Machine Gun Kelly Laces Up in Tdot

Machine Gun Kelly, the wild boy himself, hit up Toronto to tear the city apart. The tall and tatted 21-year-old rapper from Cleveland, Ohio sat down with Urbanology Magazine at his hotel, before his meet and greet with fans at New Era, and concert at Sound Academy. In a black “Rager” tee and a backwards snapback, MGK got comfortable on the couch to talk about his “EST 19XX” family, Lace Up Tour, new album and what inspires his music.

MGK has a following unlike most other artists. His fans are die-hard and will do almost anything to make it to his shows. He was reluctant to talk about what the term “Lace Up” means to fans, and his fans’ influence on him, stating that his fans already know it is so much more than a movement.

“I don’t know anyone that has what the f*ck we have right now,” he says. “What we have is 10 times deeper than music. I’ve never seen no shit like this, I don’t even want to insult the kids that truly live and breathe this shit by insulting them and being like, ‘when you’re an artist, and you have a movement, that’s how you know you’ve made it,’ there is no god damned movement outside of this shit. I don’t see shit out here that’s as powerful as this, one of our most hardcore fans didn’t have enough money to travel to see the show and fans Western Union-ed her money so she could go get a passport and she could come out. This shit is a f*cking family, man.”

Ashley Mackay and Cory Kurtzman drove all the way from Halifax just to be able to see their favourite artist perform at Sound Academy. Mackay came across MGK while on YouTube a year ago and introduced Kurtzman to his music. The two friends listen to the wild boy every day so driving the 19 hours from Nova Scotia was worth it.

“With the amount of MGK that we listen to, we couldn’t turn it down,” explains Kurtzman. “His love for his fans is just ridiculous. I’m in the video for “Return”. All his fans did the whole video for him.”

MGK gets to know his fans on a personal level, and says that some of his biggest fans reside in Toronto. “One of the illest tattoos that a fan has is a Toronto native and that’s like the infamous Machine Gun Kelly portrait that’s on the leg. All of my fans know about that tattoo that this guy has and he’s from right here so that’s cool. He told me that he was going to get my face tattooed when I was in Toronto last time. I signed his leg at a show in Ohio that he and his wife travelled down for, and at the Toronto show, afterwards, he pulled his leg up and he had my autograph tattooed on his leg. I was like ‘Oh, that’s sick,’ and he’s like ‘I’m going to get your portrait tattooed in two weeks.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, whatever, you’re just saying that to make me happy right now.’ Low and behold, two weeks later I saw a post and I was like ‘What the f*ck!’”

Everything Machine Gun Kelly does, he does for his fans, many of which inspire him with their stories. Most notable, a wheelchair bound fan with cerebral palsy who stood up for a moment because MGK’s music had inspired him to “lace up” and press on. Addicts are also a large part of his fan base due to the similarities they share, and the content of his music.

“I had another interaction with a heroin addict at a radio station one time, and it was really cool because addicts are a huge part of my fan base just because there are some similarities between their lives and mine but this guy came up and was like ‘I’m 96 days sober because of you,’ and he started bawling his f*cking eyes out man, and it was just one of those moments when you can just tell if someone is genuine or not… This guy was one of those guys that you can just clearly tell has been through some shit and that it truly meant something to him. It was in front of the P[rogram] D[irector] too and it was one of those things where my song was on the border of being picked up for regular rotation. I think that experience went down in my book as one of the best. It was a really cool moment, man.”

Drugs largely influence his lyrical content, but the wild boy says he doesn’t like to talk about it, as he does not want to promote that lifestyle to his fans and make them think that they can’t do anything creative without it. He also says the struggles he went through growing up such as fights and robberies, the struggle to provide for his child and the complicated/non-existent relationships he has with family members inspired him to write powerful songs such as “The Return”.

““The Return” is probably the best song that I will ever write just because it was all those problems that I had summed up in a three-minute song, no chorus, no nothing, just me attacking a microphone. Me and Slim had a huge fight before I wrote the song, I wrote it in a closet in Nashville, Tennessee. “The Return” has got to be my all-time favourite song that I’ve done,” he says.

Before the release of his Lace Up album this summer, MGK will be dropping the Half Naked & Almost Famous EP, which will be a soundtrack to a DVD he’s working on. MGK says that he won’t be switching up his sound in order to sell more records and that fans can expect the same MGK on the album that they’ve heard on his mixtapes. He did promise, however a feature from one of his favourite rappers DMX, and a secret feature that MGK says has never been featured by anyone before.

