*Audio* Drake feat. Big Philly, Kardinal Offishall & Eminem

I’m not sure why I didn’t post this up when it was ready 2 weeks ago, but oh well.. It’s a little something I laid down in the studio in October, sorry for the quality of the instrumental, but I don’t think anyone has a high quality version (except Boi-1da)

Anyway, this is my “Toronto + Em” mix which features Kardinal’s verse from his track (which was recorded a yr or so ago), Eminem, a verse from Me & Drake’s original vocals.

Shouts to Magomus Sounds for the great work on the recording/mixing, especially with the quality of the instrumental and big up to Committee Design for the graphic.

Drake feat. Big Philly, Kardinal Offishall & Eminem “Forever” (Toronto + Em Mix)

DJs, I have a clean 8 bar edit, so please hit me up!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You…

.. You’re far too kind, hold your applause, this was your doing, not mine!

Saturday was an incredible day for myself, the city of Toronto, the Philippine Islands and the world in general. It may be a reach (for some) to believe that the world had a great day because of a fundraiser at Tota Lounge, but I look at it like this:

We had that venue almost full within an hour of opening the doors and by 11pm we were pretty much at capacity, which we surpassed shortly after. The community really came together to show their support for a truly great cause and I want to show my appreciation to each & every person that came through with money, good vibes and great intentions.

The minimum donation was $5, but I know a lot of people donated more to get some great prizes and help our brothers/sisters in the Philippines (and other Asian countries affected by Ketsana)

So far, the official tally is above $2,200 CDN. and I will still be accepting donations until Sunday November 1st before I officially close up the cash box and make our donation(s)

Although, I will accept responsibility for booking the venue/talent and organizing a team of dedicated & talented individuals, I cannot take credit for the amazing results that followed.

I owe a huge amount of thanks to many people, so if I forget your name or do not mention you, please let me know! If you helped out in any way, you are appreciated, please forgive my memory at this time

The Talent:

Mensa – The first person I asked, I knew you would be down to support this event and lend your skills. You graciously accepted and I applaud not only your performance at the event, but your willingness to go above & beyond for a cause that I know means a great deal to you. Salute!

Surreal Sound – Not being Filipino did not stop you from donating your time and spreading the word about this event, I respect the fact that you treated it like a true professional all the way through. From promoting to your friends via word of mouth or by posting it up as your Facebook status, every little bit helped. Early R&B and the late Hip Hop set were large! Salute!

Royale – It was really important for me to have you a part of this event and I’m glad you were down. From the food to the actual culture/customs, neither one of us is extremely “Filipino” (by traditional standards) but, I guarantee you that this is something that Mom & Pop Padilla are proud of. Salute!

Bozack & Atic – My two dudes that are 0% Filipino but, are just guilty by association! When I needed graphic designer and a co-host this was a no brainer. I needed two people who were great at what they do, willing to help and it was only right.  The flyer & prize vouchers were so on point and I think it’s something that meant a lot more to the partygoers then we realize. Also, being able to run around the venue to check on the team and partygoers was very easy to do when you trust your co-host. Salute, Salute!

Bezel: Quality work as usual homie, thank you for stepping up and stepping in last minute to capture the energy of the event! It just wouldn’t have been complete without some flicks and I can’t wait to share them with everyone. I swear I won’t take forever to get the pics, like last time. LOL

The Team:

Jillicious: Another one that was down from the jump, thank you for representin’ for the ladies with the sweet giveaways and all your help running the door. And *OMG* “Like, right in front of us?! Julie is here and Mom is just down the street” LOL

Coolix x Chele x Dor: I’ll admit it took me a while to get from the back to the front door, but everytime I was there, things were running smoothly and everyone was having a good time. Dor, you are my favourite door girl of all time.. of all time! LOL Chele, thanks for coming out even though you were sick, your PR skills really came in handy at the door and running prizes with Marco. Coolix, for hooking up the lumpia/rolling rack/hangers/AMC tix and so much more! Your first time at the door, but don’t get used to it! Haha..

Notaurious: What a great surprise, your help was totally unexpected and you came through in a major way. I appreciate the donation(s), but more so I am thankful that you played the roll of “angry Black dude” at the door and used your experience in running events to our advantage. Your assistance and expertise were a big reason why things ran so smoothly, thank you sir.

