Super Duty Tough Work

Relying on the potency of silky bass lines and honey-soaked horns, paired with exacting lyrics about sky-high ambitions, this eight-piece rap-jazz-R&B crew from Winnipeg channels the beating heart of ‘90s East Coast hip hop into thrilling live performances. In 2020, Super Duty Tough Work’s debut EP, Studies in Grey, was long-listed for Canada’s Polaris Music Prize. “We try to make it interesting in that, it’s not the same structure or formula over and over again,” says lyricist and frontman Brendan Grey. SDTW is self-described as “golden era taste, current era based,” with top Winnipeg talent and globally sourced players drawn from as far as Argentina. There is a melodic machinery built into their sound that pays homage to visionaries of ‘90s boom-bap — Gang Starr, Digable Planets, and A Tribe Called Quest — all of whom were adept at capturing the spirit of the social zeitgeist with a single biting lyric. “(It’s all) Black resistance music,” explains Brendan. “It doesn’t always have to be overt. You don’t always have to make a statement. Sometimes it’s just the act. That’s the tradition that SDTW comes out of.”