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3 MC’s and Talib Kweli
Say what you will about Maestro Fresh Wes and his infamous sacroiliac, but Toronto has never held down any sort of thriving hip hop scene. Save for K-oS and Brassmunk, local talent hasn’t made much of an impact outside of MuchVibe. There was that Snow song 10 years ago, but it’s widely accepted that he was embarrassing. And don’t even TALK about Choclair or Kardinall Offishall as purveyors of the art form in the city, because they haven’t had a strong single in a long time (or more like ever).
At least, though, the T-Dot-O has enough clout to attract the better names in the “game” to make up for our own unfortunate situation. Last Saturday, Del tha Funkee Homosapien and the Hieroglyphics came through the Phoenix with a perfect mix of independent and underground (i.e. UNDIE) to make everyone forget that Keisha Chante actually has top ten singles here. And tonight, Talib “pro-black” Kweli and the Beastly Brothers come to rock mics and promote albums at the Air Canada Centre. Yes, it’s true both Kweli and the Beastie Boys might be slightly past their “best before” dates, but they’re still a lot better than Shawn Desmond.