I'm twenty-four hours from greatness, I'm so close -Drake, "Say What's Real"

I was flipping through the last Canadian hip-hop blog I posted on MySpace (note the date: December 18, 2008) and the P.S. at the end said "I'm starting to become a Drake fan." Now, overstand that this process of becoming a Drake fan was a slow one for me. I'll give you the timeline:

Sometime in 2005:
I catch my first glimpse of Degrassi: The Next Generation and I'm disappointed because I was expecting reruns of the original Degrassi of which I was a huge fan. Anyway, there was Drizzy as a paraplegic former basketball star. I thought to myself--in my usual racially charged sarcasm--why does the black guy always have to be the star of the ball team?

Early 2007:
Drake releases the song "Replacement Girl," featuring Trey Songz. I like the song, because the boy can obviously rap, and I'm impressed that he can get a big-name U.S. R&B cat to sing the hook AND be in the video. The vid was pretty good too, but being a red-blooded Torontonian that pops hater-ade bottles when it comes to Canadian rappers, I found issues with his subject matter and rap-for-the-girls personae. Still liked him, but would've been ashamed to say so in front of man dem.

December 2007:
I'm backstage at Massey Hall for Winterfest, a concert my homeboy promoted that featured Omarion, Mario and Trey Songz. Drake bops into the backstage area, as he's going to perform his "Replacement Girl" joint as a part of Trey Songz' set. He nods a shy what's up to me and my girlfriend, not sure if he should know me, and proceeds to smile and daps the various radio personalities, deejays and artist that he knows. There was no big hoopla and most people backstage acted like he was no big deal, even if his song was the biggest T.O. joint in a while. He seemed like a pretty humble and polite dude, but still confident that he belonged there. I fought liking him a little less.

Sometime in 2008:
I hear "Still Fly" for the first time. I recognize the cheesy Big Tymers bite off and Page's rhymes are aiight (I later learn that my favourite line of the song, "Two nines on me like Wayne Gretzky," was used by an earlier T.O. rapper) but I enjoy the song. Drizzy's singing and I didn't even hate on him for it! Can you say Toronto anthem????

December 2008:
I'm working the Wayne Warner All-Black Affair, a grown-and-sexy party thought to be the best party in the city (Warner's a dick, by the way), and "Still Fly" comes on. The crowd explodes. I'm confused. Are you telling me Toronto's actually behind this guy? I'm excited for him.

January 2009 (I think)
On the way home from working at the club, I stop at the Esso on Eglinton Ave. between Flemo and Victoria Park and there's a Rolls Royce Phantom parked by the door. I wonder what fool would drive a fuckin' Phantom in this area at 3 a.m. in this neighbourhood. I go in to use the bank machine and there's Drake, grabbing bottled water and snacks. The cashier and the one or two other customers stare at him, probably wondering what drug(s) he sells, but he's in his own world. He pays for his stuff and dips. I shake my head to myself as the chorus from "Still Fly" pops into my head. "I'm still pullin' in the Phantom/And these haters can stand'im/Nigga I'm still doin' my thing." In my next blog, I mention that a lot of Canadian rappers claim to be ballers, but how many of'em have Phantoms?

A Week Or Two Later:
I'm starting to get into the music of genre-bending artist Santogold after her appearance on Jay-Z's anthem "Brooklyn, Go Hard." I'm trying to find every song she has and I come across the "Unstoppable" Remix featuring new BFF's Drake and Lil Wayne. I'm blown away. Drake has now ascended to ringtone status. "My name is Drizzy......"

May 17, 2008
I'm scheduled to work the second half of the after-party for the sold-out Drake Concert at C-Lounge. By now I'm a full-fledged unabashed Drake fan, but I didn't how many more full-fledged unabashed Drake fans there were. I'm hearing about the concert and the line of people outside that didn't get in and I'm amazed. I read stories about sold out Drake shows in New York, Atlanta and Houston and I'm proud. Then, the DJ bust into a Drake set: "Best I Ever Had," "Unstoppable," "Successful," "Still Fly," "Still Fly Remix," "Uptown," "Congratulations," "Say What's Real," "November 18th," "Pop Rose," and on and on and on. The crowd knew every word. Screwface-Capital-player-hater-drug-dealer types danced to every syllable. Girls were hysterical. I'm lovin' it!

