CityReal, or rapper Remi Huot is excited about touring again with mentors the Swollen Members  on their  Beautiful Death machine tour  which comes to Lethbridge at Studio 54, March 26. Local rappers Sin-Sane and F-Bomb plus Pyke and DJ Fuze will also be performing.
he has known them  for a long time. This will be his fourth tour with them. He has opened for a lot of big names including the Three Six Mafia,  Tech9ne, Ghostface Killah and many more but he is closer to Swollen Members.
“I grew up on the same neighbourhood as Madchild,” said Huot, a Winnipeg born, Vancouver based rapper.

“It (his mentors) would definitely be the Swollen Members,” he said.

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable calling up those other guys, but the Swollen Members are like big brothers to me,” he said, adding Swollen Members’ Rob the Viking just came to hang out  for Huot’s  recording session with members of  the Vancouver Symphony  Orchestra for his next solo album, which will blend rap with a string section and a horn section, much like his most recent project, “Good Morning Blues,”  with Vancouver bluesman Wes MacKey blended hip hop with blues music.

“ It will be a mix of hip hop and old school big band music just like the CD with Wes MacKey was with the blues,” he said.
“ I don’t get to record with the whole 80 piece  orchestra, he continued adding   the cost would be prohibitive. He hopes the new Cd will be out by June.

He got to know MacKey through the Vancouver music scene and thought it would be interesting to record a few songs with him which evolved into the full length album.
“It has superseded my expectations,” he said.

“ People are impressed by the groove. I thought it would be fun and a good learning experience,” he continued.
He would like to tour with MacKey but will likely try a few shows in Vancouver first.
He  distances himself from  more  gangster rap or  plain old party rap music.

“I’m not opposed to that. There’s  a place for that. There’s also a place for more more socially conscious, deeper  rap,” he said.
In the meantime he will be doing a standard rapper/ DJ set while on tour with the Swollen Members.

“ I have my own DJ,” he said knows DJs all across the country and can use them where ever he tours. Ideally he’d like to do a  set with promoter DJ Booda.
“I’ve known  Booda for a long time. But  he’s busy as a promoter. He’s doing his thing,” he said.

“We’ll figure it out,” he said. Tickets are $25 in advance for the show, which begins at 9 p.m.