North by East West: Toronto Urban Music Festival: 2010 Hip Hop Notables at Lula Lounge

Urban Music Week: Toronto Urban Music Festival 2010

Courtesy of: http://tumf.net/

Better late than never right? Trying to cover every indie, underground, and unsigned music artist in every genre in Canada is crazy because so much is going on all the time.

That being said, it would be wrong not to mention Urban Music Week and the Toronto Urban Music Festival from Jan. 20 - Feb. 1st. Many of the events have already happened, although scheduling conflict postponed the Doom feat. Mos Def show on Jan. 27th at Kool Haus. The new date is Feb. 25th.

Tonight, there's a special showcase going on at Lula Lounge (Jan. 29th). In a show called "2010 Hip Hop Notables", different Canadian urban artists will take the stage and rock the mic. Performing are: Tona, Rich Kidd; The Get By (Justis & Mantis); KJ (88 Days of Fortune Collective); Rayhaan; DJ Ariel; 4th Pyramid. If you get there past 9:00pm cover is $6 & $10 after 11:00pm.

It should be an exciting show of some of Canada's rising urban artists. It will be an exciting show, one not to miss! Unfortunately you don't have a more West Coast hip hop coming over, but it is understandable considering the cost involved.

As it's obvious that Canada's hip hop community although maturing, it's small potatoes compared to the U.S. So, although we have some mega-stars that have had success in the U.S. and/or internationally (ie: K'naan, Kardinal Offishall, Nelly Furtado, etc.). We do not as of yet, have an established hip hop culture nationwide, that our culturally ingrained Indie folk/pop/rock scene already has.

Although the urban culture is digging some roots in our country, the infrastructure of hip hop networks are still building the roads for a cohesive hip hop industry. These are probably some of the issues you will hear being discussed at the Urban Music Conference (Jan. 29 - 30) at the Royal York Hotel. Cost for the conference is $25 per day or $40 for both days.

The Torono Urban Music Festival ends with a public forum: "The Caribbean Roots of Hip Hop", which takes place at the North York Central Library Auditorium on Feb. 1st from 6:00 - 8:30pm (free admission).

It's exciting to see Canadians embrace their homegrown hip hop artists, which hasn't always been the case. As much as K'naan or Kardinal's international success represent Canadian hip hop, they still only count as 2 Canadian urban music stars, and the U.S. has hundreds. If we want to build on our success, we need to continue to embrace and support ALL Canadian urban music artists.

Links to bio on Festival performers

MF DOOM - Doomsday