More or Les

More Or Les' interest in hip hop culture began as a DJ, learning to mix at the age of 11 with the help of his older brother Colin. As a first year student at Woburn Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Ontario, Les began freestyling with other local emcees and performing regularly at school assemblies. It was around this time that Les created the emcee name for himself, and started to produce beats.[1]

In 2001, More Or Les became one of the resident DJs at Toronto's longest running open mic night known as In Divine Style. It was at this event where Les met and began working on music with several members of the Toronto hip-hop community including Dorc, Vangel and the Wordburglar. These connections led to the release of his first album I only stop for the Red Ants in 2003. Les used the revenue generated from this version to release a "shrinkwrap edition" in 2004, a version with remastered tracks including a bonus song and a music video for the song A Little Too Much Weed.[2] While deemed "too controversial" for airplay on MuchMusic, the video has been shown on the Bravo program Richler Ink and received an award from the Next Festival in 2004, honouring the year's most innovative international videos. To further promote the album, Les not only performed at "regular" music venues, but also began busking on downtown Toronto streets, becoming a mainstay on Queen West on weekends for several years.[3]

In 2005, More Or Les met and performed with UK Hip Hop band The Herbaliser. This meeting has led to subsequent touring in Canada and Europe with the band, and recorded appearances on their album Same As It Never Was, released in 2008.[4]

More Or Les has since released a second album The Truth About Rap in 2006, featuring several artists he has since been affiliated with, including the Wordburglar and Rhythmicru. This album has also been well received by critics, cited as one of the Top 10 Hip Hop releases of 2006 by Exclaim!,[5] with songs receiving regular airplay on CBC Radio 3.

In late summer 2009, More Or Les collaborated with Backburner crew producer Fresh Kils and DJ Uncle Fester to release The Les Kils EP. Meeting rave reviews from press, the EP debuted on Canadian college radio at #1.[6] The song Pop N Chips has been played in high rotation on CBC Radio 3, with a music video for the release that has received play on Canadian channels MuchMusic and MusiquePlus.

In the latter half of October 2010, More Or Les released his third full-length release Brunch with a Vengeance on Fuzzy Logic Recordings. Featuring a number of local artists and an additional collaboration with The Herbaliser, Les' new project is a concept album, compiling a list of various complaints from fans, friends and family and turning them into songs.[7] In addition to the latest project, More Or Les continues to be a co-host of Hip Hop Karaoke in Toronto (with DJs Dalia, Numeric, Ted Dancin' and co-host Abdominal), an event started in 2006.[8]

In 2020, he and Peter Chapman received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song for "We Run the World", from the film Riot Girls.[9]

• More Or Les official website
• Backburner crew official website