Fils-Aimé's "Three Little Words" completes a trilogy of albums celebrating the history of Black-American music, while Tobi's "Elements Vol. 1" fuses hip-hop, jazz, pop and R&B.
Other Polaris-nominated albums include two efforts from Toronto rappers — Cadence Weapon's "Parallel World" and DijahSB's "Head Above the Waters" — as well as the debut album of Mustafa, "When Smoke Rises," named in honour of his friend Smoke Dawg, a local rap artist who was killed in a 2018 shooting.
The burgeoning Indigenous music scene is also represented with "Bleached Waves" by Zoon, a project from Hamilton-based First Nations musician Daniel Monkman, and "Theory of Ice," a seething reflection on politics and the environment from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a member of Alderville First Nation.