The Sponsors:

Livestock (Fitteds & T-Shirts)

Bryan “be.” Espiritu (“Manila Guerilla” T-Shirts) Thanks for reaching out and donating your incredible shirt, they were highly sought after and went out as fast as we could put them up!

Mikey T (Jordan XIV Retro)

Dennis aka UNDS’ED (Kobe I “Blackout”)

Pai (Jordan IV & Air Tech Challenge II)

The DJ/Promotor Friends:

Big Jacks (Thanks for the pass through after your event!)

Mark A (Roundtable in the building! Thanks for making it, I know you had obligations that day)

Marc G (When you said you were gonna pass through, I never doubted for a second. Thanks for the support family!)

JClass x Noso x reFRESH: Thanks for your support, it’s not often that I throw parties, so I’m glad yall were there to witness one of the more important ones. “True Blood: Halloween”, then “reMarkable One Year”.. This is the start of something great, fam!

The People:

BacknForth x SweetnLo x Anne (Spankdelicious), Shai (Xixgon Int’l) & Alma Mae, Harry & Mella Ella, Mahsa (Mass Appeal), Hanneli Joy (Happy Birthday, indeed! Thank you so much for celebrating at Raise It Up and for bringing out a bunch of people! Glad you had fun!), Kari Lou (I appreciate you reaching out to me and your willingness to promote the event, thank you for sharing your personal fam story with me. It’s people like you that remind me that I am truly doing the right thing!), Hendolo x John (Franklin) & Crew (Thanks for squeezing in the party on a crazy UFC night, always good to see you guys out), Marky Boy (Family Tree), Phatkat7 (Rare Sounds), Christine Em (This is atleast the 2nd fundraiser I’ve hosted that’ve you’ve been to in the last month, thanks for your continued support!), Knix & Tim (Milhouse) etc.

I’m not sure what else I can say, except thanks to Anthony & the whole Tota staff for their hospitality and for allowing us to take over their venue for the evening.

To everyone who came out, regardless if we know each other or not, thank you very much for making a truly special night, extremely successful. We raised a couple thousand dollars that will go very far in The Philippines & other Asian countries and that is something that we can all smile about.

Thank You!

*Video* Final Entry for “Fun Raiser Prizes”

Featuring a Brand New pair of JORDAN XIV RETRO “Last Shot” (Sz. 9.5 Mens) and “Manila Guerilla” t-shirts by Ideall Clothing.

Shouts to Mikey T & be.

“Manila Guerilla” T-shirts by IdeaLL Clothing

 Thanks to the homie Bryan “be” Espiritu, I am proud to announce another great “gift” for “RAISE IT UP: A Ketsana/Ondoy Fundraiser” on Saturday October 24 @ Tota Lounge.

 The first 10 (TEN) people who donate a minimum of $25 will be able to take home one of the most popular t-shirts from be’s Ideall Clothing imprint. The large print features the face of a modern day Filipino hero, boxer Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao.

As the day of the event grows closer, the anticipation continues to build, the response grows larger and the positive energy touches more people.

I hope to see everyone there, it’s truly a great cause and it promises to be an amazing night!

 Please check out his original post from The Legends League blog: Here

*Video* Raise It Up: A Ketsana/Ondoy Fundraiser Pt. 2

This is part 2 of the “Fun Raiser” Prizes, showcasing the POLO BEAR T-Shirts by RALPH LAUREN and some other cool shirts (Jordan Brand, Nike, Orisue etc)

Please tell a friend and show your support on Saturday October 24th at Tota Lounge in Toronto!

Facebook event: RAISE IT UP

Old School, New School.. Need to learn those..

Last October, XXL Magazine put out a cover featuring who they perceived to be the “Hip Hop Class of ‘09″ featuring, Wale, B.o.B, Asher Roth, Curren$y, Ace Hood, Mickey Factz, Blu, Cory Gunz, Charles Hamilton and Kid Cudi.

 I’m down with the idea and I applaud the creativity, but in hindsight, I’m kinda glad that the people on the list made little to no impact on Hip Hop culture as a whole. No disrespect intended, even though I know if the artists themselves were reading this, I’m sure they would get mad.