After the interview, Machine Gun Kelly hit up the New Era hat store for a meet and greet with fans before his show at Sound Academy. Toronto artists C-Flowz, The 6th Letter and Loonie Blue opened the show before Bad Boy Records artist Los performed his opening set. The other artists’ performances were hype, but it was obvious who the audience came to see. MGK hit the stage with an intense energy and stage presence, as the crowd screamed, chanted and started mosh pits. He threw water into the crowd, mooned the audience jumped on his drum set, and jumped into the audience, spitting tracks from his mixtapes and doing a cover of Blink 182’s “What’s My Age Again?” which fit the punk-rock energy of his performance. He brought a female fan onstage to undress to his hit, “Wild Boy”, which closed off the show. He made it obvious to the fans how much he cares about them, and gave them a show they won’t soon forget.

C-Flowz Mixtape Review

Artist: C-Flowz | Mixtape: Hollywood High
On Repeat: Cold World, Ever Had, Gettin’ More
Download: http://indy.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/13856/c_flowz_hollywood_high.html

Hollywood High is the fourth mixtape from 21-year-old Toronto rapper C-Flowz, and it is brimming with energy. Hosted by Toronto’s DJ Gutta and Pittsburgh’s DJ BChenk, the nine-track mixtape is a balance of bangers and trill, but every song has a beat to bob your head to. Sampling styles from bigwigs, such as Janelle Monáe, Kanye West, Yung Chris and Lupe Fiasco, C holds his own with a confident flow. On “Ever Had”, the young emcee spits about his daily grind and vision over a technical beat by Taylor Gang’s in-house producer, Sledgren, and on the anthem “Gettin’ More” his focus is on the benefits he has reaped from the grind he has put in. His grind definitely paid off with the creation of a fresh mixtape that any hip-hop listener can appreciate.

Prime Photography

Shot by: Jermane Prime

Urbanesque

Beautiful dancers, erotic choreography and sexy wardrobe were the ingredients that made up Urbanesque, an urban burlesque show that played for two nights at The Courthouse in Toronto last month.

Toronto-native Hollywood Jade is the founder and choreographer of Urbanesque. He followed his dream of creating an original concept of an urban burlesque show. “I love theatre performance, and I’ve always wanted to do a show, but I find the urban culture is missing from the theatre world,” says Jade. “… It’s really dance. I’ve taken the classic style of burlesque and fused it with the urban world which gives you a very unique show where nothing is like anything else… I wanted to do an urban dance show that was sexy and mature, and really showcase women in a positive and strong light, even through their vulnerability, and that’s how Urbanesque came about.”

Before the show started, DJ Lissa Monet spun the ones and twos while the audience mingled and drank cocktails, which were named after several of the dancers in the show. Host Tangara Jones, whose stage name is Dynasti, humourously opened the show, introducing the dancers to the stage.

With a cast of 12 women and five men, each dancer brought a different character to life on the stage. Every number had a different costume change with sexy, yet tasteful wardrobe. Not every dance was sexually charged, as Jade’s choreography touched on comedy as well during a workout piece involving the majority of the cast. The audience could not get enough, clapping, screaming and laughing as the dancers interacted with the crowd.

Jennifer Jones, owner of Joy of Dance Centre, is Jade’s main supporter and has always believed in his vision. She says their partnership works because they complement each other perfectly, and explains that Urbanesque can benefit women and break the stigmas attached to burlesque.

“What has happened for the performers is their own sense of pride and being a woman, without feeling like you’re degrading yourself, in fact you’re celebrating your sexuality and you are in power of that sexuality,” she says. “There’s a fine line between burlesque and strip, it’s that absolute line of empowerment, and at no point do these women give up their empowerment of being who they are as a woman. And that they have the right to say yes, to say no, to do whatever they want, and not be any less than everything they can be and that is truly what we want to take away from this.”

Esie Mensah, also known by her stage name Nevaeh, has been in the show since it began March 17, 2011 and owes much of her success as a dancer to Hollywood Jade. He pushed her to pursue dance, which she says, is her calling.

“This show has helped me find myself and find who I am. People don’t really realize how liberating it is to expose an aspect of yourself and to be so vulnerable on stage. It’s very challenging to do, in order to be that vulnerable, that sexy, to allow yourself to display that part of yourself to an audience.”

The dancers rehearsed for only six weeks, but executed their choreography in unison.

R&B songstress Andreena Mill performed her hit “Picture Perfect”, while visual artist Navin Monteiro created a live painting during the performance, which was raffled off at the end of the night.

The show ended with the entire cast and Jade gracing the stage to perform an energetic final number as the crowd gave a standing ovation. Jade became emotional while thanking everyone for their support, as he conquered one of his dreams.

