MC Mimic
Former candykid MC Mimic, drops some tasty tidbits about his experiences during the 90′s. As you can see, dude’s all grown up now. Fortunately, Mimic has not lost touch with his inner child, unlike your average Wall Street banker. Peeps like him should occupy more boardrooms that’s for certain. Though the colourful bracelets are long gone, he’s still a sweetheart on the inside - where it counts 
F: How old were you when you attended your first rave?
MM: That’s a good question…I was probably raving from like mid to late ‘90’s so I was probably 15.
F: Were you ever turned away from a party because you were underaged?
MM: No, there was never any issues. I remember one time that we were at The Docks and there was a group of us and security was really tight and there was a swarm of cops and they’re like, “If you have anything on you we’d recommend that you go back and leave it in the car,” and we were like, “Let’s confer over here,” (laughter) and we still came in with a shitload of pills but yeah, that was the only time we had to hesitate. Turned away for age – no.
F: What inspired you to become a candy raver?
MM: Again, a good question. I think it was just kinda completely young, in high school whatever. I wanted to experiment with different mind altering substances and whatnot, cuz it was really big back then and I think since then it’s really fallen off quite a bit. I mean there’s still parties going on, but I think it was the thing to do cuz we couldn’t go to bars and drink, so (we’d) just go to a party, stay up all night, do some drugs and have fun.
F: As a candy raver, what kind of gear could I expect to find in your wardrobe?
MM: Oh geez! (Laughter). First of all, I had bracelets halfway up my arm and of course the soother necklace and I had locks at the time. And I had this – you know “The Cat in the Hat” hat? I had one of those…a Finnish girl that was an exchange student that was dating one of my brothers, she actually made it for me, so what I would do is I would take the Cat in the Hat hat and stick my locks up in it and so it would stand up stiff like…
F: (Laughter) Oh my God…
MM: It was actually pretty sweet cuz a couple of us used to work at Domino’s pizza.
F: Yes.
MM: And so we would print out our own nametags and whatever and there were like 3 or 4 of us that would go to parties in our Snug pants and the Domino’s shirt…
F: (More laughter) Oh my God…
MM: And that was primarily to look cool yes, but also so that we could find each other cuz you know how it goes; you’d dose a little bit and fucking wander around and talk to everybody and then, “Oh shit, where’s my friends?” Then always, “Have you seen another guy in a Domino’s shirt, looks like me?” -“Oh yeah yeah yeah! He’s over there.” Great. Now I’ve found my buddies. That was part of it but yeah, like bracelets up to there, and of course the soother and the hat and my Snugs were my favourite. I had 11 pockets in those pants.
F: Sweet!
MM: And I remember there was a store in Square One; it’s not there anymore, but there was a sign in the change room that said, “If it doesn’t cover every lace, it doesn’t belong on your waist.”
F: (Laughter) That’s pretty snappy!
MM: That’s pretty dope. I like that. That’s pretty cool.
F: As a person of colour, did you ever experience any racism in the scene?
MM: Oh not at all. In other venues yes, but as a raver, no, not at all. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the DJ C-Rat?
F: No.
MM: Like ol skool jungle, it’s like ragga jungle. We actually had a radio show at York University every Thursday; it was a junglist radio show; he was the DJ, I was the MC.
F: Wicked!
MM: And it was pretty cool. I had them all recorded on cassette tapes which are long gone at this point but actually, you know, I still have his number somewhere but maybe like a year ago, I was standing on Queen St. and he was just walking by and I hadn’t seen the cat in like…fuck, years, cuz I was living in New York for a while. But yeah, he’s walking around and the craziest thing about him is he had like CP or something, so one of his arms is non-functional, but his whole mixing – one arm. Just with one hand and he was pretty damn good, but I saw him walking by and I’m like, “Wait a minute I know that guy.” I’m like, “Yo C-Rat!” and he’s like, “Yo Duppy?” (Laughter). I’m like “Yeah!” Actually my MC name was MC Mimic…yeah, so maybe like a year ago we went out to a jungle party on…shit, what’s that place? Not the Hide Out. It’s on Bathurst on the west side just south of Queen? It’s got like a black front…anyways man, it was dope. I think Caddy Cad was MC’ing. Caddy Cad and I had played a couple of parties together.
