Tyler The Creator Wolf Tour Review

The young and odd came out of the woodwork to see their hip-hop hero, Tyler, the Creator, when he hit up the sold-out Toronto stop of his Wolf tour at the Opera House.
The young all ages crowd, some of which looked like they were in middle school, were decked out in their Golf Wang tees and hats, awaiting their Odd Future hero to emerge onto the creative set that was assembled on stage that included a cabin, bike and a doll’s head on a stick. During the wait, the crowd chanted “Wolf Gang” while a consistent lineup of fans waited to cop more original merchandise from the booth.
The lights went down and Odd Future DJ, Taco Bennett, came out to deafening screams and high-fived the whole front row, before turning up the crowd with a dangerously hype DJ set, spinning tracks from Chief Keef, Waka Flocka and Schoolboy Q. Things got out of hand during the set as the young crowd began a mosh pit as many Wolf Gang fans began to crowd surf. Security had to dive into the sea of people, pulling out the crying and injured who had almost been trampled by the insanity. A young boy even fell into the media pit while crowd surfing, landing on his head and cutting it open on the grate.
Just as the war scene seemed like it couldn’t get more out of hand, Tyler emerged from the side stage, rocking his usual green cap, white knee highs, golf shorts and a white GOLF tee. Accompanied by Odd Future member, Jasper Dolphin he spit tracks “We Got Bitches”, “VCR/Wheels”, “Yonkers” and “Seven” as the sold out crowd spit along to every word, religiously. With his charismatic and comedic charm and trademarked deep voice, Tyler engaged with his fans and even borrowed a fan’s sunglasses, rocking them through part of his set and returning them after jumping around the stage.
To the joy and excitement of his fans, Tyler performed tracks off of his upcoming, highly anticipated album Wolf that dropped this month. He spit full versions of “Bimmer”, “Cowboy”, “Domo 23” and “Awkward” as fans bobbed their heads, taking in every word, visibly pleased with the sound of the new project.
From start to finish, the show was full of unpredictable surprises and Tyler proved that even though he is the biggest comedian in the game, his live shows are no joke.

Jermaine Dupri DJ Set

Some legendary concerts and panels went down at this year’s Canadian Music Week, but the festivities also spilled over to the club, as hip-hop legend Jermaine Dupri hit up Cinema as a guest DJ last Saturday night.
Walking into the relatively new club located in Toronto’s upscale Liberty Village, it would have been hard to believe that the renowned JD would be in the building as the first few hours, the warm-up DJ spun electronic and top 40 tracks. It seemed to be a high class, high-heeled affair, where private bottle popping celebrations were happening in all the small booths around the parameter of the dark club. One group went as big as to pop the top on a Texas Mickey of Grey Goose, quite evidentially enjoying itself.
By 1 a.m., the venue was packed and the dance floor was full of intoxicated patrons waving neon flashing glow sticks, having the time of their lives. Just then, a bald shiny head that could barely be seen over the top of the DJ booth appeared, which one could only assume was Mr. Dupri.
He threw on Rihanna’s “Pour It Up” and stood up with his arms in the air as the crowd screamed. Cinema became a zoo as the females made their way close to the DJ stand, the camera flashes adding to the light show from the electric neon booth. It was so crowded that it was hard to even dance to the bangers the ATL CEO spun. Not that the tracks were anything spectacular, as JD played the same recent club hits that can be heard during any local clubbing night out such as, Juicy J’s “Bandz A Make Her Dance” and Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like”. For such a legend, it would have been nice to hear the classic hits from his glory days in addition to the one or two Hov tracks he actually did spin.
Those in attendance didn’t seem to mind at all though, as they danced into the early morning.

Action Bronson in TO for CMW

Toronto was in dire need of a raw, grimy, underground type show and no one was more qualified than Queens’ rapper Action Bronson, who hit up The Hoxton as a part of Canadian Music Week.
The show started promptly at 9:30 p.m. with opening acts. Hip-hop/rock band Anami Vice hit the stage to perform its unique music before Toronto rapper TF House performed an energetic set with tracks from his Young Desperado project, accompanied by DJ Yobi, as the venue began to fill up with enthusiastic concertgoers.
The lights dimmed as the crowd chanted “Bronson”, anxious for the Queens’ rapper to come out, but first Australian rap artist 360 hit the stage. The lanky tatted emcee, with a thick accent, spit over filthy electronic beats that rattled the venue, which became wall-to-wall, shoulder-to-shoulder rammed, making it hard to even dance to the hypnotizing music.
DJ Fathom spun records, as the crowd began to get impatient for Action Bronson and began chanting, some people even throwing water bottles. The show was completely sold out and the venue was at capacity making it next to impossible to even move. Audience members were stuck in limbo, anticipating the Albanian spitter to finally appear, only able to bob their heads to the DJ who spun records from Jay-Z, DMX, Biggie and Busta in hopes of keeping the crowd calm.
Just when it seemed like a riot was about to break out, the 310 pound, bearded emcee reached the stage in shorts and a grey toque with a drink, and sparked a blunt as the crowd did the same. He began spitting acclaimed tracks such as, “Strictly 4 My Jeeps” and “Gateway To Wizardry” as the crowd rapped along. After making the fans that angry, it was unreal how quickly Bronson made them forget, giving them the show they paid to see.
To make up to his dedicated fans for waiting so long, Bronson pulled out a giant bag and began throwing dime sacks of weed into the crowd, which he said that he bagged himself in his hotel room. As he continued spitting tracks off his newest mixtape, Rare Chandeliers, Bronson did the unthinkable and dove off the stage into the crowd, which unbelievably caught him as he crowd surfed. If the venue wasn’t so packed, it could have ended badly for the fans and the overweight emcee, but it made for a shocking moment in show history.
For fans craving a raw, no-filler show, Bronson came through and gave them their fix.

