Reviewed by Noah Goodbaum | Photography by Philip Litevsky

State Theatre is one of the most elegantly designed venues in Toronto, giving off an air of swank after-hours élan, with dark plush seats on a raised level and a wide-open, spacious dance floor. And the acts they’ve been booking sure know how to get said floor packed– few moreso than the Prince Paul, onetime guiding light of De La Soul and dean of the Handsome Boy Modeling School, who spun as part of the Fever series Friday, August 3rd.

Decked out in a navy wifebeater and throwback visored beach cap, the lanky, reedy-voiced legend spun crazy hits and had the entire crowd groovin’ like mad, whether it was to “DWYCK” and “T.R.O.Y.” or, later in the night, to more recent tear-da-club-up bangers on the order of Clipse’s “Mr. Me Too” and Snoop’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (or even State Property’s amazing, long-forgotten “Roc The Mic”.)

Paul made delightfully eclectic choices throughout—mixing “Passin’ Me By”’s wistful vocals in with “Come Clean”’s hard-knock beat and dropping Scarface’s verse from “Mind Playin’ Tricks On Me” just to surprise us all at how well sullen, sad-eyed desperation works on a dance floor. He even found room for the ubiquitous, massively annoying cock-rock parody “Party Like A Rock Star”– but if anyone was annoyed or perplexed at the selection, no one showed it, ’cause the floor kept quakin’.

The shit was so bangin’ that many revelers refused to empty out even after he absconded the stage and the great DJ Merciless took over; and with “Ante Up”, ‘Face’s “Guess Who’s Back”, and the staggering new Saigon single on the menu, those who stayed were glad they did. After the all-out headcrack of Pete Rock’s late-July shop-wrecking, it was amazing to think the Fever folks could top themselves—but that they did, with style and grace to spare.

Thanks to Roundtable Entertainment and JonJon. Hopefully they’ll back soon with some more DJ goodness.

For now, peep the pics here.