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Aly Ndiaye

Aly Ndiaye, aka Webster, was born and raised in the Limoilou district of Quebec City. The son of a Senegalese father and a Québécois mother, he has always been proud of his origins, and describes himself as a “SénéQueb métis pure laine“. His passion for history led him to study in that field at university.

An activist, Webster is very socially involved. He regularly gives lectures on a wide range of subjects, including his favorite topic, the history of the presence of people of African descent and slavery in Quebec and Canada since the days of New France. To help disseminate this information, he set up the Qc History X tours, a guided tour of Quebec City on this largely unknown part of history. He curated the Fugitifs! exhibition at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec in 2019 and, in 2023, the Sur paroles: le son du rap queb exhibition at the Musée de la civilisation.

The Limoilou rapper travels the world to present writing workshops where he teaches the creative use of French through rap. He has visited several American universities, including Harvard, M.I.T., Howard, Georgetown and UCLA. He has also given concerts, lectures and writing workshops in several
countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

Musically, Webster has been active since 1995; a founding member of the Limoilou Starz collective, he is a veteran and pioneer of the Quebec hip-hop scene. The Old Man of the Mountain is known for the quality and finesse of his lyrics. His art is a tool that he has been refining for almost three decades in order to convey his cultural and intellectual background in the most creative way. Webster is the author of a hip-hop writing manual, À l'Ombre des Feuilles (Québec Amérique, 2019), a children's book about Olivier Le Jeune, Canada's first African slave, Le Grain de Sable (Septentrion, 2019) and the French translator of Charles W. Mills' Racial Contract (Mémoire d'Encrier, 2023).

Since 2023, he has represented Quebec on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

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