Anywho, let’s start by stating the painfully obvious: Drake was and still is the only new/young artist with big time buzz and ability to sell records. He did a FREE online mixtape that did over 1million downloads, then re-released it with less songs and it went on to push over 72,000 units during it’s first week in stores. I believe it’s sold over 200,000 to date and for a mixtape re-release in today’s musical climate that is amazing. He was left off the list, because I guess people were still sleeping on him.. Not most of Toronto, though.

Secondly, let’s cross off the artists who have done absolutely nothing in the past year (figuratively speaking) Cory Gunz did a “Gangsta Grillz” with Drama, meh.. That’s cool and Gunz has a ridiculous flow (by far the best of the new class) but doing a Gangsta Grillz at this point in time isn’t really what’s hot in the streets, is it?

Charles Hamilton got squared up by his female assistant. Sadly, that was the most relevant he has been in the past year, unless you count that fake beef he tried to start with Soulja Boy or when he claimed Dilla “executive produced” for him. Is he still banned from Detroit? I hope so.

Ace Hood just did an album didn’t he? The fact that he is not getting spins anywhere nor are people talking about him is not a good look. It’s tougher than I can ever imagine for a struggling new artist, but I still call it like I see it.

Asher did an album, he had a minor buzz with his kegger-whiteboy anthem “I Love College” but, that certainly did not translate into record sales or urban radio spins. Maybe his goal was to make a song/album that was played at Abercrombie & Fitch? I don’t know, but he looks scruffy, has unprofessional/rude things to say about Obama and his Rutgers related joke was in very bad taste. He has none of my respect.. Not to mention, he’s not that good!

I know Blu been making some noise underground with the 90s Hip Hop types alongside Exile, I heard a couple joints here and there, not bad at all. It’s definitely on some boom bap ish, which is really dope, but I know it’s not the “young” sound that these kiddies want to hear. I never really blamed kids for their taste in music, it’s really different for the youngin’s coming up now, as opposed to the 80’s babies taking over for the older heads. When we (80’s babies) took over as majority Hip Hop consumers/listeners/partygoers, it was an almost seemless transition from the older generation.

You had new artists that embodied what the fore fathers did and these (at the time) young cats appealed to both the older and younger audiences.

Jay, Nas, B.I.G, Pac, Wu

You see those names and when you listen to their music, you can hear the old school in them, even at the time when they were new (90’s) you could still understand the transition and where they came from.

Nowadays, the transition is a lot tougher and it’s hard to compare “Charles Hamilton” to anyone dope from the past generation.

And don’t try to give me that “Oh, they are original. They are trailblazers.. Charles Hamilton has his own lane and he’s this & that..”

B, Please! Stop making excuses for these young cats who are either carbon copies or just out in left field..

I refuse to listen to music based solely on the fact that it’s “new” and/or by a “young” artist.. I listen to good music, that’s the only criteria that I base my musical decisions on.

“Is it good or not?”

Why are certain people so fixated on pushing “young” music? If “young” music sucks and/or it’s not creative or it’s not pushing boundaries, then why do people care?

It’s like drinking a new alcohol because it’s new, even though it tastes like garbage.

“Yo, I’m sippin’ on this Urine Goose, it’s a new pee-infused vodka. I know it’s urine, but I don’t care.. It’s new, it’s young and it’s hip!”

See how stupid that sounds?

I want it to be clear that I listen to all genres of music, regardless of if it’s “new” or “old” or “young” or whatever else, I just feel that some of these new cats are not even worth the bandwidth. At the same time, there are a bunch of old geezers that need to hang it up, but that’s a whole other topic.

 Wale is dope, I think he real fresh. JCole has some potential, but I need to hear more before I co-sign officially. Nipsey Hu$$le is a breath of fresh air from the left cost, I think he’s what The Game was supposed to be. Drake is self explanatory, it just took the rest of the world (outside of Toronto) some time to catch up. Cudi (despite the skinny jeans) has earned my respect for absolutely killing the hook on ‘Already Home’ and having an overall unique sound, I’m down with his melodies. There is a few others, but I’m just not in the mood to go into this crazy discussion about what newbies I like.

