The Rascalz won a Juno Award in 1998. They refused to accept it.
Their album Cash Crop had been named Best Rap Recording at the untelevised gala held the night before the main ceremony. Since the category's introduction in 1991, Canadian rap had been excluded from the televised awards. The Vancouver group decided it was time to challenge that arrangement.
By then, the Rascalz had spent years building their reputation in Canadian hip-hop. Originally known as the Ragga Muffin Rascals, they released Really Livin' in 1992 before founding Figure IV Records in 1994. Their second album, Cash Crop, arrived in 1997 and would eventually go gold, demonstrating the commercial potential of Canadian hip-hop.
But winning an award apparently wasn't enough to earn a moment on national television.
The Rascalz argued that the exclusion reflected a broader failure to recognize Black music. In a statement explaining their refusal, they called the honour a "token gesture" and challenged the Junos' lack of meaningful representation for rap, reggae and R&B.
The decision sparked a national debate about racism and the treatment of Canadian hip-hop. Their refusal put a pointed question to the Junos: Why was rap good enough to win an award, but not important enough to be seen receiving it?
That same year, the Rascalz released "Northern Touch," featuring fellow Vancouver rapper Checkmate and Toronto's Kardinal Offishall, Thrust and Choclair. Recorded in 1997, the collaboration connected two major Canadian hip-hop scenes on one record. Its success, alongside a music video directed by Little X, helped bring Canadian rap to a wider national audience.
A year after the boycott, things looked different.
At the 1999 Juno Awards in Hamilton, the Rascalz and their collaborators performed "Northern Touch" during the televised ceremony, marking the first live performance by a hip-hop group on the Juno stage. The song also won Best Rap Recording, with the award presented on the broadcast for the first time.
The Rascalz had returned to the Junos, but on different terms.
Their protest helped change how Canadian hip-hop was recognized by its own music industry. Cash Crop remains the album behind one of the genre's defining acts of protest, a stand that helped bring the rap award onto the Junos' televised stage the following year.
Explore the Rascalz's music and history in the Northern Dial library.