Gritty City

Gritty City is a love letter to Winnipeg, a prairie metropolis born out of rebellion, a river city marooned in the middle of a continent. Maybe there is something in the water that makes us different...

Gritty City is the first book to tackle the history of Winnipeg hip-hop, treating it not as a passing fad or a subgenre of rock, but as its own distinct and significant culture and artform.

Much like the city itself, hip-hop locally was born out of struggle, and the intense racism that plagued elements of Winnipeg for much of the 1980s. As the culture blossomed and gained acceptance, slowly but surely the community became more and more prominent, leading from the DIY ‘90s to the heyday of the early 2000s.