June 28, 2008
Drake performs on the BET Awards. I watch a clip of his afterparty interview with Big Tigger, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah and Tiny and Toya. Queen Latifah gushes over him. Jamie Foxx quotes various songs from Drake's mixtape and claims that Drake is his favourite artist. I burst with pride.

July 1, 2009
I read recent articles about Drake from Maclean's, The Toronto Star, Vibe Magazine and other publications. He talks about where his head was at during different points in his career. I realize that he had some of the issues with his music that I had when I was fighting against liking him. He thought he had to drop formulaic raps for the girls to be successful ("Replacement Girl") and when it didn't work, he decided to just be himself. Now he's got the number three song in the U.S. and is featured on the number 10 song in the U.S. He's the second person ever to do that without a major-label record deal. Looks like being himself worked, because word is he just inked a deal with Young Money/Universal. I'm guessing it's like Weezy's first week: one-point-sumthin'.

Peace...

Hip-Hop and the Juno Awards

Rappers' distaste for awards shows is nothing new. American artists from Ol' Dirty Bastard ("Wu-Tang is for the children!") to Kanye West ("Pamela Anderson was in it!") have staged live--and somewhat embarrassing award show protests.

In Canada, where we are always a step behind in race-relations, not much is different. The Rascalz won the Juno for Best Rap Recording in 1998 and refused to accept it because the award wasn't presented on the televised part of the ceremony. In Point Blank's latest single "Born N Raised In The Ghetto Remix," Stump rhymes, "Never been robbed/'Cept for a Much Video Award."

The problem is there's still only one category for rap, with no separate awards for albums and singles, and on top of that, the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year award often includes non-urban artists as nominees. Though a few artists of colour have managed to slip into the major categories, like k-os' (2003) and Belly's (2008) nominations for Best New Artist, there aren't many opportunities for our community to get much shine.

But do the Junos still hold weight with the artists? Do they even care?

"I would think the Junos are relevant for the amount of exposure they can provide to an artist," says Arlo Maverick of Edmonton's Politic Live. He and his partners have been nominated for awards in the past, including a Western Canada Music Award and most recently a Canadian Music Week Indie Award.

"It opens the doors for VideoFACT and Factor grants, allows for more touring opportunities, raises an artist's profile and even increases video rotation."

Toronto's JD Era agrees wholeheartedly, saying he looks forward to the Junos and hopes to eventually win one.

"Even though urban music isn't represented the way we want it to be, it's still the only award ceremony that covers every genre across the country," Era said via his MySpace page.

"And I can charge more for a show the minute my name says 'Juno award-winning' beside it," he adds, always on the paper chase.

The Politic Live frontman doesn't let the Canadian Academy off the hook entirely though. He points out that for artists out west, just getting a nomination is an uphill struggle, citing strong albums from Van-City veterans Moka Only and Red 1, Edmonton duo Touch & Nato, Peg City's Grand Analog and his own crew's Adaptation, none of which got a nod.

"What criterion is being used? Is it music quality, personal taste or buzz?" Mav asks. "If it's buzz then we all can agree that Western Canadian hip-hop artists don't receive as much attention from media outlets as our counterparts from the East. The irony of that statement is that our hip-hop counterparts from the East aren't getting much media attention to begin with."

Arlo Maverick has mostly positive things to say about the Junos though, and there'll be no awards show protests from the Prince of the North either.

"I can boycott the Juno's after I win one," Era laughs (out loud).

So who's going to grab the hardware this year? Arlo Maverick like's London, Ontario's native son.

"My vote is with Shad," Young Mav says. "[Shad's LP] The Old Prince is solid from start to finish."

Shad's touring partner Classified definitely makes a great case as well, but we'll know when the 2008 Juno Awards air on CTV on April 6.

Sick, wicked and Nasty!

"New to the rap game/Brothas never heard of me/But I'm a menace yo/Police wanna murder me" -Nas, "One Time 4 Your Mind"

The second half of the Raptors/Cavs game has just started and I'm laughing. The Raps led 43-33 at the half and as the third quarter was about to pop off, CBC showed footage of LeBron James flipping through a copy of the Raptors media guide. Play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky joked that he was looking up broadcasting partner Leo Rautins, but I'm willing to bet my paycheck that Bron was tryin' to figure out who the f*ck this Jamario Moon guy is, where he's from and what school he played for. See, Moon had 7 points, 5 boards, 3 blocks and three huge dunks in that first half. So for the benefit of anyone else who was wondering where this kid came from, here's his player info widget from raptors.com:



More on the pride of Goodwater, Alabama in the weeks to come, including the sick, wicked and nasty dunk he threw down in today's game... as soon as it's on youtube.