My final words of wisdom are to listen to what’s “good” and not what’s “hot” or “young”…

Afterall, the most talented and consistent rapper of all-time is turning 40 in December

*Event* RAISE IT UP: A Ketsana Fundraiser

Sole Purpose Presents…

RAISE IT UP: A Ketsana Fundraiser

Saturday October 24th 2009

DJ MENSA | SURREAL SOUND | DJ ROYALE

Hosted by BIG PHILLY | BOZACK MORRIS

Tota Lounge

592 Queen St W (at Bathurst)

$5 Minimum Donation (100% of Proceeds go to Red Cross,  Global Medic & Other Charities TBD)

Also, celebrating the BDAY of Hanneli Joy

19+ID

As reported in my last post, Asia has been hit with a catastrophic storm, as wind and rain continue to damage many countries, including: Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos & Cambodia.

The Death toll continues to rise (over 400) and many are still missing or unaccounted for…

Like many across the globe, I have decided to lend a helping hand and I’ve organized an event with a few of Toronto’s best DJs to help raise some funds and raise some fun for Ketsana (aka Ondoy)

So, I kindly ask that you give generously and attend this charity event which will feature a great atmosphere, amazing music, a birthday party, Livestock merchandise giveaways and a few special surprises!

100% of proceeds will be donated to Red Cross , Global Medic and a couple other charities, TBD. If you have a charity or organization that you think would benefit from our help, please let me know!

Please cut & paste the flyer to your blog, website or any relevant message boards and feel free to use it as your Facebook and/or Myspace profile pic! Any support is appreciated and you can bet that my team and I will be working diligently to spread the word and make this event a success!

“RAISE IT UP” is designed to reach out to all individuals in the community who wish to give to those in need, regardless of their race, colour, creed or nationality.

Stay tuned for more details on the giveaways and check out the Facebook event!

Check the YouTube Video from YouTube.com/BigPhillyTV:

Help!

 

I’ve been kinda busy the last 48 hours, but this is an event that I could not let pass me by. After visiting the Philippines for the first time in 2008, I definitely had a new found appreciation for life and all the little things we (as North American’s) take for granted. Much of the Philippines is now beneath water, as it was hit with more water/rain than New Orleans was when “Hurricane Katrina” ravished it in 2005.

“Ondoy” or “Ketsana” has left over 500,000 homeless with a death toll over 140 and many still missing, this is the worst flooding/storm to hit the islands in over 4 decades.

Check out the full story: Here 

This post is not appealing to Filipino’s specifially or even Asians, I am speaking to all human beings with a heart and some spare money/clothing/basic supplies.

Unlike murder, this is a loss that is completly out of anyone’s control and a complete act of God, at this time I offer my deepest sympathy to everyone in the Philippines and people across the world who have family/friends suffering at this time.

Check this link for ways to help: Click Here

I will be starting a “balikbayan” box to send back with food, clothing and basic supplies, so please feel free to contribute.

No donation is too small!

Also, I’m going to hold a charity auction (with all proceeds being donated) for a pair of sneakers or two, so stayed tuned!

*UPDATE* FRIDAY OCT. 2

Vietnam has reported their death toll at 99, Cambodia at 17 and Laos at 16; this is absolutely crazy. Shouts to Hamco for his contributions to the “balikbayan” box (it’s a donation box filled with clothing, food & supplies I am building)

This weekend I will go through my closet and clear out tons of stuff that is appropriate for this situation, I’m talking shoes, hats, shirts and non-perishable food items! Also, I will figure out what shoes I want to auction off in order to make a monetary donation.

The Canadian Gov’t. has offered to send $5m in relief and I definitely respect that..

What can you offer? Again, there is no amount or item too small..

PS. All you wannabe ballers who claim to be rockin’ this and poppin’ that, with the pics of all the bottle service you get at the club, I want to see how “deep” your pockets really are. Especially, but not limited to the Asians.. If you ballin’ for real, then you can definitely afford to help out people who have little to nothing now. Even if you’re a regular joe like myself you can lend a helping hand, stop being greedy!

