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Action Bronson, Killer Mike, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah at Dundas Sq For NXNE

An estimated 25,000 people reached Dundas Square for the NXNE main event, which this year featured hip-hop acts Tasha The Amazon, Tre Mission, Action Bronson, Killer Mike and Wu-Tang legends Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. The forecast, which continuously teased the audience with spits of rain, couldn’t stop the high energy and good vibes of the entire evening.

The show began at 5 p.m. as Toronto artist Tasha The Amazon held it down for the local acts in a pair of high-waisted white shorts, and a black top, her trademark long braids swinging, as she spit her bangers such as “Scallywags” and “Let It Go”. The femcee graciously brought Rich Kidd to the stage to perform his single, “Back In The Day” since his NXNE showcase was cancelled earlier that week. (Many fans believe this was the work of the Toronto Police, although the organization denies being involved in the cancellation.)

Queens’ rapper Action Bronson followed group Tre Mission, and came out in a black tee, drinking who-knows-what from a red cup and immediately sparked up a giant spliff as the audience welcomed him with their screams and followed suit, by lighting their own. While rapping, Bronson jumped into the media pit, grabbing a camera from a videographer nearby and filmed himself as he rapped to the crowd with intensity in his voice. As the 320 pound man took a breather, he told the crowd to keep lighting up. “If they take you, I’m going with you,” he said. After performing songs from his Blue Chips mixtape, Bronson spit a freestyle for the crowd, who responded to his energy with applause.

Killer Mike jumped to the stage with immense force, spitting his verses of Bonecrusher’s “Never Scared” and OutKast’s “Kryptonite (I’m On It)”. The crowd actually began a mosh pit, which is a rarity at hip-hop shows, but Mike’s energy was contagious. After hyping up the crowd, Mike, who is the son of a police officer, got political, asking everyone to raise their middle fingers to Ronald Reagan as he spoke about issues with government.

The energy was electric at 9 p.m. as thousands of people shouted “Wu-Tang” before the two legends Raekwon and Ghostface hit the stage. Raekwon sported a IceH20 tee with a giant red maple leaf on the front, while Ghostface wore a white tee, towel around his neck and a blue Denver Nuggets fitted. Dripping in sweat, The Chef and Tony Starks performed classic hits such as “Ice Cream”, “Scarfaces”, “Da Mystery of Chessboxin” and “Incarcerated” as the crowd rapped along with the icons, with their Ws in the air. Raekwon continuously spoke on how much pride he has for the city and stated that not even New York shows them this much love, changing our name from T-Dot to Wu-Dot.
Halfway through their set, they brought out hometown IceH20 prince, JD Era who performed “Hate Me Later” and “Mount Olympus” from his recent mixtape No Handouts. The crowd showed nothing but love to the hometown hero.

The energy hit a new peak when the legends announced that they were about to perform the first song they ever released, “Protect Ya Neck”, and asked for two audience members to come on stage to perform Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Method Man’s part. They could not have chosen two more energetic people, as the two men took over the stage, jumping around and spitting the renowned verses with everything they had. After that, they had another surprise for the audience, bringing out Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son, to rap along with “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” as a tribute to the late great and it could not have been more fitting, as it was Father’s Day. Just when the crowd thought it couldn’t get any better, the stars performed “C.R.E.A.M” and “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin’ Ta F*ck Wit”, as a sea of fans chanted along.
Raekwon then got serious with the crowd and addressed the Eaton Centre shooting and said that us as a nation needs to come together and ask ourselves if it is really worth it. “All we got is each other,” he said, before they performed the fitting track “Triumph”, as thousands of peace signs were raised in the air by the energetic fans.

“The show was amazing, the energy was really high. They have some crazy fans, some really amazing fans and everybody enjoyed it, the crowd was going wild,” said Dynasti, immediately after the show.
“They made it perfectly clear that they didn’t want any violence during the show. They just wanted us to represent for Toronto and the hip-hop scene in Toronto and to show that we are just here to enjoy hip-hop and celebrate the culture.”
It is safe to say that Wu-Tang has as much love for Toronto as the city has for them, and the peaceful show proved to non-supporters and doubters of the culture that, even with 25,000 people crowded together listening to hip-hop, the music can unite us.

Photos By: Nic Denny

Making The Most Of Our Music City Workshop

As part of NXNE Interactive, artists, industry professionals and music supporters attended the “Making The Most Of Our Music City” workshop at the Hyatt Regency, where Music Canada released its one of a kind study indicating where Toronto stands as a musical city and how the city has the ability to be the live music capital of the world with just a few adjustments.
The panel, which consisted of Graham Henderson, President of Music Canada, Author Nikki Rowling, Councillor of Ward 15, Josh Colle and Jeff Cohen, successful concert promoter and owner of the Horseshoe Tavern and Lee’s Palace, gave an overview of the ground breaking report and indicated three important changes that Toronto must make in order to capitalize on its musical potential.
According to Henderson, Toronto is one of the most influential music cities in the world and serves as our country’s music headquarters, as 80 per cent of the economic activity that music generates in Canada comes from the GTA through major and independent labels, recording studios, venues and live shows.
In the study, Music Canada compared the strategies set into place by Austin, Texas, which is currently known as the “live music capital of the world” and through this study Rowling explained that by “committing”, “measuring” and “broadcasting”, Toronto can musically surpass the southern US city.

