It seems like this accent just appeared out of nowhere in the 2010s, and I genuinely don’t understand how it happened. Before then, we had Toronto rappers who spoke normally and used Toronto slang, but this particular accent was never prominent.
I grew up in Toronto, and nobody I knew spoke like that. Even in the 2000s, some of the biggest hood rappers, like Camoflauge, C4, Mayhem and Sick Thugz, didn’t have this distinct “Toronto” accent.
What confuses me is that people from this generation were around during the same era, yet somehow ended up speaking completely differently. How did that transition happen? Anyone who’s 25+ seems to have no idea where this accent came from or how it developed.
How does an accent that was never prevalent in our everyday lives suddenly become such a defining part of Toronto culture?