Let Your Backbone Slide at 30: Maestro Fresh Wes shares his oral history of Canada's most loved rap song

Before 1989, Canadians everywhere were terrified to let their backbones slide — and that's when Maestro Fresh Wes changed everything.

His song Let Your Backbone Slide became the first Canadian rap song to crack the Billboard Top 40, the first Canadian rap song to become a gold single and, for decades, it was the biggest-selling Canadian rap single of all time. It was a game-changer for music in Canada.

For the 30-year anniversary of its release, Maestro Fresh Wes, his former manager Farley Flex and Davis of the production duo First Offence reflect on the song's impact, for an oral history of Let Your Backbone Slide.

Click 'Listen' above to hear the full segment, or scroll down for a written version.

1. Where it all began

Farley Flex: I first met Maestro at a Roadhouse restaurant in Scarborough called Wizards. He was basically a chicken wing cook and I worked at the front, so we'd drop freestyles as a crew and we'd battle the bus boys who were roughly seven or eight years younger than us. Then one day, mysteriously, these guys would come in with some lines. So we go back to the double doors leading into the kitchen and there's this slender cat with his back to the door — so I couldn't see his face — and I said, "Are you the one responsible for these guys starting to step to us with a little more quality lyrics?" And he just smiled. That's the first day I ever met Wes. 

I think it's important to know that Maestro's rap career didn't begin with Backbone Slide. A lot of people think that, but to be truthful, Wes had already cut his chops as an MC in the city and was well-known throughout the hip-hop community.

Maestro: In 1987, I was called Old School. In hip-hop, you only have a short shelflife, even at an underground level, so before I did Backbone Slide, I had a single out called I'm Showing You. It got a light rotation on MuchMusic and I was really excited about it. And then one thing led to the next and I performed on Electric Circus.

Farley Flex: When the opportunity came to perform on Electric Circus, I had to do a little bit of convincing — that was more dance music. So the only way that I could really convince Wes to do it was the national appeal. When we did the first performance — I think it was about two weeks later, I could stand corrected on this — we got another call to come back on the show. So the second time we were on the show we performed Let Your Backbone Slide.

2. The music that inspired the song

Maestro: I had the idea from listening to a song by Billy Squier, a '70s rock artist who had a song called The Stroke. In it he said, "you make my backbone slide." I always thought that was ill. So I told the fellas, "Listen, I want to make a song, but the energy of the song has to say, "let your backbone slide."

Farley Flex: The beat for Let Your Backbone Slide was made by a sibling duo by the name of Anthony and Peter Davis, a.k.a. First Offence.

Davis: So it's absolutely worth noting that the song that we now know as Let Your Backbone Slide didn't start off that way. Back then, there was a big hit called It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. So we wanted a beat similar to that. Maestro has a very dominant voice. Back then, there were only a few rappers, such as Big Daddy Kane, that rapped really fast, yet clear. So I remember saying, we need to emphasize that.

Maestro: "This is a throwdown." The reason why I wanted to start a capella is because I'm a huge fan of Public Enemy. When you look at Chuck D, every song is like a punch in the face with the first line. So that's why I said "this is a throwdown." That was just like me saying, "I'm here." So yeah, I did it, I went out and I performed the song for the very first time. Stevie B from LMR Records just so happened to be performing that day. 

Farley Flex: So for those of you who don't know who Stevie B is, you probably know a song called Spring Love, which was a massive hit.

Maestro: I was in the right place at the right time because Stevie hooked us up with his label. When we got the deal with LMR Records, we decided to remix the song, so the remix is what everybody knows.

Davis: So we started off with a version that sounded like It Takes Two, but it just didn't have that oomph. At the same time, another hit song was out, called The 900 Number by Mark The 45 King. The 900 Number had a heavy kick drum and a nice beat. That was the main inspiration for what we call the "power mix" of Let Your Backbone Slide. So, we started off there with a similar beat to 900 Number, and then what was famous were mega mixes. We thought, let's try and come up with a way to sort of almost have a mega mix within the song to sort of give it that kick.

Farley Flex: We went to the studio, they played Let Your Backbone Slide, but the music under it was incredible. I remember tears coming to my eyes, I smelled a hit, it just freaked me out. I don't even think I slept that night, that's how crazy it was.

3. A smash hit

Maestro: Farley and I were at a club in Scarborough called Falcon's Nest. We hear Let Your Backbone Slide and then we started jumping around the club like two idiots. It was like a victory, like we reached the destination where all the years of putting time into it, all the times of going to New York and getting dissed, labels not wanting to sign us and what have you. Now it's like, we're right here in Scarborough and they're playing our record. I'll never forget that feeling, I'll never forget that time.

Farley Flex: It's when somebody breaks that threshold, that makes things believable. I know people who have built careers because Wes broke barriers — there's no ifs, ands or buts about that. The rap category at the Junos was solely inspired by Let Your Backbone Slide. It won a dance award at the Junos and then they created the rap category the following year. You know, when we talk about impact, that's the real deal.

Maestro: Let Your Backbone Slide will always be important to me because it showed me that hard work pays off, you have to believe in yourself and opportunities come when you least expect it. I was performing on MuchMusic and things changed just like that, like the snap of a finger. It's an honour to be here now, knowing that this is 30 years in the making. We're commemorating the 30-year anniversary of Let Your Backbone Slide.

Produced by ​Tyrone Callender. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.