*Event* Assorted Goods: Number One

I know it’s a bit late, but better late than never! For all you party animals out there, please join me in the support of my peoples Grand Groove, Mensa,  and Bozack Morris, as they throw down for the One Year Anniversary of “Assorted Goods”

Special Guest: DJ Forge from NC

Photography by: Shaun Joseph Montano

Celebrating: Birthday of Alex of Liveagl.com

brink x liveagl.com present
ASSORTED GOODS : NUMBER ONE
the one year anniversary!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25th, 2009

music provided by:
DJ MENSA (prizefighter)
BIG JACKS (black rap, grand groove)
ROYALE (grand groove)

+ special guest:
DJ FORGE (Jukebox Heroes, north carolina)

party rocking provided by:
BOZACK MORRIS (black rap)

inside
DAZZLING (291 king street west)

admission:
$5 (guestlist until 11:30)
more after

guestlist, bottle service etc. inquiries:
guestlist@black-rap.com

19+
style code in effect!

“Waaaaooooooooow…..”

That made up/distorted word basically describes my weekend and is a quote from super-producer 9th Wonder that he made to me after “Hip Hop Love” on Saturday night. When I say “weekend” I really mean, Wednesday September 16th until Sunday September 20th, that was my crazy 5 day adventure!

Day 1 – Weds Sept 16th: This was the day that started it all and surprisingly it was actually one of the more relaxing, which featured a night at the movies with “The Freshest Kids” and “Bomb It”. In the spirit of community, I told myself that I would make it out to every day of the Manifesto’s 5-day run to shake hands & kiss babies etc. After arriving a bit late with the Real Good team, we got there just in time for the beginning of “The Freshest Kids”, a documentary on the evolution of breakdancing/bboys/bgirls/poppin etc.

Did any of yall make it on time for the red carpet? I wonder how those pics turned out, I will keep checking back periodically and post some up when they are available.

I have always been intrigued by the BBoy/BGirl and independant cinema is always a good look, so partaking in this evening was almost a no-brainer. The most important part of this film (for me) was the fact that it included the originiators and trailblazers that created the style(s), moves and element that we still recognize to this day. I’m talking about “Rock Steady Crew” and “New York City Breakers”, amongst others, who really started dancing as a way to express their style & emotion(s), much like rappers, dj’s and graf writers do.

I didn’t know that “Flashdance” featured RSC (Rock Steady Crew) and the New York City Breakers danced for the Olympics/President in 1984. That’s pretty epic! Considering that Hip Hop (as a culture) was still very primitive and merely a shell of what it is today.

Also, movie gave a great insight on the emergence of “Poppin” & “Lockin” on the West Coast and how Breakin’ made it’s way out there in the early 80’s as well.

I was initially going to lead into my “Bomb It” review with a terrorist reference, but I found it to be in bad taste, so here I am.. This is kinda awkward, so let’s just get right into it.

“Bomb It” details the widespread acceptance and continous practice of “Bombing” and “Graf Writing”, it shows the mass appeal of a culture that is still outlawed in many countries and is still somewhat “underground”. I enjoyed seeing the different styles of writing from writers in different countries/continents. For example, writers from New York/Philadelphia tend to blend their letters with pictures and other visuals, so their pieces look very unique and sometimes hard to read. Meanwhile, writers from Paris & Europe in general, tend to focus mainly on their lettering and did not initially incorporate other designs/visuals with their pieces. I always preferred the harder to read, more elaborate writing that was done originally in the USA, but the “letters only” pieces from Europe are dope as well!

It also gave us some history on a man who is supposedly one of the first graf writers ever, “Cornbread” from Philadelphia, PA. What an incredible name and interesting story: He started writing his name around his school, became notorious for it and was being recognized all the time. Then he started to think on a larger scale and began to tag up the entire city of Philadelphia! Haha

Day 2 – Thurs Sept 17th: I never actually ended up going to this! Oops! Sorry BBoys & BGirls! I had full intentions of attending this and watching some of the best breakers in the world get busy, but I think we were still feeling a little fatigue from the previous night and current day, so things didn’t pan out as planned. I ended up checking out DJ Mensa do his thing at Octapus for “Social Experiement” with mans like DJ Royale and gyal like Citrus & Jillicious. The night ended up being pretty cool, as I answered 2 of 3 Kid Cudi trivia questions correctly to win a copy of his debut album! Nonetheless, I heard the BBoy Championship was a success and I’m definitely happy for all the participants & organizers for putting on another strong Manifesto event and pushing forward with this thing we call “Hip Hop”. I heard I missed out on some dancers from “America’s Best Dance Crew” and “So You Think You Can Dance Canada”?

