Written by Sean Ward | Photography by Philip Litevsky
Hip-Hop culture is youth culture. I’m not the first one to say that. But the level to which it is true surprises me more and more every time I go out. I recently happened upon a hip-hop night put on by and for the punk rock scene. It was indescribably bizarre to see a club full of people with their faces covered in piercings, wearing studded and spiked leather jackets, getting down to Black Sheep and EPMD with no trace of irony at all. I don’t know if this is a phenomenon unique to Toronto, but it sure hammers home the degree to which hip-hop has taken over.
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Written by Noah Goodbaum | Photography by Philip Litevsky
The Friday before last, I had the unique and valuable opportunity to witness Camp Lo open for Aesop Rock. I’m sure many purists would balk at the idea of even giving Aes the time of day, and his unorthodox style definitely isn’t easy to listen to, but on the real, whatever his flaws, I think a case can be made that Aesop is one of those mad-genius people who deserves to be remembered in the history books.
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BCC storm the Opera House on November 24th, 2007 to shake the walls of the aging venue with that raw Duck Down shit. Pretty much everyone showed up including Buckshot of Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun, and Heltah Skeltah (Sean Price & Rockness Monster). Sick, grimy and for true heads only. Sean Price was promoting his new record, so he the majority of stage time, but you still got to hear everything you ever wanted from a BCC show including Who Got The Props? and Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka. Click on the image for more. Word.
Zach Slootsky of TakeMorePhotos covered this event, which is a first in a series of collaborations between our sites. It is also the first all black and white feature on Dope-A-Lot and the pictures are absolutely stunning. Although I couldn’t personally attend, I heard the event was great with Percee P stealing the show from Madlib, and Peanut Butter Wolf providing sick beats in the back.
Written by Noah Goodbaum | Photography by Philip Litevsky
There’s something about Method Man. Every rap fan knows it. There’s something about him that makes certain extra-scuzzy similes seem like they don’t belong in any rapper’s lyrics but his. Something about his charisma that allows him to insert his trademark flecks of grime into R&B jams and mainstream crossover attempts and still come off classy. Something that means he carries the essence of the 36 chambers with him even into the depths of Hollywood-sellout territory.
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Written by Sean Ward | Photography by Philip Litevsky
Everybody knows that Toronto has a reputation as a complacent audience. We go to a live show and we mostly stare at it like it’s television, clapping politely and maybe even whooping a bit in all of the right places. It’s hard for an artist to get interaction from the audience throughout the song, or to show any appreciation for the artist beyond. I remember when DJ Premier spun at Revival, and he was trying to get the crowd to chant “Claaaaaaa…siiiiiiiic….” over the song he was spinning but each time, the crowd stopped when he did. No doubt, anyone who is a part of Mos Def’s entourage would likely attribute Mos’ reception on November 14 at The Phoenix in Toronto to our frigid notoriety. But I have always believed that it is not the audience’s responsibility to go crazy for the performer; it is the performer’s responsibility to give the audience something to go crazy over.
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Need I say more? It’s Hip-Hop Karaoke Y’all! Photos from the tenth edition of this Toronto classic in the making, can be found here.
Little Brother perform at the Mod Club as part of a tour promoting their recent album, Get Back.
I always love seeing Little Brother perform live. The Durham, North Carolina troupe caught my ear a few years back with the Chittlin’ Circuit mix tape and then the follow-up debut The Listening. 9th Wonder’s production was superb and Phonte and Big Pooh’s lyrical mastery was a story-telling rap fans’ dream come true. Get Back still offers a lot of the basic formula, and 9th’s absence isn’t terribly felt, but can be noticed nonetheless. Either way, the show was off the hook - I just wish they played more of that early mix tape and Foreign Exchange business rather than asking the crowd if they heard their album from “way back” called The Minstrel Show which was actually a sophomore release from way back in 2005.
Click on Phonte’s smiling face (or here) to see the rest of the set.
Written by Noah Goodbaum | Photography by Philip Litevsky
Fire and brimstone, blood, sweat and tears. Fearless, ferocious, indomitable. Headstrong in the face of turmoil and danger, as implacable as the elements. That’s Brother Ali. Or rather, that’s the vibe Brother Ali gives off on record throughout most of his two officially released albums, Shadows On The Sun and the recent The Undisputed Truth. The other side of the coin is that he’s also a wellspring of feeling– pain, regret, sadness; the dichotomy between outer ferocity and inner insecurity is part of what makes him so compelling for so many listeners. But generally speaking, the impression one gets listening to a Brother Ali album is that he’s a tour de force, a man of Herculean strength and nearly unlimited confidence, ready to take on the world and more than convinced that he WILL bring it to its knees. He lays down the LAW. And his reputation for bringing that gale-force energy to the stage in live performance is so legendary that I expected to be blown off my feet as soon as he opened his mouth.
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Only the facade of the building still reminds us that this used to be a place of worship, but these days the Berkeley Church hosts a variety of events including last year’s amazing BCC show. What I came to see this past Sunday however was a DJ legend by the name of Q-Bert. He was there as part of a larger event, the 2nd Annual Toronto DJ Festival. I’ve never witnessed the magic of Q-Bert and even though he wasn’t using his trusty QFO, the veteran turntablist ripped battle records apart using plain old 1200’s. A wicked performance that will be covered in more depth than I can muster over at The CyberKrib in short order. Peep the pics here.
