Hip Hop Hoooray Hooo!

This past Thursday, with my fabulous gangstarrs at my side, I attended "Hip Hop Karaoke." This event took place at "The Boat" in Kensington Market. I had been to this venue for a previous party and enjoyed the ambiance and intimacy. Kensington Market is just one of those cool, Bohemian, hidden treasures of Toronto.

I was like a virgin to this experience -- It was my first. However, I was really excited by the hope that I would get to see some talented MC's do their thang! Spit that shit on the MIC!

It was curious to see what this sort of event brings out in terms of a crowd. Interestingly enough, from my not-so-sober observations, the crowd was primarily Caucasian and Asian. This is truly quite revealing of the impact that this at once, underground, African-American style of lyricism has had across cultures, spaces and classes. These kids did not look like hustlers from the block, that is for sheezy! However, approximatly 60% of Hip Hop is consumed by Caucasian, middle to upper-class youth.

Ok, so my review. It was a good time. I mean, I did not see anythign earth shattering, but decent. I give most of these people an "A" for effort. It is not easy to get in front of a room and throw down some rhymes like that. I really did enjoy two of the MC's -- they had a good flow and present energy. However, on the other side of the game, there were a couple performers that just needed to be thrown into the projects.

It was evident that a couple of the "girl groups," were not so...well...fly. Think high school party, too much liquor and "Shoop" coming on. Cha-bam, all of a sudden the three white girls transform into, Salt-shaker, Pepa-corn and Spinderalla-hoe. Playa please!!

YOU WISH!

Though I had fun, two things did come to mind that bothered me about this event:

A) They had no Tupac! WTF?? Must I say anything? Being not only a big fan of hip hip, but also the history of hip hop, how can you not offer one of the most crucial MC's in the history of hip hip? SHAME!! I saw BIGGIE, but no PAC. SHAME!! This just seems sac-religious.

B) Not enough representation of female MC tracks. This was really annoying. In total, there may have been about seven tracks by a female MC. I defiantly think hat the organizers need to assess that there in a uniqueness that some female MC's discuss in their work, that is not represented in the males lyrics. Male hip hop can be very virile. It seemed bizarre that they had no Eve, or barley any Lauryn Hill. I just ask for some respect to the ladies.

Deep down in my heart, I know this was a G-rated showing of MC talent. It was not like being on the block in Brooklyn, or the WEST SIDE of Cali. Seeing real MC's who live and breathe to tell their stories. That would just blow me away.




Though, I would defiantly say this was a night of entertainment. By no means was this as gratifying and exciting as seeing a new talent come out with his/her own lyrics and originality. Karaoke is not free styling, we know this.

Good times though. Good friends usually makes for a good time (0:
Keep the hip hop alive. Word.