The PHI_portal, a cross-border participatory installation, appeared on the PHI Centre's first floor in the spring of 2020. For its initial programming, NBS Studio in Côte-des-Neiges was invited to listening sessions with young artists from other cities, such as Milwaukee and Mexico City. The second season, which took place during Montreal's second lockdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in intimate, audience-less connections. The video series The Artists are Present was initiated from those experiences. It is in the context of this series that we invited Michael Lipset to chat with some of the artists of NBS Studio.

When I first moved to Montreal to start a PhD in Hip-Hop based school change, I visited No Bad Sound Studio (NBS) before I even visited my research site. The reputation of NBS and its by-youth, for-youth programming took precedence. The same held true when I returned to Montreal to pass this pandemic winter. I reached out to a friend, multi-disciplinary Hip-Hop artist Jai Nitai Lotus, Director of No Bad Sound Studio, to see if I could come check in. He invited me without reservation but with strict instructions for respecting their COVID guidelines. It was on this visit that I was gifted with a recognizable moment of magic.

We walked into the recording studio where I saw Yama Sato, a young performing artist, producer and audio engineer whose skills had been forged between the muted walls of No Bad Sound. He worked at one of the studio’s recording stations manipulating industry-standard equipment to achieve his desired outcome. Of all the programs I’ve witnessed over the course of my career in the arts and education, No Bad Sound is the most unique. I often leave wondering how this small operation, comprising two rooms in the basement of an unassuming community center in the heart of Montreal’s most diverse neighborhood - Côte-des-Neiges - could repeatedly produce standout artists.

To find out, I interviewed three young artists: Yama Sato, Kamino and XLOWW. These three help operate the studio with Nitai’s direction. Over the course of an hour, the three responded to my questions, told me how, as Yama Sato put it, there’s “no censorship, no boundaries,” and as XLOWW said, “it feels like home.”

The three described their own learning and showed me that the secret to No Bad Sound’s success lay in a combination of the community of youth, the Maison des Jeunes Cote-des-Neiges, the free-yet-state-of-the-art studios and the program’s rich history of mentorship. Together, these ingredients provide a space that values excellence, uplifts experimentation and breeds virtuosity without the exchange of money. Among the youth of No Bad Sound knowledge is power and currency.

This exploration allows the artists to achieve parity among artistic variables that may seem discordant. When asked to describe what they enjoyed about each other's work, Kamino, Yama Sato and XLOWW doted on their peers’ abilities to do the ‘weird’ in appealing ways. They acknowledged the diversity of Cote-des-Neiges as contributing to creativity in the studio, which makes for a blending of various cultures, languages, risks and rewards. Yama Sato explains this blending as “different melodies and also different stories.

People who come from different cultures have different ways of painting imagery.” As well, a culture of excellence means these risks get held to a high standard of quality. Yama Sato went on to say, “We’re here to work because we’re very serious about this. For those of us who use this space as a studio, it’s inspiring to be in that room.” The unique blending of cultures within NBS has not just been an input to the artists’ creative process, but is now part of the process itself. While speaking to Yama Sato, XLOWW said, “You always go for the routes that you wouldn’t expect.” As one of Sato’s mentees, Kamino has adopted this tinkering, exemplifying the culture of learning that remains central to NBS.

The NBS culture of mentorship has evolved to embrace a "for-youth by-youth" practice, empowering its young artists to be active teachers and mentors to each other. Yama Sato commented on this duty to his and his peers’ sound, “When the thought of giving back is engraved in your brain it makes you think about yourself and what was given to you. What was given to me was freedom and I feel like my purpose is giving someone else freedom, because music is something that helped me speak.”

At NBS, attendees can expect to both learn and teach. In most studios, Kamino says, the opposite is true. A producer’s secrets become their signature sound, something sought-after and highly valued. Instead, “If you come here long enough, you have no choice but to learn. You’ll want to learn,” Kamino says.