Calling all Hip-Hop Artists! We’re inviting all University of Toronto students, alumni, staff and faculty members to submit their work for the inaugural Hart House Hip-Hop Education – ‘Hip Hop Beyond Borders’ Mixtape and Showcase.
The genre for the mixtape is primarily Hip-Hop, with a focus on genre fusion and cultural representation. This is an opportunity to be true to yourself and exhibit artistic integrity. We want to give artists at U of T the chance to revamp songs that you have buried on a hard drive, or to create something entirely new!
While Hip-Hop began in the Bronx, it has since become a global sensation, taking root all over the world and allowing people everywhere to express themselves in ways specific to their social and cultural contexts. We want to showcase the fruits of this international phenomenon – to show that the spirit of being unique, abrasive, and passionate is truly Beyond Borders.
Our plan is to curate a mixtape with a diverse array of songs from different cultural perspectives, highlighting U of T’s multicultural makeup and illuminating the endless possibilities latent in Hip-Hop music. Submissions will begin on December 17, 2025 and conclude on February 22, 2026.
Applicants will hear back on or before March 1, and will be expected to take on their own preparation for the showcase/performance on March 25 at Hart House.
Eligibility (any or all of the following)
- Be a student at the University of Toronto
- Be a University of Toronto alumni
- Be otherwise affiliated with the University of Toronto in a contractual capacity (i.e., faculty/staff).
Requirements for all submissions
- Be Hip-Hop, Rap Fusion, or a related genre.
- Be original work, be the property of the author and not have been previously published. We do not accept submissions that are AI-generated in part or in whole.
- Either instrumentally or lyrically culturally distinct.
- Be no longer than 5 minutes.
- Be completed – i.e., mixed and mastered – you will not have a chance to revise once submitted. ***
- Be unreleased (not currently on any digital service provider – DSP, i.e., Spotify, Apply Music, etc.).
- Not contain producer tags that repeat.
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