I love my city to death. Montreal is as much a part of me as the heart in my chest or the blood in my veins. When I lose any one of these elements, I’ll cease to live or exist. I was born in this city and I’ll be buried in this city. Everywhere I travel, whether it be overseas to the other side of the planet or just a quick car ride to a neighboring suburb, I carry the 514 on my shoulders and let people know proudly where I’m from. You can tell I’m a typical Montrealer by the way I move and think, the slang I use in my dialogue or the accent I project, by the way I know how to chill and adapt to any situation and most importantly, by the vagabond pride in my eyes. As if the swag isn’t enough to give away my hometown origins, my clothing and accessories surely hint the city that birthed me. From an Expos fitted cap to a shirt adorning the Olympic Stadium, I am Montreal.

In a vibrant and beautiful city like this, it’s hard not to be proud of where you’re from. The population is ethnically diverse, but we all grew up the same way and think alike. Many like myself are born & raised Montrealers who represent their hometown to the fullest; we collect memorabilia or adorn exclusive clothing to showcase our pride. Today, Mook-Life gives love to the city that made us who we are, by spotlighting people putting on for their hometown and representing real loud through what they wear or collect. From the Pho’ restaurants in Cote-Des-Neiges to the Saint-Michel barbershops, from the Hochelaga tanning salons to the Verdun pool rooms, from the MTL-North housing projects to the Westmount mansions, from the Plateau public parks to the downtown shopping district.. this post is dedicated to the place we call home.

NDG native CeasRock reps his borough hard. From Snowdon to Elmhurst, his name is synonymous with the neighborhood he calls home. If you’re proud of where you’re from, you rep that shit on your clothing as if you were in a sports team. He lets us share our ‘hood pride with the world by creating exclusive New Era fitted hats that rep different corners of the city. Be on the lookout for more hats coming soon, we goin’ all-city this year.

CeasRock: I was nine years old when my cousin in Virginia gave me my first 5950 fitted cap. The hat was a Virginia Tech maroon joint with an orange brim and white detail. It was a perfect fit, and since that day I’ve had a passion for New Era fitteds. After years of copping over hundreds of fitteds and seeing my boys do the same I thought to myself: “Yo son, we should make our own hats.” One year, a couple grand and three New Era reps later BOOM! The illest Muntree fitteds to ever bless the streets, and anyone who fronts like they have a doper Montreal fitted in their collection is a bloodclot liar!
Originally my intent was to put on for all the recognized ‘hoods in the city. I started with NDG, Uptown, Downtown, DA VILLE [LaSalle] and DG again, just because those are the places I have the most affiliates in. But, after my first batch, I realized that in order for me to have access to all this clientele I would have to set up shop somewhere, which was not what I set out to do. At this point, we keeping it limited to the Montreal hats only. Even though I’m aware there’s a large demand for these lids, the goal is to have limited quantities so that whoever cops the hats becomes part of an exclusive club.
The plan now is to produce another batch of the original Montreal logo as well as an alternate version with the same logo and the snap-backs are gonna be on deck for the summer, ‘cuz that’s what’s gonna be poppin’.
Real Life is the brand, and CeasRock is the exclusive dealer. Get at me on Facebook if you’re interested in placing orders.

Last One lets us know this city is his turf. From the Impact scarf to the vintage Royals jersey, he puts on for the 514 with pride and determination. Nevermind the stolen metro line directions plastered to his closet door. Keeping it thorough from borough to borough, the streets are yours, young mook.

For those who aren’t in the know, the Montreal Royals were the minor league farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early 1900′s. It was the first sports team to break the race barrier by signing African-American player Jackie Robinson, who later became one of the greatest of his time. This just goes to show the mentality of the city; in an era when racism was common attitude, Montreal was ahead of its time and accepted people for talent, regardless of appearance. Today, we’re one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world.

You know you’re a mook when you’re using a stolen STM map of the city as a blanket. Have you ever wondered why most of the posters, maps and signs go missing in the subway stations? Here is the reason: my man Last, taking a piece of the city home with him. It doesn’t get more Montreal than that.

