke fun at them. "My songs are often to mess with my boys. I've written a lot of diss tracks."

He cultivates his humor by drawing inspiration from Mister V, his absolute idol: "If I have a child, I'll name them Yvick."

But behind the laughter, there are also realities he doesn't forget.

In his verse for MC Converse, he addresses one of the most difficult times he went through with his family: He remembers leaving their RDP public housing to move into a house in Saint-Léonard thanks to his mother's hard work. But barely a year later, his mother lost her job overnight. His family was forced to return to the same apartment in the same public housing complex.

Kester doesn't see this forced return as a defeat.

"I still want to convey the will to win. We fall, but we get back up," he affirms. Today, he channels this energy into a style all his own: a mix of spontaneous and funny rap. He also explores R'n'B, plays with sounds, and asserts his liking for "vibe" tracks. "I was born into rap. My father listened to it all the time," he explains. When asked how he describes himself, he answers without hesitation: "Young, humorous, and committed content creator."

His neighborhood, Rivière-des-Prairies, remains at the heart of his journey. "No matter what I do, I will always represent RDP," he declares.

Adam Boughelit, better known under the name Bougelite. Photo credit: Édouard Desroches

Bougelite's artist name came from a classroom misunderstanding: a teacher mispronounced his last name, "Boughelit." It stuck and became his signature. "It has 'elite' in it; I thought that was cool," he tells me with a smile. At 17, this young artist from Saint-Michel studies marketing and management, a strategic choice: he lives for music out of passion, but he's also thinking about what comes next, he explains.

He started writing at 15 during a workshop with Mamie Remix, where he transformed texts from elders into rap songs. Since then, he's performed on several stages: MC Challenge, Saint-Michel Youth Festival, La Zone.

A songwriter, composer, and performer, Bougelite does everything himself. He builds his own instrumentals, lays down his lyrics, and develops his ideas solo. Very "low-key" in life, he becomes "arrogant and confident" on stage. "The stage helps me open up. I'm not the same person when I'm there."

In his songs, he questions his life choices—school, music, future—and their impact on his daily life. He explores his personal reflections and doesn't hesitate to provoke at times, with lines that demand interpretation.

"It's okay if they don't understand. I'm going to keep going. And even exaggerate more."

And in the verse he laid down for MC Converse, he hits hard. He compares two realities that young people face today: that of the street and that of school. On one side, a young person seeking to earn money quickly, to gain freedom at all costs. On the other, a young person studying to hope, one day, for a good job and a stable future.

Two paths, two pressures, two temporalities. But the same question behind it all: how will they achieve their financial freedom?

Imene. Photo credit: Édouard Desroches

Imene is a voice that rises when it needs to, without ever bending. Imene is an artist who, she says, rejects labels, ready-made expectations, and others' perceptions of what she should be. Born in Algeria, she arrived in Montreal at 16 and grew up across several neighborhoods in the east of the city. She sings about love, peace, and invisible struggles.

"I can't see myself singing something that isn't aligned with who I am." Her relationship with art is sacred. She says it herself: "Music is simply part of how I live. Art, in general, is part of me."

Eclectic, she explores rap out of curiosity, with a desire to learn. But singing remains her primary language. She loves artists like TIF, "for the sincerity of the lyrics, the sensitivity of the melodies, and the balance between emotion and restraint." What matters to her isn't the style, but what the lyrics evoke.

"Everything that moves me, I draw inspiration from it."

What she seeks above all is what resonates as true: sincere words, an inhabited voice, an emotion that leaves a trace, she explains.

On stage, she has sung with the group Numidz at Nuits d'Afrique, then during the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal's Classical Spree, alongside the group Mezghana. These were moments where her voice, carried by collective projects, found its place.

In the collective MC Converse song, her voice carries the chorus.

A rather difficult task, according to her, which she approached with high standards. She explains wanting to summarize in a few words everything the others say in their verses: their journeys, their pains, their hopes. Imene tells me that this project is truly close to her heart and that she wanted to pour all her sensitivity into it, to create a message that speaks to everyone.

"It's a message of hope, for all those who doubt, who fall, who are still looking for their way, especially young people."

What she seeks? "To pursue what makes me happy."

