Edmonton's rap scene on Won-18

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No one has to tell Edmonton's Won-18 they are taking the long road to success, a hip hop group from Edmonton with no plans to relocate to a place with more exposure? Sounds a little risky.

It seems the last time any Edmonton act took their music outside the prairies to a wide audience was when Moe Berg and the Pursuit of Happiness were telling everyone they were "adults now." And that was rock n' roll, for which there is perhaps just a tad more interest.

Country and Western is the vibe for Alberta, rock n' roll can never die, but hip hop? Well, just like the lyrics written by Billie LeBlanc, the first half of Won-18's creative brain, point out, "when you said hip hop was dead, I was still doing this."

It seems like LeBlanc and partner Doug Bedard, both 23, were never not doing this. First attracted to the sounds of the funky beats coming out of the inner city United States in the mid to late 1980s, LeBlanc and Bedard have since begun seriously, and professionally, pursuing their own happiness.

D.J Dice, Butta, F.B.I, Spade, O.D., and Andrew Decorbey make up the full Won-18 unit, but it's the work of LeBlanc and Bedard that keeps the music alive. They call the studios of Woodland Audio Works-probably one of the only hip hop studios in Western Canada-their creative abode.

While Leblanc can remember throwing together lyrics on the streets of east Edmonton (118 Ave -no coincidence in the group's name) as far back as 10 years ago, things really got going when he and Bedard began working on their first independant release a few years ago. It started as a compilation of artists, which has since turned into Won-18 featuring a number of groups.

This release will be the first big step to the place where they really want to be.

As the the guys in the group are quick to point out, home grown hip hop is alive and well in Edmonton.

"Local hip hop may seem dead," said LeBlanc. "They (Edmontonians) just don't know the local aspects of it."

There are plenty of people in Alberta's capital who do know what is happening in places like Woodland Audio Works, he adds.

Young people who are turning to hip hop music faster than artists like Pearl Jam can turn them away with lyrics that seem to beg to be misunderstood.

"People ask me all the time, 'are you trying to send a message?'" But really I'm just saying what I feel," said Bedard.

A good example of that comes from another new track possibly headed for the unnamed release. The chorus rings with the words, "I hate to admit it, but I'd love the fame."

That's what young people are looking for in their music these days, said LeBlanc-something different.

"We are seeing the local hip hop scene evolve," he said.

Won-18 wants to be seen as Edmonton hip hop pioneers. There have been hip hop groups in Edmonton dating as far back as 10 years. But the lure of places like Toronto and Vancouver, where it is widely thought that chances of success are much better, drew them away a long time ago.

Won-18 is simply one of the first groups that wants to make the best of it from right at home.

The plan is to release as many copies of the upcoming disc for distribution on Indie shelves and hope for a major deal. One thing is for sure, Won-18 is not going to jeopardize anything by rushing.

"We honestly go at our own pace," said Bedard. "If we worked eight hours a day (the disc) would be done. It is totally an artist thing."

It's been five years already since the disc was started, what's another year or two? In their minds it is as simple as remembering something their parents probably told them years ago-that good things come to those who wait.