I remember a time when bus passes had flavor, before they created the plain blue OPUS metro cards and imitated half the systems around the world. A time when you could pull the scheme of using the same expired bus transfer for a week, or drop 40 cents in nickels and dimes in the paybox and convince the driver it was the full fare.

Since its inauguration for Expo ’67, the subway has been known for its funky colors and festive vibe. The fluorescence of these passes reflect these times, an 80s vibe the city has hung onto for years and that you can still find when venturing on the extremities of the green line. And shit, look at those prices: a reasonable 43$ for a monthly pass, compared to today’s 73 dollar robbery.

First metro ad campaign done in 1976, at Atwater station.

Our love for the metro system goes deep, so deep we break into its tunnels at night and leave our mark on its wagons. The art of subway painting remains an underground scene in the city, where only a select few (who I won’t mention) manage to push the movement to its limits and put on for our city’s graffiti culture. Shout out to all my soldiers going on missions and risking freedom for end to ends or burners, y’all know who you are.

Sewk shows respect to the culture by creating a metro car canvas. An exposition was held at Yves Laroche Gallery, where a handful of the cities’ top writers adapted their personal styles to his creation.

When talking about Montreal pride, we can’t ignore Labnoise representative Full Course. From the RUN NDG sweater to the funky Expos and city logo chains, my man reps his birthplace to the fullest. “I was born in Mount-Real, raised in DG.”

Expos logo chain, designed by Mykee from Dots of Awesome, and Montreal logo piece, designed by Harvey from Cease & Desist.

Out here, hockey is not a past time or a hobby. It’s religion. Instead of going to church on Sunday morning, we watch the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night while downing a 24 pack of Molson Dry, talk shit until the break of dawn and sleep in ’til 3pm. Hockey has been responsible for numerous riots here and we’ll remember all the player stats before we’ll remember our moms’ birthday. Go Habs Go, this year we’re bringing the cup back to the 514, where it belongs.

Benny Ill: From the cradle to the grave, kid. I’ve always been a big fan of all the sports teams to come out of Montreal, but when I was a kid, I used to be an OD baseball fan. My idols were Tim Raines and Gary Carter. Andre Dawson and Tim Wallach were high up on that list too. I remember being nine or ten years old and taking the 97 bus to Viau station dolo to go check out games. I would get a 1$ ticket and once inside, I’d walk as far down as I could and sit in the section where the tickets would cost around 15$. I’ve never been bothered by anyone or asked to go back to my section, probably because the ballpark was pretty empty half the time.
Once, I saw Youppi try to do some stunt on top of the dugout roof. I guess he miscalculated his maneuver, because he slid and fell off from the top of the roof and injured himself pretty good. I was bugging, ‘cuz the medics came and they took his head mask off and he left on a stretcher and everything. Good times.
The steamed hot dogs always seemed to taste better at a game too. I don’t know why, but the Hi-Grade joints with the little kids on the wrapper brought directly to your seat by the isle vendors, that was my shit. I used to try to go see as many home double-headers as I could too, ‘cuz I would get more for my dollar. I remember going to a double-header against the Chicago Cubs and staying at the park for hours on end, ‘cuz it was raining, and I wanted to wait out the rain until the game started again. This is before they finally installed the roof on that catastrophe of a stadium. It’s too bad the team’s gone now. I see kids wearing Expos fitteds and gear but have probably never even been to a game in their life. I guess the E. M. B. logo represents something different for them. I can’t be mad; at least they’re repping.

Check out his Tumblr photo blog here.

Home of the hustler. Not only is this dog rocking the Canadiens jersey with the sunglasses but he’s hard on his grind, hustling for that pocket change.

Success Clothing CEO Vinny Vinhtage puts on for our city in the gear game. When it comes to repping our town with clothing, Success does it with style. This pic illustrates perfectly the Love/Hate relationship we have here. The hat is dedicated to the place we love, that same hometown pride that makes you scream OLE OLE OLE and get piss-drunk every time the Habs win a game. The shirt is dedicated to the haters and dick riders, a constant reminder that even if we’re cool cats, you can still get your head split or teeth knocked for talking shit and hating on our turf.

