Reviewed by Ryan Chaput
Last weekend saw some of North America’s best hip-hop acts come through Deer Lake park in Vancouver, B.C.
Early in the day it was revealed that there were several cancellations including Big Boi, Pete Rock, K’Naan, and the show was not going to be hosted by KRS-ONE. Many Suspect this was due to complications at the Canada/US border. Nonetheless, the festival was a definite sucess.
Chali 2na of the reknowed hip-hop group Jurassic Five set the festival off early in the day with a solid mix of both solo and J5 classics including “What’s Golden.” Slum Village came next having a hard act to follow. There was a bittersweet vibe on stage with T3 and Elzhi of Slum Village as they announced the recent passing of group-member Baatin. Combined with the loss of hip-hop legend J-Dilla in 2006, many thought Slum Village would cancel, however the group still managed to put on a stellar live performance as Elzhi pleased the crowd with several freestyles.
Slaughterhouse and Tech9ine put on mediocre performances but the crowd wasn’t as excited as previous acts. As the sun started to set one of Chicagos’ finest MC’s Common brought incredible energy to the stage, performing several of his own recent hits during his set. Common also conjured up an exciting mash-up of hip hop classics. One of the days best surprises was Cypress Hills B-Real, who came out to do classics such as, “Insane in the membrane” and “Hits from the bong”.
Although previously announced as having been cancelled, Reflection Eternal made a brief appearance before Nas and Damian Marley. However, the group only played four songs and all of them were Talib Kweli songs and not Reflection Eternal.
The headliners Nas and Damian Marley wrapped up the festival and didn’t disappoint. Nas came out first perfoming several of his classics including “New York State Of Mind” and “Got Yourself a Gun.” Following that the duo performed a few songs from their upcoming album “Distant Relatives” before Damian’s turn came to wow the crowd. Marley put on an excellent performance, showcasing fan favourites like “Welcome to Jamrock.”
Towards the end of the set B-real and Damian did a song with Cypress Hills finest rapping in Spanish. Who could forget the hit “Road to Zion” featuring Nas by Damian Marley performed live in Vancouver. Although there were several cancellations, it’s come to be expected at hip-hop shows in Canada and overall the festival was an excellent showcase of talent.
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