Though the top of the lineup for Le Festif! in Baie-Saint-Paul, QC this year felt dominated by francophone acts, they always make room for incredible artists from the ROC and internationally. Safe to say, they made an excellent choice booking Haviah Mighty — real name, no gimmicks — for this year's edition.
The Brampton rapper and singer took to the stage on Thursday evening and delivered a set defined by her cool, calm, confident presence, despite being marred by sound problems. Even when both of her mics frequently cut in and out, she managed to hype up the crowd as she, her DJ and the sound engineers weathered the storm of technical difficulties. (She also frequently called Baie-Saint-Paul "Quebec City," but hey — close enough!)
Rapping and occasionally singing over booming beats heavy on hi-hats, her rhyme skills were impeccable, her performance style poised enough to make it look effortless. She may not be the showiest performer per se, but she doesn't have to be — her rhymes and vocal delivery quite literally do all the talking. Though much of the production she raps over veers toward modern trap, the crowd also got to see her dabble in Afrobeat, house and UK drill. Her energy and words — and the conviction with which she delivers them — match the robust production behind her.
She's also got songs in her repertoire whose sample choices made me giggle: case in point, when she played the track "Sensational," which literally starts with a snippet of Future's iconic quote from his Nardwuar interview. She also performed "Imagine That," which she'd once done on the popular COLORS YouTube show, then later walked right into the crowd to perform part of the tail end of her set while also giving two crowd members copies of her Polaris-winning 2019 debut album 13th Floor.
Even if the crowd looked a bit thin when her set began, it's safe to say she well and truly won them over by show's end — after all, her set wound up running for more than an hour. Many people in attendance were parents with their young children, a testament to Le Festif!'s family-oriented atmosphere.
After about two or three songs, much of the crowd was dancing and grooving slowly to her music, while sandwiched between a rather unique environment: a full-on parking garage on one side holding much of the sound equipment, while the other side looks like an old-timey house you'd imagine some ancient German family must've once lived in. But that's what makes this festival one of this country's most distinctive and homelike, and Haviah Mighty certainly made attendees feel right at home just as Le Festif! was getting underway.