Let your backbone slide down to your nearest Canada Post if you want to score a new set of stamps featuring the OGs of Canadian hip hop.
Unveiled this week, the 2026 Black History Month stamp set pays tribute to three artists who didn’t just help shape Canadian hip-hop, but helped prove that it could exist, thrive, and sound unmistakably like here: Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee, and Montréal trio Muzion. Together, the stamps honour the roots of a culture that grew from block parties and basement studios into a defining part of Canada’s musical identity.
For anyone who remembers MuchMusic in its heyday — or for anyone discovering these artists for the first time — this is a long-overdue moment.
Maestro Fresh Wes: The Door Opener
If Canadian hip-hop has a “before” and “after,” Maestro Fresh Wes sits squarely at the hinge.
His 1989 debut Symphony in Effect didn’t just make waves, it changed everything. “Let Your Backbone Slide” became the first Canadian rap song to go gold, while the album itself went platinum, something that seemed almost unthinkable at the time. Two years later, the JUNO Awards introduced a Best Rap Recording category, and Symphony in Effect promptly won it.
Michie Mee: Breaking Barriers, Loudly
While Maestro Fresh Wes is often noted as the OG of Canadian hip hop, Michie Mee was actually the first hip hop artist to sign to a major label.
Emerging in the late 1980s, she quickly built a reputation for originality, blending rap with Jamaican patois, dancehall, and reggae influences. Her 1987 single “Elements of Style” made an immediate impact, and by the following year she had become the first Canadian MC to sign with a major U.S. label.
Muzion: A Montréal Sound, Heard Everywhere
Where Maestro opened doors and Michie Mee rewrote the musical map in Toronto, Muzion expanded it to include Montreal.
Formed in the mid-1990s, the trio — J.Kyll, Imposs, and Dramatik — brought a multilingual political voice to Canadian hip-hop. Rapping in French, English, and Haitian Creole, their music reflected both Montréal’s cultural reality and the experiences of marginalized communities too often left out of the mainstream conversation.
The samples are designed by Noël Nanton and Nadia Molinari of typotherapy, the set uses bold typography, layered finishes, and metallic details that echo the visual language of late-’80s and early-’90s hip-hop. Fluorescent inks glow under black light, portraits are in silver and black duotone, and matte and gloss varnishes add texture and depth. It’s nostalgic without feeling dusty — a clever balance that mirrors the music it celebrates.
Available nationwide starting Jan. 28, the stamps are designed to be mailed, collected, or admired.
