Northern Dial Artist Profile

Clairmont The Second

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Born and raised in Toronto’s Weston neighbourhood, Clairmont The Second, born Clairmont II Humphrey, developed as a true multi-hyphenate: rapper, vocalist, producer, composer, engineer, director, editor, filmmaker and photographer. His early self-released mixtapes led into the 2016 album Quest for Milk and Honey, which was longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize and established him as an artist whose production and visual language were inseparable from the writing.

The 2017 album Lil Mont from the Ave earned a JUNO nomination for Rap Recording of the Year, while later work including Do You Drive? and It’s Not How It Sounds continued his self-produced, highly authored approach. His song "Grip" was shortlisted for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize in 2020, followed by another shortlist for "Dream" in 2021. He also received the Prism Prize’s Hi-Fidelity Award for his work in music video, reinforcing how central directing and visual storytelling are to his practice.

Clairmont’s influence is especially important within Toronto’s independent hip-hop ecosystem. He represents a model in which an artist does not simply rap over production but controls the wider sonic and visual world around the music. Collaborations and production relationships across Toronto’s alternative R&B and rap scenes have made him a connective figure between neighbourhood-rooted hip-hop, experimental composition and independent filmmaking.