United in Flow Monthly Hip-hop Showcase @ Sneaky Dee's, January 25, 2010

This past Tuesday Sneaky Dee's played host to United in Flow, a "socially conscious hip-hop movement" making waves for around half a year, all of which began with a mixtape. Producer James Pew of Toronto-based Euphonic Sound Recording Studio rounded up some hip-hop and slam acts from around the city last October to write on the theme of unity and community. The record, United in Flow: Volume 1 can be purchased for charity to help local neighbourhoods.

Their first monthly showcase, hosted by trip-hop T.O. general Mindbender Supreme, went off with a bang and delivered a vibe seldom seen in grassroots indie shows like this. Any uneasiness about the night was immediately ushered out in exchange for a unanimous love for the social music of hip-hop, which brought closer a community of like-minded people revelling in a weeknight of beats and rhymes.

Mindbender Supreme

"It's about the collaboration and community of the scene in Toronto," Pew told me, as the crowd slowly builded. "We want to build something that people can be part of." Mindbender Supreme debuted his new music video, "Reset Button", that night, and you can go watch it here. If you're a fan of clever, heavily delivered lyrics, and want to support Toronto hip-hop (or if you like old-school videogames), definitely check it.

All the artists delivered a uniqueness in their respective music, playing off influences and themes to a nicely varied crowd throughout a night of great music.

More pictures after the jump.

LISTEN: MF Grimm - The Original

My musical tastes from '90-'99 are a bit hazy, what with the whole "I was born then became a kid" thing, but I still remember going over to a friend's house to listen to Eminem's Slim Shady LP, and being consumed by the punch-lines, funny lyrical imagery, and surreal swear words. "I Just Don't Give a Fuck" was my favourite song for a couple years back then, and I could rap the entire thing to kids in the playground, without even knowing of half the things the song was saying. I bleached my hair a year later, and no I'm not showing you a picture.

I first heard MF Grimm (born Percy Carey) on the track "Tick, Tick..." off MF Doom's Operation: Doomsday album, a fine example of New York rap from the late 90's. That track exemplifies the pure rawness of Grimm's style; though it's there, it isn't about the quantity of rhymes (ironically, considering he released the fantastic triple album American Hunger, a first for hip-hop), but rather their quality.

With "The Original", off the hugely slept on MF EP, Grimm delivers; "rhymes so crazy, Son of Sam did half my tracks." There are volleys of completely outrageous claims thrown from every direction in this innercity block-spitting example of underground battle-rhyming, as Grimm reveals "the world is too little, Grimm reaper run the f'kin solar system." This is imaginative swordplay in the purest form. The beat's an effective, simple drum loop from the depths of the underground, acting as a canvas for Grimm to paint you right into his trap, engulfing your ears with a little glimmer into the heart of Percy Carey. 

Surviving a murder attempt that left him paralyzed from the waist down, putting up a one-day bail before a life sentence to record an entire album, countering the sentence to be commutated down to four years, all while delivering this calibre of hip-hop demands recognition. He even wrote a frickin' comic book. Please, take a moment and recognize.

Listen.

LISTEN: The Slackers - Yes It's True

Following in the footsteps of a friend's tumblr, I've decided to post more music that you should know all about and love. If you don't, that's okay (you've probably never heard of them, it's mostly obscue pseudo post-underground electronica doo wop rock), because I'll offer you a brief background!

New York City slickers The Slackers have been a staple in my natural progression as a teenager with a love for all things reggae. I mentioned before that I absolutely adore ska and reggae music, and these guys were a consistent addition to every burn I did on my Sony MiniDisc, all the way back in 2001. 

With "Yes It's True" off their 1998 album The Question, the maturity these guys show with such a fun-loving, happy genre of music is especially striking. This is, at heart, a sad song, but feel the mood of it. Swinging melodys and upbeat horn toots go on as Vic Ruggiero and Glen Pine harmonize perfectly, with a dense progression. The bridge with the flange echoes memories of being a teenager, fondly discovering the opposite sex, while being completely terrified of them. All at once this song made the 12-year-old me feel like a longing ex-lover and a man with a master plan, cruising the morning pavement to grade school.

Listen.

PHOTO: Roommate

A portrait of my roommate.

Mayer Hawthorne and the County @ Opera House, October 15th 2010

So this is one of a few concerts that I went to in 2010 that slipped under the "post these" radar, and I accidentally left the photos on my hard drive, which have since been waiting patiently to be unleashed onto the world. Mayer Hawthorne's 2009 LP A Strange Arrangement instantly got my attention before it was released, as he is on my favourite record label of all time, and I trust any new artist they sign to bring something interesting and exciting to the table.

Combining a throwback to Motown-soul with low-fi, do-it-yourself recordings, Mayer establishes a fantastic niche that should please both longtime listeners of their folk's old records, hip-hop heads, and general likers of good music the world over. His is a great introduction to music from a simpler time, where classic themes dominated, singing in falsetto wasn't ruined forever, and tucking in your shirt was actually hip. 

If you haven't already, please, recognize: