For the ninth consecutive year now, making it a firmly entrenched tradition, here’s our list of Québec rap artists who will surely reach a greater audience in the coming 12 months.
Kinji00
Select the image to access the video of the Kinji00 song “Dis-moi où, dis-moi quand” (featuring Hubert Lenoir)
Kinji00 has been listening to rap since the age of 9, after falling in love with Rob $tone’s song “Chill Bill” while playing on his PS4. “I fell in love with rap right there and then,” he says. “I started listening to Kodak Black, 2 Chainz, Tupac… Then I moved on to more underground stuff, like Trippie Redd and Bladee. I’m pretty sure I was the only one at school listening to underground rap.”
For that, the Portugal-born, Gatineau-based rapper has his older brother to thank: LB66, one of our five beat-makers to watch in 2026, is the one who introduced him to hip-hop and, more specifically, to music production. “In 2018, he showed me how to make beats using FL Studio,” says Kinji00. “I wasn’t very good, but it was a start… Then it was really in 2024 that I started rapping. I saw guys my age do raps that sounded good, so I figured I should try.”
What followed is the definition of a skyrocketing career. At the age of just 18, only a year-and-a-half after his first steps as a rapper, Kinji00 has already made most of his dreams come true. “For real, I had an amazing year,” he says. “I met up with artists I’ve been listening to since I was a kid… I just got lucky and I realized it in February of 2025, when I went to Club Soda for Rowjay’s concert and heard everyone singing my songs. I knew there was some hype on the Internet, but I could never have imagined all that.”
Now it’s his turn to headline Club Soda, on Nov. 20, 2026, as part of M for Montréal. Known for his lyrics celebrating Québec and its independence movement, as evidenced by his aptly-titled debut album À la prochaine fois, Kinji00 stands out as one of the leading voices of today’s pro-sovereigntist movement, alongside artists such as Lou-Adriane Cassidy and Rémi Gauvin of comment debord. His political awakening happened during his grade 10 History class, two years ago. “That’s when I learned about all the scandals we were subjected to as a people and I felt we needed to do something about it,” he says.
In 2026, Kinji00 plans to showcase different sides of his artistic vision, while staying true to his politically-charged, pro-independence lyrics. Together with his brother, the rapper is set to release an eclectic EP blending electro sounds, experimental rap, and jerk, a New York-born subgenre of hip-hop known for its jittery rhythms and distorted vocals.
Mzrabelle
Select the image to access the video of the Mzrabelle song “GIRLLOVE”
The love story between Mzrabelle and rap started in grade school. In the LaSalle borough of Montréal’s West end, where the artist grew up, hip-hop culture played a central role. “There were constantly rap battles at school, but sadly, it was only guys, girls didn’t go,” says the 19-year-old artist. “No one said we couldn’t go, but we didn’t feel invited, unless it was just to watch.” It was in the late afternoons, while watching music videos after school, that she saw her first female role models and earliest inspirations. “I watched supe- confident women like Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B., and that left a deep impression on me,” she says.
Alone in her room, too shy to share her work with those around her, she began secretly writing and rapping, in a style she’s maintained to this day; it’s a flow that’s both offbeat and whispered, somewhat reminiscent of the French (from France) artist Lala &ce.
It was in early 2025 that the artist made her debut with “ALL BLACK,” laying the foundation for her musical universe and her visual aesthetic – heavily inspired by Betty Boop, the iconic cartoon character, known for her red dress, high heels, and dramatic eyelashes. “I love Betty Boop because she’s a strong woman in a male-dominated world,” says Mzrabelle. “ To me, she is a feminist icon.”
After exploring that vibrant character on her debut EP, Naked Truth, released in July of 2025, Mzrabelle is about to show another side of herself on her second project, #SADPRINCESS, out Feb. 6, 2026. “Sure, I have that very confident Betty Boop side to me in my songs, but I also have a darker, ‘sad girl’ side,” says the artist, associated with the young Montréal-based label and collective, Nordicc. “These two layers of my personality really represent who I am. I try to playfully interact with both, in the most authentic way possible.”
Young Rose
Select the image to access the video of the Young Rose & Generic TM song “EYE SURRENDER”
The story repeats itself for Young Rose: it was towards the end of grade school that he was turned on to rap. “I would see kids on the bus who were just a little older than me with their headphones on, and I could hear the big snares and big hi-hats,” he says. “I didn’t understand what I was hearing, but I wanted to listen to that music! I would do my homework and then explore YouTube to find out about all the possible types of rap.”
Originally from Pointe-Claire, a small town in Montréal’s West Island, Young Rose had, before that striking discovery, mostly listened to his parents’ music: Senegalese music from his father’s side, and Québécois music from his mother’s. Youssou N’Dour would be played in between Karim Ouellet and Vincent Vallières in the family home. The 25-year-old rapper, born in China, where his parents met while studying, is still influenced by that cultural background. To him, musical genres don’t have fixed boundaries separating them from each other.
