Artist Name: Carrie
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First female rap artist in Bern & Biel/Bienne since 1988 (Canton Bern, Switzerland)
Conscious Rap – MC Carree / Cary / MC Carrie / Carree / Carrie Montandon / de la Carrie / dela C.
"One of the first female voices of Swiss Hip-Hop – bold, clear, consistent. Carrie blends Conscious Rap with cultural history and political awareness. An artist whose story is more than music: a documentary of Swiss Hip Hop's beginnings."
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Carrie is one of the first female rap artists in Switzerland and a defining voice of Conscious Rap. Since 1988, she has been shaping the hip hop scene in Bern and Biel/Bienne, building cultural bridges up to today. As a pioneer of rap in Bern and Biel, she has connected Conscious Rap with cultural diversity, socially critical lyrics, and a clear artistic stance. Her work encompasses music, performance, art, activism, and research – always driven by authenticity and a deep understanding of Hip Hop culture.
Born in 1972 in Fribourg, Carrie grew up between the Fribourg region and a Bernese suburb. Her biography is marked by complex childhood experiences, state interventions, and religious violence. Despite these difficult circumstances, she developed a strong artistic identity early on and a sharp eye for social injustices – themes that later became central to her rap lyrics.
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Musical Influence:
Carrie's adoptive father was - besides his bred job - a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and entertainer who performed in the 1960s at the Kursaal Bern. Later, he became a solo keyboard entertainer, composing his own songs until his death. His engagements – including at Kornhauskeller Bern – led him to numerous stages over decades. He mastered six instruments and moved stylistically between Rumba, Mambo, Beguine, Gospel, Charleston, Foxtrot, Schlager, and Swiss folk music. His musical influences included Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Freddy Quinn, The Humphries, and other greats of his time. The artistic tradition roots in his family: his mother wrote poetry, was a semi-professional actress at the "Neue Volksbühne Bern," and performed, among others, at the historical Käfigturm Theater in Bern.
He recognized Carrie's talent early on:
– Singing since the age of 3
– E-organ since 5
– First stage appearance at 12
– Later played ukulele, guitar, keyboard
– At 31, taught herself piano (Beethoven)
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This musical foundation continues to shape her art until these days.
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Rap History & Hip Hop Roots:
Carrie was inducted into the Bernese Old-School Hip Hop scene in 1988 – at a time when rap was barely accepted in the region and women in the music scene, besides Asita Hamidi, Sue von Peter Sue und Marc, or Dodo Hug, were almost invisible. After experimenting all Hip Hop arts, she chose rap and soon began performing at local venues such as Bümplizer Chilbi, Lyssbachmärit, and others.
Since the local Bernese music scene rejected rap and was cultivating in general a sexist and narrow-minded way, it did thus not acknowledge rap as an art form either. Therefore, Carrie's crew took her to Biel/Bienne, which at the time was the hip hop epicenter of Switzerland. There, she became part of the rap crew Cut da Rock (CDR) (Jazzy, Yancoo, DJ Shook, Yuyu) and jamed with them from 1989 to 1991, but continued to perform solo at venues like Coupole Biel/Bienne or Medora Bern.
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Salmonella Quintet (1991–2001/03):
In 1991, Carrie was invited by the live funk band Salmonella Quintet (SQ), initially as a feature, later as a permanent member. The band grew from five to fourteen musicians, adding brass and string sections with influences from P-Funk artists like Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, George Clinton, and jazz musicians like Eddie Harris, Lionel Hampton, and others. Later, their sound shifted with influences from James Brown, Prince, Elvis Presley, and styles ranging from raw analog funk with rap to disco-pop, country cocktail Party, spiked with film music exploring depth under electronic influences....
Over 150 shows, including:
• Atlantis Basel
• Palais X-tra Zurich
• KIFF Aarau
• Dolce Vita & Case à Chocs Neuchâtel
• Gaskessel Bern
• Coupole / Chessu Biel/Bienne
• Café Mokka Thun
• Horizont Festival Lausanne
• Barbaries & Podring Festival Biel/Bienne
• And more.
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Collaborations with:
Hans Koch, Sebastian Piekarek (Defunkt), Andi Marti, Daniel Erismann, Lucien Dubuis, Edgar Laubscher, Ursula Grossenbacher, Guitol, Indians in the Snow, Simon Gerber, and others.
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Releases & Media:
• 2 CD albums (first live)
• EP-Vinyl
• Radio Airplay ("move some" on Couleur3 & DRS3)
• TV & Music Videos – including "Kill the DJ" (directed by Karim Patwa), aired on MTV and at festivals in Locarno, Toronto, Warsaw, and more.
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In parallel, Carrie remained active solo and freestyled after shows, including with Naughty by Nature.
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First Solo Album:
Carrie's Delay – Deep. strong. clear (2001)
Production: B-Note Entertainment (Ben Mühlethaler)
Support: Culture City of Bern, SEVA (Lottery Fund Kt. Bern), Migros-Kulturprozent
Awards:
Gold Medal R&B/Rap/Soul at the Song Expo – Benelux International Song & Culture Festival (1,500 participants) with the songs "Matrix" (English) and "Cafar" (French).
Despite international success, local media response in Bern was absent.
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Conscious Rap & Themes:
Carrie's lyrics have dealt with social conflicts and personal experiences since the 1980s, focusing on topics like:
• Sexism
• Racism
• Colonialism
• Social inequality
• Violence & abuse of power
• Drugs/crime scene
• Bullying, gossip, fake news
• Intercultural dialogue
• Religious bridge-building
• State interventions
... and stylistic devices: irony, sarcasm, humor, metaphors, role-playing.
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Being accused of being a "moralist" became her trademark – a hallmark of quality in Conscious Rap.
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Language & Hip-Hop Culture:
Why English?
• She learned English at age 8 in Rotterdam (fifth language) through her adoptive grandmother and U.S. TV shows.
• English was the standard language of European Old School.
• German was culturally loaded (after WWII) and unwelcome in the scene.
• Social critique in 80s German would have been censored in Switzerland. > The song "Respect" (1998), for example, addresses the lack of Women's rights in a cheeky street language in English, in which she could let off steam artistically and lyrically, without fear of consequences, because most of them did not understood what this song was really about. AI translation robots on the Internet did not exist at that time.
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International Hip Hop Network:
Carrie was an early part of a European exchange and met:
Basquiat (Paris †), Lady Pink (NYC), Lionel D (Paris †), DJ Deenasty, Koma (Berlin), Lazy-K, DJ Dan & Abdel, Saliha, DJ Fab & EJM, NTM (Paris), IAM (Marseille), and many more.
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Today & Future:
Starting in 2004, her master's degree (Political Science, Art History, Museology) led to a break. At the same time, sexism and racism changed the Bernese scene, and the increasing digitalization of the music industry shifted structures and access.
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Since 2015, Carrie has been active again:
• Founder of hiphopmuseumschweiz.ch
• Digital art installations (e.g., Laundry Service)
• Roles in music videos (e.g., The Jackets)
• Exhibitions (painting, drawing, poetry)
• Rap workshops & cultural mediation projects
• Texts about state interventions & urban art
• Cyphers & jams with the new generation
• Rap-house projects against colonialism
• Collaboration on the project "Second Art"
• Exhibition of new works in November 2025
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Carrie's work remains interdisciplinary, socially political, and deeply rooted in Hip Hop culture.