Hair Story

The Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth launched Hair Story: Understanding Culture and Community For Black Youth in Ontario’s Systems of Care last Thursday night, a project to support children in the system who do not have benefits to maintain their hair. “It’s been a systemic issue within our office where young people have called in regards to hair maintenance,” explains Erica Smith, Community Development Advisor for the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth (OPACY). “Their foster parents or group home [staff] may not be educated on the maintenance of black hair and its affected self-esteem. We want to be able to have a free place to dialogue about their situations and dialogue about their experiences in care and how they want to see things changed.”

The event was launched in the office overlooking the city to bring awareness to the community and those who are in position to make decisions in order to make recommendations to service providers and the ministry to bring about change for affected youth.
“It’s the youth’s voice that we’re trying to propel,” says Andy Lee, Community Development Advisor. “And it’s already hard enough sometimes for young people to be heard by adults and if you add on top of that the young people that are in our mandate, I think there is an extra layer of losing their voice.”

Lee created a promotional video for the event, which kicked off the launch. There is also an online site dedicated to the project: http://provincialadvocate.on.ca/storyofmyhair. The project will culminate with a two-day event in May when 10 youth in care will get their hair done in a salon and be followed up with a panel where youth will be able to freely discuss the issues that surround life in care, and their hair. The office chose the hair salon as the base of the project because it often acts as a hub for the black community and a therapeutic space.
Rasheeda Bates-Williams, a panel leader at OPACY was asked to participate in the project due to her first-hand experience with being a child in care and dealing with the ignorance of black hair by her guardians.

“I realized that I had to say something about my hair and being in care so this was my opportunity to say something. I’ve been complaining a lot about the lack of responsibility that my caregivers were giving me when I was younger,” explains Bates-Williams.
She explains that her guardians would complain when she asked for extra assistance to maintain her hair and that she had to use the same shampoo as other members of her household who were different ethnicities. “I don’t think that being black should be an elephant in the room, or especially hair should be an elephant in the room. It should be something that is addressed and there needs to be protocols or something done about that so they don’t feel segregated or feel isolated because their hair needs special attention.”




Photos by: Isa Ransome

Kama Sutra Comedy Event

In early February, well-dressed couples and singles alike attended Jay Martin’s Kama Sutra What’s love got to do with it? event at The Vue venue in Toronto to celebrate Valentine’s Day with food, music and comedy.
Tricia Trotter, from Sherwood Mortgage Group, who has been sponsoring Jay Martin and his events for the last six years, said that events such as Kama Sutra are unique and very important. “A lot of people don’t want to come out anymore, with all the violence and so forth, so what Jay Martin has done is an amazing thing,” said Trotter. “He wants to bring comedy and entertainment all in one… But it’s to bring back unity and to bring back couples and to appreciate one another and it’s Valentine’s.”

The night started with the packed house having a chance to mingle while enjoying eats catered by Island Mix Restaurant and desserts provided by Georgie Porgie’s Grill. DJ Malachi Streets spun on the 1s and 2s, before Jay Martin opened the show, singing with Omar Lunan of the Chicken N Waffles band who comedian Trixx later referred to as prison inmates. Singers Owen “O’Sound” Lee and Grace took to the stage next, warming the crowd with R&B talent.
Grace performed Jill Scott’s “A Long Walk” and D’Angelo’s “I Feel Like Makin’ Love”. The soulful singer stated that an event like Kama Sutra is important to bring artists with different niches together to provide quality entertainment. “Just being able to socialize, especially in these times where many things are happening. People are not really collaborating together to see that we can really accomplish things like this and talk about love and just have a good time. It’s very important,” she said.

At the event, it had been announced that Whitney Houston had passed away. O’Sound altered his set to provide a tribute to the legend with a version of “My Love is Your Love”, which the crowd sang along with. “It kind of put a damper [on the evening] but everyone’s laughing, everyone’s rejoicing so we’re turning it from something to mourn about into something to rejoice about,” he said.
Dwayne Morgan changed up the mood with his sexually charged poetry which lifted the audience’s spirits before comedians Jay Martin, his nephew Torvil Martin and Trixx hit the stage to provide side-splitting humour.

Jay Martin had the crowd in tears with his stand up set and cover of Drake’s “Headlines”. The Vue was erupting with laughter at Trixx’s hysterical set, as he cracked jokes about Rick Ross, camping and dominoes.
“Kama Sutra is usually a pretty dope event that Jay puts on every year around Valentine’s Day. He asked me to be a part of it and I said ‘Hell yeah,’” explains Trixx, who started his career working with Martin.

“The first year of my career, I used to do a lot of shows with Jay, and then I kind of branched off and sort of did my own thing, but Jay is like a big brother, so every now and then it’s kind of cool to come back together with him and do shows.”
The night was filled with many emotions, but it was very fitting to celebrate Valentine’s Day, because isn’t that what love really is?





Photos by: Priya Ramanujam