“Toronto’s critical assets are a lot stronger than Austin’s. If you look at the building blocks for what can be done here, the city is much larger. You guys are star makers and have been for decades. I think that is something that is a really unique asset for Toronto,” she says.
“With just a few minor adjustments and focus, I believe that the industry growth capacity here could really mushroom pretty much everything out there, absolutely including Austin, with a little bit of time and commitment to doing that.”
Slide after slide, comparing our city to that of Austin, Rowling concluded that as a city, Toronto must adapt a musical identity, financially support the growth of the Canadian music industry and broadcast its successes. These may seem like easy steps, but it takes the support of everyone involved in the industry to make to change, and take over the world through the talent growing in Toronto.
Following the panel, the four industry professionals left time for a discussion with the audience, answering questions such as, “What can local Torontonians do to make a change?”, in which the panelists responded by explaining that Torontonians must continue to get involved in the growing culture, spread the word of the city’s success and contact City Council to support more music funding.

Photos By: Michelle Green

NXNE Film Reviews

As part of the North By Northeast festival, two historically significant and visually stunning films by Toronto producer/director Jerry Levitan were shown at The National Film Board. These two films, though both released previously, have timeless messages.
I Met The Walrus | Director: Josh Raskin | Executive Producer: Jerry Levitan
In 1969, when Jerry Levitan was only 14 years old, the brave young man snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, with a tape recorder and persuaded the music legend for an interview. He later turned the life-changing experience into a five minute short film, which was nominated for an Academy Award and won an Emmy. The animation by James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina is intensely creative, using black and white drawings to depict the historically important time in John Lennon’s life when he married Yoko Ono and the two participated in the famous “Bed In For Peace”. Lennon speaks about peace and the backlash he received from America in a prophetic way, but even though the interview was in ’69, the issues he speaks on are just as relevant to society today. The symbolic imagery provided by the illustration captivates the eyes, and the youthful flow of these pictures serves as an effective contradiction to Lennon’s powerful message of peace soothes the ears. It is an emotional and powerful film. At the time, the young Jerry Levitan had no idea that his brave act would serve as a historic and pinnacle memorial of the late Beatle and that the innovative style and revolutionary message of the film would have a profound impact on those who watched it.
My Hometown | Director: Jerry Levitan and Terry Tompkins | Executive Producer: Jerry Levitan
Before creating the Academy Award winning film, I Met The Walrus, Director/Executive Producer Jerry Levitan, who first met Yoko Ono after sneaking into her and John Lennon’s hotel room to interview the late legend in 1969, teamed up with the creative genius herself to create the captivating seven-minute short film titled, My Hometown, which she wrote and narrated. The film features Yoko Ono’s soothing song, “Remember Love” and warm, child-like imagery by visual and animation director, Sharmil Halaldeen, which creates a warm, calm feeling to viewers, which coincides with Yoko’s message of home, love and peace. The symbolic illustrations of Poloroid photos, hearts and maps are used successfully to ignite the powerful message of unity as Yoko tells her story. The film is almost therapeutic and its underlying meaning is timeless.

Jeru The Damaja in Toronto

Revival was surprisingly packed for a rainy Monday night in June as hip-hop heads braved the downpour for a show featuring local talent, lyrical emcees and of course, hip-hop legend Jeru The Damaja. DJ Xplisit, Toronto’s beat-boxing DJ spun all old school records as the venue began to fill up with concert goers who grabbed drinks and mingled over the beats provided in the dimly lit venue.
First to perform was JUNO nominated producer and engineer Fresh Kils and Toronto MC Relic who delivered an entertaining and energetic set, which had all audience members involved with heads bobbing and gun fingers lifted to the technical beats and smooth flow of the two artists. Fresh Kils brought Brooklyn emcee iLLspoKinN to the stage to spit a freestyle as the crowd was in shock of the lyrical content of the rapper who looked more like a football player than an emcee.
MC FÜBB was next to the stage to spit his set of inspirational and positive tracks rocking his trademark fedora and bringing emcees from The Cypher to the stage to perform alongside him such as Crossword MC and New Breed MC.
MC FÜBB and The Cypher gang were followed by Calgary rapper Dizzy, whose name, flow and stage presence resembled that of Drizzy Drake. He hit the stage rhyming over beats such as “Stay Schemin’” and “The Motto”. The crowd, who had been welcoming and energetic all night, took the time to grab another round of drinks, obviously unimpressed by the similarities of the two. Fans of boom-bap hip-hop are no easy crowd to please.

The energy was saved by Angerville, two lyricists with clout in the city, who blessed the venue with a reunion. Fortunato and Conscious Thought’s demanding stage presence, banging beats and confident flow hyped the crowd before the legend made his appearance on the stage.
The crowd erupted and the camera flashes were blinding as Brooklyn’s own, Jeru The Damaja reached the stage with a six-pack of Stella Artois. He charmed the audience with his humour, making the show half concert, half comedy show, playfully roasting audience members on texting through his set, not making enough noise and continuously teasing the audience by saying it was time to go home. His charismatic stage presence was completely authentic, communicating with his fans and looking everyone dead in the eye as he spit his classics such as “Da Bitchez”, “Come Clean” and “You Can’t Stop The Prophet.” The audience couldn’t get enough.
 As Jeru met with fans to take photos, sign autographs and sell merchandise after his set, DJ Xplisit entertained those waiting to meet the hip-hop legend by beat-boxing and spinning more classic tunes. It was apparent by the vibe that it was a night worth braving the rain for.