Billed as Canada's largest action sports and music festival, Wakestock is the type of event that courts stereotypes, despite the obvious talent of its athletes. It brings to mind Oakley-wearing Mystic Tan addicts drunkenly drooling over bikini-clad booth babes and to whom marketing companies like to throw obsolete lingo like "x-treme" and "epic" at. It's noisy, irreverent, polluting, and expensive. But what wasn't so charming as Wakestock wrapped-up last week was an apparent act......

Influential hip-hop artists De La Soul kept fans on their feet at Harbourfront Centre Friday night, as part of the Downtown Jazz Festival. They had one of the most engaged crowds I've seen at a concert in quite some time, and one only has to watch these guys perform to know why. Catch De La Soul in action if you have the chance.......

It's great when the Jazz Fest finally rolls around because it helps Torontoist justify paying all those banking fees. There are so many good shows that it'll be hard to catch them all, but hopefully this list will help you find your jazz beat. Aside from the acts listed below, music at 49 different venues around the city and the millions of tourist dollars the festival brings into the city, you can catch late......

It's a question that comes up on almost a nightly basis: Where can athletic supporters hear the best whorish pop and classic hip-hop? Well, consider tomorrow night a no-brainer. Several Eye writers, including but not limited to Dave "D-Mo" Morris, will be playing an athletic supporter-centric mix of Run DMC, J.Timberlake, Spoon, Serge G., X-Tina, tatu, Public Enemy, De La Soul and so much more. Starts at 8PM TOMORROW night at a little place we......

If hip-hop's rise in popularity can be attributed to anything besides the music, or the apparel, it's the consolidated approach most of its artists take. "Throw your hands in the air if you love hip-hop!" Yes, Plug One, we love hip-hop. But can you clarify what hip-hop you are referring to? We hope not the Swollen Members or something like that. Do you mean attention-greedy party sluts like the Game? If that is the case,......

Torontoist doesn't usually like to single people out, but we feel that a healthy "congratulations" are an order for our very own sports editor, Adrian. Last week, our most adorable staff writer was on hand in Guelph, Ontario to accept a degree from the prestigious Guelph University. After seven years of battling administration and wearing backwards mesh hats, Adrian has finally earned the right to wear the cap and gown. So the next time you......

This February 14th is in the running for the most depressing day of the year. The gloomy weather, the TTC fair hike, U2's performance at the Grammys and the fact that it's a Monday all add up to one sad day. So to get you and yours in the mood, Torontoist has come up with this cute little playlist...(Sorry, no downloads) VD CD 1. Notorious B.I.G. - "Me and My Bitch" 2. RZA - "My......

Given the relatively short existence of rap music, tracing its lineage appears fairly simple. The advances in the genre are well-documented: Kool Herc started turntablism, Kurtis Blow first brought rap to the mainstream, Prince Paul popularized skits, Afrika Bambaataa rocked the sample, and so forth and so on. Then there is Dr Dre's classic 1992 album The Chronic, which represents perhaps the most perplexing turn in hip hop history. The album essentially brought West Coast......

There were few surprises in the Torontoist Single of the Year list, and there are even fewer surprises in our album list. The record of the year spot, even before its release date of Sept. 14, is on lock down with those post-baroque screamo Montrealers, The Arcade Fire. Surprises abound in other lists, but here at Torontoist, we are strictly meat and potatoes, best of the best. Peace on Earth, ba-rump-abump-abump-bump. (P.S. Witness how Torontoist......