And what she hopes? That those who discover her remember this: "To exist according to your own beliefs. Even when it's difficult. Even when it's unsettling. Just believe in it."

AMINE, a.k.a. ZVCS. Photo credit: Édouard Desroches

Amine, also known as ZVCS, is only 16 years old. Born in Casablanca, he grew up between Morocco and Montreal, from Côte-des-Neiges to Saint-Michel, then Laval.He didn't like rap or performing. Until one day, a cousin in Morocco missed a chance to perform. "I saw that he was furious. I promised myself I'd go far in music, for him." Since then, that promise has driven him. He started freestyling in high school, in the yard, at lunchtime. First studio, first track, first feedback: he realized he had something to say. Today, he writes, raps, and produces.

His lyrics speak of human rights, injustice, violence, and loss.He draws from both his observations and his experiences. "What I write is what I live or what I observe. I try to make people think." Among his influences: Lost, Fouki, Manu Militari, but also Zamdane, Diam's, Damso. ZVCS isn't looking to be seen. He simply wants to make heard what matters to him.

"If I could stay in the shadows and just make music with my voice, I would."

In his verse for MC Converse, he takes another step.He talks about what he saw growing up, as a child and teenager: poverty, drugs, prostitution. Harsh realities that he doesn't like to name. But which he chose to put into words, once and for all, to say where he comes from. To explain why he started, why he took certain paths, and why today he writes.

Kitana. Photo credit: Édouard Desroches

Kitana, Kitana, 19, is a voice that snaps like a truth no longer to be hidden.

Of Algerian origin, from East Montreal, she claims a strong character — with the "frankness of a girl who never looks down." Arriving in Montreal at three, she grew up there, absorbed its essence, and was forged by it. Since adolescence, music has been part of her life.

Confined within four walls, she wrote her first lyrics: "I started writing when I was at the youth center. I had nothing to do, so I started that way." It was her way of externalizing what she couldn't say otherwise.

Initially, she didn't see music as a serious project. "Before, I just made 'diss tracks'* with my friends. It wasn't deep." But things changed. Today, she writes and raps to talk about what she's lived through, but also so that others can relate."I know people can relate to me. There are people going through the same things. I write for them too." Kitana primarily raps in English, sometimes in French. "English allows me to say everything. I feel freer."

In her part of the collective track for MC Converse, she talks about her time at the youth center, what she felt back then, the temptation of the streets, and the desire for freedom.She wants to show that there isn't just "one way." Other paths are possible; "you just have to make the right choices." Today, she continues to write and lay down her vocals. And if she makes music, it's also with the idea of "being everywhere": rap, singing, social media, social projects. "If I make it, I want to create associations, help others. I don't just want to shine by myself."

Akashi Tonny. Photo credit: Édouard Desroches

Akashi Tonny  is 19, but he refuses to be defined by his age. "I am infinite," he tells us. Born in Cameroon, he grew up in Saint-Michel. A versatile artist, he dances, slams, writes, and performs. He's also very invested in the visual and fashion worlds. But music is at the center of his life. "Music saved me. At one point, I had lost the will to live. Since I started making music, I've rediscovered the desire to dream. (...) If I go a week without making music, I get sick. I feel very bad."

It was during adolescence, while going through a deep existential crisis, that he began to write. He speaks of a need to express himself, to transform what he lives, what he feels, into words. He didn't seek it out; "music came to [him]." His world is marked by introspection, solitude, melancholy, but also by the desire to find a form of light. Akashi describes his practice as poetry, not rap. "My music is very emotional. I need to be in my bubble to create it."

In the MC Converse project, he explains he took on a big challenge: writing and performing a text based on quite specific guidelines. This was an unusual approach for him, as he works very spontaneously. His verse addresses heavy themes: violence, abuse, dehumanization. "I talk about things that aren't talked about enough. Realities that are disturbing. But that need to be said."

An acknowledged loner, Akashi often stays apart from the group in the studio. He says he needs silence, mental, and physical preparation to deliver a performance that matches what he feels. And if he had to define himself, it would be with this phrase: "Be Absolute. I am a butterfly."

The butterfly as a symbol of metamorphosis.

*A "diss track" is a rap song, often mocking or provocative, in which an artist enjoys criticizing another person.

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