Dead Obies released their first album Montréal $ud in November 2013. The six-man ensemble (five MCs and one DJ) quickly earned a reputation for their energetic, off-the-wall performances that appealed to both English and French music fans. Most critics praised the album and they even received some extra media attention thanks to a bit of controversy spurred on by a columnist who chided the group's "creolization" of the French language.

When they began to work on their sophomore effort, Gesamtkunstwerk (the German word for "total work of art”), they took their unique brand of hip-hop to a new level. With these tracks, they wanted to capture the energy of their live performances and decided to make the initial recording of the album in front of a live audience. The live show idea turned into three sold-out concerts in October where the band collaborated with local filmmakers and musicians. Their new songs were the best the band had ever written, and we wanted to make sure the album got the marketing attention it deserved.

We released the album on March 4th, 2016 and it hit #1 in Quebec and #5 in Canada the first week – selling three times more albums than the first week of sales of their first release. They immediately began to sell out concerts and were booked on Quebec's Sunday night talk show Tout le monde en parle. Thanks to Starmaker’s funding, we were able to support the release in many ways we hadn’t thought possible. Starmaker gave us monies to launch marketing initiatives around the release and accompanying tour, including new visuals, street postering campaigns and a web-based visibility campaign on YouTube, Spotify and other social media platforms. By the end of 2016, the band sold out the Imperial Theater in Quebec and Club Soda in Montreal weeks before the actual concert dates.

Starmaker also helped the group make inroads in Europe. They embarked on two mini-tours throughout France, Belgium and Switzerland and managed to build on their successes with each visit. Starmaker’s funding allowed us to launch targeted social media campaigns around tour dates, as well as to hire an excellent PR agent who is immersed in France’s hip-hop scene. These efforts led to the band signing to French booking agency Super Mon Amour, which will bring them even more visibility when they return to France for the third time this fall.

Because of the support we received from Starmaker over the last two years, the band has toured all over eastern Canada and Europe multiple times, selling out shows at every point. They closed out 2016’s Osheaga Festival and opened for Kendrick Lamar at 2017’s Festival d’été du Québec. Album sales continue to climb, having generated over 6.8 million streams in Canada alone and their music videos have earned over 2 million views on YouTube. At the end of 2017, the band will wrap up their efforts around this album and will start working on their next project. We could not have been happier with these results and we hope to come back soon with an even stronger third album.

Elizabeth Varvaro
Label Admin Coordinator
Bonsound