Day 3 – Fri Sept 18th: Friday was definitely one of the longest days and possibly one of the most tiring as well! It began with Surreal Sound, Sha Jo Mo & Myself heading downtown at around 10:45am to begin preparing last minute Festival guide’s and flyers for the weekend at the Manifesto HQ. It’s hard to describe what 10 hours of stop & go driving is like, but it’s pretty easy to describe your feeling(s) after it: TIRED!

I want to take the time to shout out the homie Jesse O. from The Academy/Manifesto for indirectly showing me the kind of dedication necessary when it comes to flyering and doing around the way promotion. We went from Downtown to Uptown to Downtown and many areas in between! Dropping off festival guides and flyers to any & everybody who was willing to accept them.

Other than a quick 30 minute break for some delicious eats at BBQ Express on Queen St. W, we didn’t really stop until things were pretty much taken care of at around 8pm. I dropped Jesse off and we headed back home to get ready, after all, we had to be back downtown within a couple hours for the 3-Floor Art Show! Unfortunately, we missed DJ Mensa’s set, but we were still able to get in, check out 3 floors of incredible art and Jason Palma throwing down some craziness on the 2nd floor alongside a couple dudes gettin’ busy on the MPCs! Pause

On a more egotistical note, I was informed that the “Hip Hop Love: 9th Wonder” video (which I posted up on here a few days ago) was being shown on the side of a building, drive-in movie style for hundreds of people (in line and passing by) to see. Unfortunately, I was kinda slow with the pics, so I actually missed the shot of myself up there but I did manage to catch the text!

Coooool!

The first two floors of the gallery featured some really dope art that included a combination of power, emotion, lust and abstract images. As for the third floor, there was a ton of nudity, a lot of it being male, so you know I was out of there with the quickness. Here is one of my favourite pieces from the main floor:

I believe the gallery at 52 McCaul St. will be open until October 4th with the same artwork on display, so go check it out!

3 Days down, only 2 to go! But, Day 4 was the most important day personally, so it had the most pressure.

Day 4 – Sat Sept 19th: This was definitely one of the biggest nights of my career thus far, however, I wasn’t feeling pressured or stressed at all. I just woke up and started my day off regularly, without letting things build up or get to me. I believe it was around 12:45pm when I was sitting in my car at the YMCA parking lot when I got a call from Surreal Sound. He wanted to know if I was interested in picking up 9th Wonder from the airport. lol C’mon now! That conversation lasted less than a minute and I entered the gym with a really positive attitude, I mean, I was about to head to the airport to pick up one of the best producers of the past decade.

I don’t know how all of my fellow artists/DJs/MCs feel, but I love working out the day of my event, it just makes me feel better about everything, it’s a hard feeling to describe I guess. So, after a nice workout, I headed home and threw together a couple duffle bags before I headed to the hotel to meet up with the gang then head to the airport. Even though I live only 30 minutes from the venue, I decided to get a hotel for the evening, because I figured that it would be beneficial for me to be closer to all the action. It worked out perfectly because Surreal was staying in the same hotel and it was only 15 minutes away from the venue.

Around 4pm we met up with True School Corp’s DJ Cuzzin B & Jay Clipp to grab some food before we headed to the airport to pick up the special guest of the evening, 9th Wonder. It was kinda trippy looking into my rearview and seeing 9th’s head, it kinda reminded me of the “God’s Stepson” album cover (where his head is just pasted on Nasir’s body)

“Hip Hop Love” was a slow start, but once it got going it’s safe to say that everyone at Premium Rhythm Bar was having a great time and it was obvious with all the drinks flowing & people tearing up the dancefloor! A special surprise of the night came very early, as I was greeted with a pound by none other than Brooklyn’s own Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, Jeru Da Damaja! He was in town since the day before and actually requested to check out this party, it was definitely amazing to have him in the building and being able to interact with an MC I look up to is always special.

Surreal Sound warmed things up with a crazy mix of Canadian joints (Eh!) and some timeless Hip Hop from across the world! Ghetto Concept “E-Z On The Motion”, Jay-Z “D.O.A.”, Drake feat. Ye, Em & Wayne “Forever”, Fugees “Ready or Not” & “How Many Mics” etc.