Peace

The Celtics Hood Favourites?

Still rock the Prada/Before that rocked the Starter/Ni**as had the Georgetown/The Magic way harder" -Kanye West, Common's "Southside"

SLAMonline.com posted this great story about how the Boston Celtics, the Raptor's main Atlantic division rival, may finally qualify for a ghetto pass after years of being considered a "white" team by a generation of 70's and 80's babies. Their "Big 3" stars KG, Jesus and P-Squared are, of course, black as is their head coach Doc Rivers. Larry Bird and Kevin McHale are nowhere to be seen, which presents a dilemma for hood cats who grew up cheering against the Celts.

Make sure you also check out the ESPN.com story that is linked in this write-up. It's a great read, and when the author mentions Starter jackets, I can't help but remember the part in Hoop Dreams when Agee and his homeboy are in the sporting goods store oohing/ahhing over a Georgetown jacket. Good times dog!

More hoop coverage to come soon!

Best of the Double-Oh-Seven: Hip-Hop Albums

"He said, I write what I see/write to make it right/Don't like where I be" -Lupe Fiasco, "Hip-Hop Saved My Life."

2007 was a great year for hip-hop if you ask me. It was no 1988 or 1994, and considering the fact that Soulja Boy Tellem had the year's biggest song, maybe I should explain before all you fellow hip-hop heads jump all over me. The way the music industry's been going, no one takes the time to make albums anymore. Ringtone rap and radio friendly hip-hop have been the norm for a minute now but things may be changing.

My three favourite albums of the year are actually my favourite albums of the last few years, because they are--get this--amazing albums. Not three or four radio friendy singles and/or bass-heavy club joints with filler in between, but real, cohesive, themed, press-play-and-just-listen albums. Two are by veteran emcees who delivered classic LP's in the mid-nineties and remain atop the game thirteen years later and one by an upstart who's two albums in and has yet to falter. And although Kanye's Graduation sold like hell and 50's "I Get Money" is one of my ringtones, neither of those cats made this list. Sorry...

Without further ado, in no particular order, my favourite albums of the 007:

Common: Finding Forever

Fave joints: "The People," "The Game," "Southside," "Misunderstood"

After alienating a few fans by getting a little too experimental around the turn of the millenium, Com took the streets by storm in '05 with Be, arguably one of the best albums of the century so far. Everyone said then that Lonnie Lynn had returned to his hip-hop roots on that joint, and this album is just as timeless. The S.A.G card-carrying actor isn't exactly rapping about six-packs and fried chicken like he was in '95, but this album is unflinchingly hip-hop.

With access to Kanye's best beats, you'd be inspired to spit classic rhymes too, but Com spits about everything! He weaves intricate, tear-jerking tales on "Misunderstood" (At heaven's gate, saying please Lord let me in/Or send me back to tell my people to be better men), raps for the streets on "The People" and "The Game" (Cats flow is still, and they complacent with beats/My radio station is deep, so eff em/Progression, counting paper and blessings/in the game) and trades boastful punchlines with 'Ye, makin' you wish you were from the Chi on "Southside" (You in the buildin' but the buildin's fallin'/you wouldn't be ballin' if ya name was Spalding).

With Finding Forever, it's safe to say that that Com's got a two-disc winning streak going, and as he metaphorizes in "U, Black Maybe," "Neither the ghetto nor defenders could trap him."

Jay-Z: American Gangster

Fave joints: "No Hook," "Roc Boyz (And The Winner Is...," "Success," "Fallin'"

Speaking of cohesive albums with themes, if you're gonna be inspired by a movie to make an album, you might as well pick the best movie of the year. I mean, Superbad was funny and all, but this is Jay, not Weird Al, and whether or not you believe S. Carter and F. Lucas have anything in common, he was the only one who could've made this album. From the eerie non-fiction of "Pray" all the way through to the spiraling storyline of "Fallin'," Jay delivers, and the only missteps--if any--can be blamed entirely on Pharrell. That blaxploitation-era sound stays consistent throughout, with the exception of those oddly-placed Skateboard P-produced joints "I Know" and "Blue Magic," and the lyrics don't suffer anyway.

