The final day of the 2012 North By Northeast Music. Film. Interactive. Conference concluded with a powerful message of unity and awareness. The music at Younge and Dundas square centered around Hip-Hop on Sunday. Those who attended the week of long activities resiliently gathered along with a new crowd of Toronto's Hip-Hop connoisseurs. The mood was undefinable and tense.

On Wednesday night last week the NXNE showcase for SmashMouth Entertainment which was to be held at The Rivoli was canceled at the request of the Toronto Police and the Toronto Gang Unit. They cited potential gang affiliation with some artists in the showcase, and the potential threat for gang related violence that evening. This incident obviously created a stir of displeasure from fans. Rich Kidd, local Toronto Rapper, along with other artists on the bill are involved in community programs. It appears as though there was a gross misunderstanding and singling out of Hip-Hop artists and fans as those who promote gang violence. The festival released no other statement than that the event had been canceled due to unforeseen events. Really it was two events prior that likely had the cops tight. The fatal shooting at the Eaton Centre on June 2nd (close proximity to Sunday's events) and the fatal shooting of an attendee at a Young Jeezy concert at Sound Academy back in April.

I must admit I thought there would be more cops around Younge and Dundas on Sunday evening. Their presence was felt but they weren't getting ready for a riot or anything. When we arrived Tasha the Amazon came out on fire, high energy and whipping her long thin braids around. After two songs, she expressed her disappointment with the Law Enforcement of her own city's decision to facilitate the shut down of Wednesday's showcase. Tasha did so diplomatically. In stride brought out Rich Kidd and allowed him to do one of his tracks during her set! You could tell it was a personal scar for her as she is a voice of Toronto's scene. Then she got more ramped up and rode that energy through the rest of her powerful material.
Next up was Tre Mission, another Toronto rapper of international notoriety because of his association to the UK Grime style. His beats were strait future, and that particularly rapid style of spitting sounds so fitting over bass music. We left during Action Bronson out of spite for his skipping out of his show in Buffalo. Got that one back. Smartly we fueled up on ethnic food and returned for the thralling set of Killer Mike. His performance may have been my favorite of the entire week. Seemingly a large man such as Mike would have little control of his body or give the appearance of apathy, but absolutely every cell of his being was completely engaged in his performance. Talk about someone who is grateful for what they have. He loved the love! Mike also buffered the tension between the Police and crowd, but speaking the truth about people under pressure will rise up and "burn this motherfucker down."

When Mike walked off the stage that's when the Wu Tang fans began to get excited. Now I've experienced a couple Wu Tang reincarnations, and one thing that's always true is that the die-hards go apeshit when they play Wu classics. Personally I would've preferred to hear a couple more of Ghostface and Raekwon's  respective solo songs, but when they came out the plan appeared to be go back-to-back and mix in heavy hitting Wu Tang songs here and there. Since its two of nine members doing other guys' verses  the highlight had to be when they brought up two random people from the crowd to do Mehtod Man and ODB's parts in "Protect ya Neck." The guy playing Meth didn't fair to well, but ODB's stand-in did a hilariously good job! The mid-level Wu-Tang song "Triumph" which features Raekwon was probably my favorite on the night. And towards the end of the set they let the DJ play out Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" while they sang in unison with the fans. A fitting and friendly fuck-you to the haters associating all of Hip-Hop culture with gang violence.