Meek Mill in Toronto

King Of The Dot's Vengeance 2

Toronto’s Guvernment was once again transformed into a battleground as King Of The Dot set up camp with its Vengeance 2 event as part of Canadian Music Week. The full day of intense live battles once again proved that anything could happen at a KOTD event.
After wins from Lax Luther, Aftershock and Real Deal and an awkward and humiliating battle from Tony D, who flew in all the way from the UK just to choke horribly numerous times in the ring, it was announced that the main event between Hollohan and Charlie Clips would be cancelled as Hollohan had breached his probation and was being detained for the weekend. KOTD apologized to everyone in attendance and promised that the organization had done everything in its power to get him out.
Along with the fans, Charlie Clips was also disappointed about not being able to battle, but not for egotistical reasons, solely because he didn’t want to let his fans down. To give them what they paid for, he gave the crowd a preview of the work he was about to give the no-show, which received the approval of his fans.
“They said ‘you scared of Hollohan’ in Canada then Charlie Clips popped up so that showed you who’s really scared, ‘cause on the day we’re supposed to battle, Hollohan got locked up. That was a freestyle right there, off the top, but it was for real,” Clips joked. “God bless him though.”
The New York battle beast said he feels like he owes his fans, and that he’ll be back out to a KOTD event soon.
The event continued as the TheSaurus and DNA battle was replaced as the main event, and the two renowned rappers did not disappoint. All three rounds were close as the two displayed their lyrical skill as respected emcees and champions in their own right. It will be a battle that fans will be debating over for a long time, for purely personal preference as opposed to a definite winner.
“It’s a battle that people can watch over and over. That’s my key thing when I battle, because you don’t want a bad performance from both or a bad performance for one and a good one for the other, when both people are going at it, saying some good stuff then it has a lot of replay value,” DNA said after his battle.
It was a day of many surprises and unfinished business that will only add greater anticipation for what’s to come for the battlers and the King Of The Dot movement.

ThisIsWalder.com showcases TDot Spitters

Anyone can make a music blog nowadays. It takes no effort to sign into WordPress, post a video and rant about any topic under the sun, but it takes a nonstop grind and a serious passion to turn a blog into a household name and use that name to make a positive impact for the artists that blog covers. Toronto’s hip-hop blog ThisIsWalder.com attempted just that by supporting homegrown talent at its Showcasing Toronto event hosted at Revival last Sunday night.
Many of the city’s top spitters such as JD Era, Tommy Spitz, Raz Fresco and Peter Jackson hit the stage with that TDot flavour as Flow 93.5 FM’s Dames Nellas turned the night into a jam, spinning party tracks between sets.
Daniel Minichini, one of the organizer’s of the night’s events, said the motive of the showcase was to add exposure to Toronto talent and showcase buzzing acts, who play an influential role in the character of our Toronto hip-hop community.
From Juno award nominated emcee JD Era to the young Bakersclub rapper/producer Raz Fresco, each act was vastly different from the next and original in their own right, but together represented the identity of hip-hop in the north.
“[Hip-hop] is such a niche market and it’s so focused on the diversity of the scene. Starting from the roots, we have so many hip-hop artists that are coming from so many different places in Ontario and I think the root comes from the nature of our city. It is very musical and it’s very artistic,” Minichini says.
Mr. OneTwoooo, Tommy Spitz took a break from his musical hiatus, and proved that he hasn’t missed a beat during his time away and performed new, unreleased music for the audience. The self-proclaimed ‘Top 5 in Canada’ emcee chose the Walder showcase to return to the stage because of his respect for the blog and its contribution to Canadian hip-hop.
“[Thisiswalder] didn’t treat me like a promoter trying to make money off an artist or money off of a show. This is Walder is hip-hop,” Spitz says.
The support wasn’t fully there in numbers at the venue, but by eliminating the American headliner and turning the focus on local talent, Toronto is one step closer to recognizing the underappreciated skills we harbour. ThisIsWalder.com took the culture off the screen and onto the stage, where it belongs and no matter the turnout, demonstrated that the blog really does support Canadian hip-hop.

Pac Div in Toronto