F: Caddy Cad is awesome. He’s still rhyming, still MC-ing…
MM: And he’s like 40 something, maybe 50, I don’t even know. I wasn’t doing any drugs a year ago or whatever but I was like “It’s good, it’s good,” blah blah blah, and I’m shooting the shit for a sec and I’m like, “Yo I’m totally in the zone right now, like yo, let me just spit 16’s,” (he’s) like “No, you can’t do it,” and I’m like “Fuck – c’mon bro. Really!” (Laughter). Like, “C’mon! I’m in the zone! Just let me holla for a second – I don’t want money or fucking anything.” He’s like, “No, I can’t do it,” and I’m like “Aight.” Yeah so, I guess that was the last party I went to.
F: Were you into gabber when you were a raver?
MM: I am not familiar with it.
F: Hardcore, happy hardcore…
MM: Oh happycore. Yeah, yeah. It was like my main two were happycore and ragga jungle.
F: Happy hardcore did not appeal to a lot of people that I knew, including myself, so I’m just curious as to what was it about happycore that you found stimulating.
MM: I would say a combination of the completely legal drugs that I wasn’t doing (laughter), cuz back in the days when I was partying, it was like PLUR, PLUR all the way. Peace love unity respect man. Everybody was your best friend and…shit what was that one song? (Sings) First you say yes, and then you say no, tell me to stop, and then you say go. What kind of fool are you looking for? That’s one that sticks out in my mind but it was just…the name of the music – like happy hardcore, just strong, quick beats but like nice vibes, and the people too you know, even more than the music. A good combination but I’d say more than the music, cuz everybody was kinda like, in the same zone and you know everybody’s just there to be nice to each other.
F: True dat.
MM: Which is what really built them in.
F: Did you ever eat the candy off your bracelets?
MM: I never actually had a candy bracelet but I knew people that did that shared.
F: Name some of your favourite DJ’s from that time.
MM: Awwh geez…Medicine Muffin, Drip, Flow, MC’s like Skibadee and Caddy Cad like I was saying…yeah, Capital J!
F: Yeah!
MM: And oh of course my DJ, C-Rat.
F: What were your most memorable parties or experiences?
MM: You know, I was thinking about that actually earlier while I was sitting here, and it was one of the most memorable lifetimes in an instant. Meaning I was walking I don’t know where, maybe to the bathroom or something but I passed this girl and we just made eye contact and in just that moment, it was an entire lifetime together. And I could tell that just from the eye contact that it was exactly the same way, and that actually is still with me 10 years later, so I would say that was the one that sticks out most in my mind.
F: Did you ever get the opportunity to check out the rave scene elsewhere, in other cities or down south?
MM: I never partied in the States; primarily Toronto. I remember Noose, The Docks. We went to Guelph a lot. What’s the university out there?
F: Guelph University.
MM: Okay! (Laughter). I guess that makes sense. We went to Guelph a lot cuz this buddy of mine was dating a girl out there, so we went to a lot of parties inGuelph, but it was primarily Toronto and Guelph.
F: Do you think raving has a future?”
MM: I would like to see it come back. At this point I’m not too up to date on parties. Actually no – I went to a party probably like 8 months ago at The Guvernment actually, with another buddy of mine. One of his boys, MC Zee, he’s an MC. We went to check him out and that was pretty cool. So to answer your question, I would say it’s still alive. Is it coming back? I don’t know. I would like to see cuz I love raving, but if it does come back strong, I would like to see PLUR come back, cuz once crystal meth started coming into it, people got kind of mean and then like drum and bass got too electronic and whatnot. It kind of took the sail out of it for me so like if it could go back to the day, go back to how it was back then I would love that.
F: On a final note, how would you say raving has changed your life.
MM: Oh, totally. It opened my mind to openness I suppose, actually cuz I’m fairly open and I like to share in general, but definitely through the experiences that I had while raving, it’s definitely opened me up and made me more accepting of people, more understanding I suppose? And I guess maybe more confident like just, how we met, like I was just passing by the park and then I saw people and I’m like, “Shit, hey these guys look cool so I might as well come and sit down.” So I think I definitely gained that kind of aspect from raving because you know when I was at parties like I was saying, you go around and everybody’s your best friend; just talk to anybody. “Hey, how you doing?” – “I’m feeling nice. How are you?” – “I’m nice too!” (Laughter). So I think that definitely carried over to my general M.O.
F: Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Duppy x
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