After rockin’ the crowd til about 1am, Jay Clipp jumped on the tables to bring some of the True School flavour to the jam! I’m always a fan of MC’s who DJ and vice versa, aslong as you can hold it down! Trust me, my homie held it down! Not to be outdone, Cuzzin B stepped up to get the crowd all riled up before 9th took centre stage. One thing I really enjoyed about this party is that from Surreal Sound to Jay Clipp to Cuzzin B, they all played some really dope Hip Hop and it was a little bit different each time. I feel like they covered a large portion of the past decade or two, you know what I mean?

I don’t want to give too much away about 9th’s performance, as I know it will be featured online and/or on TV soon, but I will definitely tell you that he covers a lot of the 90’s classics and when he starts playing his own catalogue.. Ooooh weeee! Jay Clipp introduced him and then passed me the mic back as 9th started his next set with Jay-Z’s “Threat”.. Waaaaaooooooooow! What an amazing experience, rockin’ the mic for 9th Wonder, man.

I had a really incredible time this weekend and the party I was most concerned with, went off nicely and I want to extended a huge shout to Vince, 9th, Cuzzin B & Jay Clipp for doing their thing and definitely playing a major role in the success of the night. Also, to the Manifesto staff for working so diligently in promoting the event and for their efforts in covering every magical moment, through photography and videography. Last but certainly not least, the Real Good family (Surreal & Marc Genius) for allowing me to do my thing and including me in this big party as always. It’s always “business 2nd” with us, because I feel like I’m working with family everytime, you know!

After it was all said and done, the entire team of artists enjoyed the night and we all left the venue with good vibes as the next stop would be the traditional late night meal. But, not before I turned into a man-fan and asked 9th to sign my Jay-Z “The Black Album” CD insert booklet, right on the “Threat” page. Sweeeeet! As soon as I tag the pic, I will decide if I want to post it or not. lol

Day 5 – Sun Sept 20th: Wow. 5 days of madness was almost over at this point, but I can definitely admit that my body was tired and although I was looking forward to all the artists that took the stage that day, I was also anticipating the end of it all when I could just sleep!

In terms of Canadian artists, I want to big up Solitair for putting on an amazing show, which included Ro Dolla for a guest appearance during “Easy 2 Slip”. That was definitely the highlight & surprise of all the local artists, hearing that song just made me remember how dope it was and it gave me a new appreciation for it. Tona & Lyve were really ill as well, they are one of the few cats that are staying true to that “Boom Bap” style of Hip Hop music and you can’t be mad at that! Ayah & Saukrates as special guests doesn’t hurt either! Colin Munroe is a really talented dude, but I was somewhat disappointed that the majority of his set (all but 1 song) were rock/grunge sounding tracks. Is that what his mixtape sounds like?! I dunno, but closing his set with “Flashing Lights” was incredible, that is definitely my favourite C. Munroe track and it’s not even his song technically! I kinda wished he performed “Piano Lessons”, but oh well, maybe next time! Saidah Baba Talibah had a live band backing her and although I felt that her set dragged a little bit, I definitely want to commend her for a great selection of music and her voice is really strong. I can see a lot of people who haven’t heard of her, turning into fans after this performance, her stage presence was great, voice stood out and the energy of her crew was dope!

Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek aka Reflection Eternal were the headliners and they really killed it! Our True School homies, 9th Wonder and Jay Clipp, took the stage to introduce the closing act as all of our anticipating and waiting had finally paid off. With Jeru quietly taking pictures near the side of the stage, Kweli & Hi-Tek took the stage to perform songs off their critically acclaimed “Train of Thought” LP, as well as new material and various Kweli solo joints. “The Blast”, “Round & Round”, “Get By”, “Eternalists” and “Down For The Count” were definitely the standout tracks for me! This was my 2nd time seeing Kweli live and he did not disappoint this time around either.

Overall, year 3 of Manifesto was amazing for me and I know there are many others that feel the same way. From the “Freshest Goods” market that featured a ton of local brands to the Red Bull BBoy truck to the delicious food stands that were there all night, it was a very successful weekend and the city of Toronto should be very proud of itself. When I say “City of Toronto”, I really mean the Hip Hop community and it’s supporters, because they are the one’s that really made this happen!