“I don’t want to limit myself to one genre,” he says. “Actually, I want to be one of the most popular artists on the entire planet. I’m not putting any limits on myself.” After focusing primarily on trap early on, at the end of the 2010s, Young Rose pivoted a few years ago, broadening his horizons to include more minimalist rap, and various offshoots of the drumless trend. “I was deeply inspired by guys like Mike Shabb, Nicholas Craven, and SeinsSucrer [one of our 2022 “Queb Rap” rookies]. I’d always written bars over very old-school beats, but I’d never released anything. I was afraid people would think it sounded outdated. But when I saw those guys doing it with such a modern and organic approach, I got obsessed.”
In 2025, the rapper released one of the year’s best projects in Québec: Beautiful Damage, a collaboration with producer GENERICTM, known for his work with Eman and the aforementioned SeinsSucrer. But the coming months may hold surprises for us, as Young Rose recently spent time in France to re-shape his musical universe, now infused with R&B, neo-soul, and jazz.
Kamilou
Select the image to access the video of the Kamilou song “Incendie”
When she was 13 or 14, a neighbour gave Kamilou a guitar. “I started playing and writing really bad songs,” she recalls, laughing out loud. At that time, Les Colocs, Jean Leloup, Lisa LeBlanc, and Harmonium were her musical go-tos. “I kept all those songs that I wrote to myself, because I didn’t have the money to buy recording gear,” she says.
Not particularly drawn to the French rap her friends listened to in high school, the Montréal artist, from Rosemont, fell in love with hip-hop culture a bit later, after discovering major U.S. figures like Mobb Deep, Tupac, Biggie, Kendrick Lamar, and above all, Lauryn Hill. “Lauryn is the genius,” says Kamilou. “She figured it all out. She made me realize that I didn’t have to choose between singing and rapping, even though everyone was telling me otherwise.”
In CEGEP, she joined Kayrap, a collective of rappers and beat-makers. “That’s when I realized I didn’t want to be the girl who just sings hooks or backup vocals. That’s when I started truly working on my writing, so I could prove to the guys around me that I could be better than them,” she says. After two R&B songs in English, which she’s now removed from streaming platforms, Kamilou officially stepped into the hip-hop realm alongside rapper Woody on the song “Caché dans l’œil” in 2023. Two years later, she released her first EP, the warm and immersive Pour toujours et à jamais, which was produced by Alexis Prévost, aka l’aube. “That project made me discover everything I’m capable of, singing and rapping, and the fact that I can do both whether on jazz-leaning beats or experimental rap,” she says.
In 2026, the 23-year-old will release of a few songs on streaming platforms, and produce a second EP, where she plans on blending pop, electro, and even grunge: “I know I mix too many things, but I just can’t help it!”
Colin Léo
Select the image to access the video of the Colin Léo song “Rideaux blancs”
Colin Léo was in third grade when a friend from France introduced him to the breadth of his country’s rap scene. “He made me listen to L’entourage, Orelsan, Booba… It was a whole new world opening up to me,” says the 22-year-old. As a teenager in the 2010s, he fell in love with Québécois and Belgian rap, two scenes that were exploding at the time. “It’s thanks to Caballero & JeanJass, in part, that I got hooked,” he says. “Their laid-back ego trip really spoke to me. It showed me that I could rap too, even if I hadn’t lived through anything intense in my life.”
Thanks to his drummer father, the Montréal native – from the Ville-Marie borough, the beating heart of the city – got into music production. “I’d take YouTube-type beats [i.e., generic rap instrumentals uploaded to YouTube] and write counter-melodies on top,” says Léo. “Basically, I was creating music over existing music. Three weeks later, I was recording myself, and had my first songs.”
He first found success under the pseudonym Exky, with “Attends,” a pop-meets-bossa nova duet with singer-songwriter Avril Jensen. Released in 2021, the song has now surpassed a million streams on Spotify alone. “That success really caught me off-guard, and it was a bit of a reality check,” he says. “It forced me to ask myself what I truly want as an artist.”
After that spot of soul-searching, he took a more serious turn, and chose a less “bubbly” sound, as he puts it, to create his first EP. Titled Becs et bobos, the 2024 release stood out for its dark, almost depressing lyrics, and its dreamy sound, infused with jazz and trip-hop. “It was a rough time,” he says. “I’ve always been the funny kid, the little clown, and suddenly I didn’t feel like that anymore…”
Created in collaboration with Québec City producer Pavel Navarro and multi-instrumentalist Félix Paul of Rau_ze, his second EP, slated for release in 2026, will lean into a brighter, groovier sound.