VICE Québec claimed he was the future of rap in Quebec. Both of his music videos, for Mama’s Boy and Lizard, racked up over 57 000 views on YouTube. He’s only 19 years-old, but young rapper and producer Mike Shabb is gaining a lot of attention; the whole city took notice the moment he started to drop tracks and play live
Hailing from Sherbrooke, Mike Shabb, AKA Yung Shabbo to his close friends, grew up going between Montreal, Toronto and Magog. This young prodigy is able to convey his energy through his beats, and he manages to create bridges between various hip hop styles. His art is creative, authentic and inspired. I see myself more as a producer than a rapper because I make way more beats than I write songs, he explains. My vibe takes its roots in the instru’.Self-taught, he creates beats every day. I can make between 10 to 15 beats a day and write one or two songs a week. That prolific part of his work led him to collaborate with an impressive list of influential artists in Quebec’s hip hop scene, including VNCE CARTER (Dead Obies), Husser, Kris The $pirit, and Gabe 'Nandez.
The essence of his music, his secret ingredient, is a melting pot of influences ranging from New York 90’s hip hop, to boom bap, to (more recently) Atlanta-inspired trap music. If his childhood dream was to be a basketball player in the NBA, life led him down a different path. For this young rapper making Atlanta style music with a Hochelaga vibe, the future looks bright. (VICE Québec
