Culture Shock 2012

The rain didn’t stop supporters and music lovers from attending a day jam-packed with local talent at the 8th annual CultureShock at the Weston Farmers’ Market presented by the UrbanArts Community Arts Council in August.
UrbanArts is a non-profit organization, which engages youth through the arts in the Weston-Mount Dennis community through multi-arts programs throughout the year.
Comedian Trixx and hip-hop legend Michie Mee hosted the event and had the crowd hype all day, despite the miserable weather.
Michie Mee, who is from the Weston area, says that it was only right for her to give back to the non-profit organization that does so much for the youth and arts community. “It lets [the youth] know that there is something else that they can get into. That they can vent, they can speak freely; they can meet other people in the community. The fact that we can all get together through the arts is the best thing.”

The CultureShock event featured reggae, hip-hop, R&B, spoken word and dance from some of the best local talent in Toronto. As the rain showered off and on throughout the day, the performers took turns entertaining the crowd who came out despite the dreary weather.
Singer Obidiah, accompanied by a band and his backup singers, The Sweetness, opened up the show before Enuma and her guitar took to the stage and performed through the rain.
Dance groups Bootcamp, Bootcamp Juniors and The League all livened up the crowd with their routines and Yusra and Rolling Stone brought the element of spoken word to the show.
The rain made way for a giant double rainbow in the sky while reggae artist Smuggz Holiday performed before Toronto emcees Church Chizzle, Jaek Delarge, Erik Flowchild and Supreme Swiss all took a turn on the stage to spit their hits, all with vastly different flows.
Savannah Ré, Tamara Madison and 2Z brought the element of R&B to the show, belting out tracks with soul, as their voices echoed through the Farmers’ Market.

Savannah Ré, who performed her hit “Paranormal” and a new track “Geet Weh”, which features peer Tamara Madison, says she has been involved with UrbanArts before and supports what the organization does for the community as an artist. “[UrbanArts] brings a positive light. There are a lot of negative things that people correlate to this area, so it’s good that they have something that anyone can come to no matter what you do – art, spoken word, rap, sing, whatever it is, you can come and do it,” Ré said.

As the day turned to night, Trish and Shi Wisdom headlined the event with their unmistakable star quality performances. Trish killed her performance with a unique vibe of dance and Shi’s goose bump worthy voice captivated the crowd with her hits such as “Take the L” and “Easier”, before the majority of the crowd jumped onstage to dance along to “Mr. Parker”.
It was an entertaining day, which drew awareness to not only the talented artists who performed, but also to UrbanArts and the work it does to support these artists and the youth in the area.