Vinny Vinhtage: I think Montreal is a great city, and a lot of talent represents the city very well on the international level in different fields: graffiti, music, art, cinema, advertising, dancing, etc. The only missing link was a streetwear brand that could represent what Real City is about, not only locally, but across borders as well. It’s important for other countries and cities (even MTL) to be like “Oh shit, is that brand really from Montreal?” Up to now, I’ve been selling Success to USA, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Africa, France, Russia, Japan and I even got an order from Hong Kong recently. Success wants to give a good look to the city, you know! I gotta thank many people from other countries, such as Vado from Dipset in Harlem, Yarah Bravo from Berlin, Dj Vadim up in London and Dj Sarasa all the way down in Tokyo for helping me push the brand outside the box! If you say Streetwear and Montreal in the same sentence, I want Success to come to your mind.

View Success official website: http://www.wegotsuccess.com/

Support your local hooligans in the city where vandalism is a sport.

Product of Mooktreal. Brown Paper Bag Blues. Mook-Life stamp of approval.

My man Robz is Montreal from head to toe. Another official all-city chilleur.

Robz Vega: Montreal 23 years of my life in this motherfucker real life been through many hoods from, NDG to MTL North to Downtown to Mile-End and to me, MTL is a city that’s comfortable and very multicultural. You can be very much free over here. Compared to other cities I lived in, like Miami, and Haiti, it’s not the same. We should all be happy we have an amazing city like this and keep repping this 514 like we should. Expos for life, son.

Youppi was way fresher when he was playing Baseball.

In 2010, the local anglophone hiphop scene had the biggest year I’ve seen so far. I’ve always said there was a shitload of talent out here but never any determination or exposure to make the music known to the rest of the planet. Lately, thanks to radio shows and blogs changing the scene’s mentality, we’ve had a boost of new exposure due to the digital era. Dutch from EscapeMTL is one of those rare hardworking people responsible for making those wheels turn. He’s on a mission much similar to ours. That mission is putting this city on the map and letting the rest of the world know that Montreal is not igloos and polar bears. Letting the planet know that there is talent and potential out here and that with the right grind, anyone can make it. From promoting some of the biggest hiphop shows to ever hit our streets, to giving us the time on the latest exclusives through his site, Dutch puts on for our city and everyone in it.

Dutch: I put on for my city. I’m Dutch, AKA the High Duke, and I founded Escape Entertainment. My goal has always been to bring hiphop back to the 514 and over the past 5 years, I think I have contributed quite a bit. Some of the shows I have had a hand in bringing to Real City have been: Method Man & Redman, Rick Ross, Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, Fabolous, Slaughterhouse, Pharoahe Monch, Reflection Eternal, Bun B, Naughty By Nature, D12, Busta Rhymes, Chamillionaire and a bunch more. I also work directly with some of our local talent like Magnum 357, I.Blast, Nov, Mr. Bits, D-Shade, DJ Critical Hype & many more. Another one of my most proud accomplishments is starting the Real City Countdown with Nick Fury on K103.7FM, a place for locals to get their music heard. Montreal is looking good right now, and I’m happy to be a part of the movement.

Go Habs & Als. Long live the Expos. I’ma say it one last time: I put on for my city. Oh yeah, and smoke weed everyday.

For the latest info on all local or international hiphop, check out http://escapemtl.com/.

Professional actor and DJ, Morz reps Québécois mookness to the fullest. The Bien-Être Social swag doesn’t get any realer than being posted in front of a Couche-Tard dep with a shirtless beer belly popping out in -20°C weather. To top it all off, the exclusive police uniform button-up, to add spice to the swag. Don’t ask me where he found that. Montreal city: the epicenter of Canadian Mookness. Two thumbs up and one Labatt 50 beer toasted in the air.

Collecting street signs is a classic Montreal drunken hobby. We love this city so much we bring a piece of it home with us. Rue Des Seigneurs, it’s the Royal Mountain Island where the mookiest survive.

Uptown stand up. Krazy Kuts, Marche Jolee and Huoai Huong. Côte Sainte-Catherine metro, holding it down for all my immigrants on the come up.

Your favorite rap villain, Loe Pesci, is coming correct with the exclusive Expos jogging suit and memorabilia plaque, reminiscing better days. Step Your Life Game Up.