In fact, there are plenty of Hip-Hop Quotable-worthy verses on the nearly-platinum effort. On "Pray," Jay philosophizes, "Anywhere there's oppression/The drug profession/Flourishes, like beverages/Refreshing/Sweet taste of sin/Everything I've seen made me everything I am." On "No Hook," the gangsta Shawn Corey breaks down his hustle like this: "This is not for commercial usage/Please don't categorize this as music/Please don't compare me to other rappers/Compare me to trappers/I'm more Frank Lucas than Ludacris." I could go on, but the point is American Gangster is Jay's best album since Takeover and so far, nearly 900,000 people agree.

Lupe Fiasco: The Cool

Fave joints: "Superstar," "Hip-Hop Saved My Life," "Intruder Alert," "Dumb It Down," "The Die"

The Cool was released barely two weeks ago, but sometimes I wonder if I'll ever play another CD. The fact that Lu's second disc is supposedly based on the same concept as the song of the same name on Lupe's debut album Food & Liquor is not important. What's important is that he manages to touch so many relevant subjects (big-headed rappers, Ugandan child soldiers, illegal immigration, drug abuse, etc), weave such incredibly complex lyrics (Every level of hell he's been to/And the one that he's stuck in/The one he can't escape/Even though it's of his own construction) and keep it all within one theme without inciting an A.D.D. attack. This is an amazing album!

If Finding Forever is a great documentary and American Gangster a blockbuster based on a true story, then The Cool is an Oscar-worthy fiction film and Lupe is director Peter Jackson. If Lupe ever writes a movie, I'd pay to see it the first day, based on the screenplay-worthy narratives he display on "The Coolest," "Hip-Hop Saved My Life," "Intruder Alert," "Little Weapon," and--well, damn near every song! Just like after the first time I ever heard Nas' "I Gave You Power and Com's "I Used To Love H.E.R.," I'm amazed that anyone can be so good at rapping that they can tell such a riveting story and make it rhyme.

Now don't get it twisted Lupe is weird and kinda nerdy. In between the political and social commentary, he also manages to make time for rhymes about Streetfighter II and Yohji Yamamoto clothes. But as a Village Voice blogger wrote recently, if Lu's label hadn't given him the freedom to do some weird, creative shit, he might never have come up with the amazing ideas that made his first two albums so hot, so we bear the crazy shit and wait for the next brilliant moment.

The Knowledge Movement

"Hip means to know, it's a form of intelligence/To be Hip is to be up-date and relevant/Hop is a form of movement/You can't just observe a Hop/You gotta Hop up and do it/Hip and Hop is more than music/Hip is the Knowledge/Hop is the Movement" -KRS ONE, HipHop Lives, 2007

Here is KRS-ONE's video for his new single "HipHop Lives" from his new album of the same name (Produced by Queensbridge legend Marley Marl). I ain't copped the record yet, but it's clear that Kris will never run out of rhymes...



...and that is why they call KRS "the teacher." He even refuses to spell hiphop with a dash (hip-hop) because he wants to unify the hiphop generation. It's sad that his new album was nowhere to be seen on Billboard's Top 50 Albums this week.

But like KRS-ONE says on Nike's recent Air Force 1 tribute "Classic" posse cut, "I got no jewels on my neck/Why? I don't need'em/I got the respect."

Happy Canada Day

"Only around 'cause the property value up/gotta clean the streets 'fore they put the houses up/knock them section 8's down/put the 200 thousands up" --Lupe Fiasco, "Handcuffs" (Mixtape)

In honour of Canada's 140th birthday today, I decided to share my favourite Canadian hip-hop video ever: Point Blank's "Life/Thin Line."



To me, these cats best represent not only Toronto's style of hip-hop, but the young black male experience in this city. The beats are crazy, but you can hear the rebelliousness and frustration in their lyrics too. It speaks to me the way Mobb Deep spoke to NYC cats in the mid-nineties, and like Prodigy said back then, "It makes me wanna get on some ol' high school shit, and start punchin' ni***s in the face just for livin.'"

For those of you outside of Toronto and not familiar with Point Blank, they are a rap group from downtown Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood. "The Park," is generally known as North America's oldest public housing project and Canada's most notorious, sort of like the Queensbridge of Toronto. In the last year the city has begun tearing down the buildings to make room for new homes and condos--gentrification at its finest, as Regent Park sits on prime land within a few minutes of the downtown core.

Point Blank's newest single "Born And Raised In the Ghetto" is a banger too and you can check them out on MySpace and watch all their music videos on their YouTube channel Point Blank TV