Loco Locass

Loco Locass
The group with a member of the Réseau de Résistance du Québécois
Background information
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Rap
Years active	1995 (1995)–present
Labels	Audiogram
Website	locolocass.net
Members	Biz (Sébastien Fréchette) Batlam (Sébastien Ricard) Chafiik (Mathieu Farhoud-Dionne)

Loco Locass are a Canadian hip hop group from Québec formed in 1995. The group often defends the role of the French language, and champions Quebec sovereignty. Songs such as "ROC Rap" and "Résistance" highlight the band's political leanings, and their strong advocation for Quebec to be an independent country. Their song "Le But" is used as the goal song of the Montreal Canadiens and is played after every goal the Canadiens score at the Bell Centre.

In 1999 the band adopted the name 'Locos Locass' and then changed it to 'Loco Locass', also adding new band member Chafiik (Mathieu Farhoud-Dionne).

The band musicians besides the trio of Biz, Batlam and Chafiik are Jeanse, Djip, Lester G, VöV and Tchi Tchi Novo Solmol

Particularly given the importance of the "national question" in Quebec culture and politics, it is unsurprising that Loco Locass's self-image as a vehicle for promoting the sovereigntist option has played into existing social divisions. These divisions have played out on several occasions:

St-Jean Concert: on June 24, 2005, the group took part in a show marking the government-designated Quebec National Holiday organised by Les Cowboys Fringants at Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau. The ten-hour politicized show's $40 entry fee was controversial, as was its sponsorship by Coca-Cola and Gillette, companies some left-wing nationalists identified as "Anglo-Saxon imperialists", leading to charges that the show constituted elitist competition with a long-established event at Parc Maisonneuve.

Federal Funding: Loco Locass are not among the sovereigntist artists whose political stance leads them to boycott federal funding programmes. In particular, some of their recordings have received federal recording industry subsidies. Federalists have charged that this poses an integrity problem, since they accept funding from the very level of government whose rejection they seek to promote.