Rock The Bells Toronto ’09: Hip Hop Hits And History Lessons

Though Toronto gets a watered-down version each year due to perpetual border issues, the annual fest did fill out most of a sun-bleached Molson Amphitheatre Sunday.

Slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse, the conglomerate that stars Crooked I, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden and Royce Da 5’9″ did its thing while Tech – with his face-painted and decked out in some all-white mental patient aesthetic – kept his rep as the biggest emcee to make it out of Kansas City.

Tech N9ne

Local entry K’NAAN grabbed some attention from his hometown fans, but was on too early and under too much sun for most people to really absorb his highly-conscious poetics.

He did however draw a wave of cheers when he rapped, “I spit Viagra so the game can get hard again.”

K’NAAN

Relfection Eternal – aka Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek – put down a so-so afternoon set, as did Wu-Tang architect RZA, though the latter should be commended for a broad selection that visited his Gravediggaz days as well as Wu classics and old solo tracks.

Reflection Eternal

RZA

Notably, for the second year in a row one of the saving graces was the in between set antics. Freestyle legend Supernatural held it down again and this time was joined by KRS ONE, who traded rhymes and life lessons while Pete Rock did his thing on the tables.

KRS also spit through a year-by-year hip hop history lesson and at one point pulled Toronto’s own Michie Mee from the crowd, reminiscing about meeting her at the airport and being shown around when she helped organized Boogie Down Productions’ first trip here back in the 80s.

KRS ONE (left), Supernatural (top, right) and Michie Mee

EPMD

Only half of Outkast – Big Boi – was on the bill this year, but you really wouldn’t have known it to listen from the cheap seats.

Daddy Fat Sax ran through a number of the Atlanta duo’s classics, transitioning nicely and kicking off untold smoking and dancing sessions on the lawn.

Big Boi

Mos Def was a late addition to the bill as a replacement for Common and it sort of showed. The Brooklynite didn’t appear as interested in entertaining the crowd as he was in entertaining himself while paying homage to the late Michael Jackson on multiple tracks.

The crowd did get a quick Black Star reunion though, with Talib bouncing onstage mid-set for renditions of a few of the group’s more notable moments.

Mos Def

Festival headliners Nas and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley shut the show down, trading off during the set and at times sharing the stage (K’NAAN popped out at the end too) to perform tracks from their upcoming collaboration Distant Relatives.

The consummate pro, Nas dabbled in the old and new, one of the few veterans who didn’t merely churn over the same tired hits and shout out rappers who’ve been dead for more than a decade.

Marley also added a nice touch and came with fantastic back-up singers and a spectacular light show to compliment a great, if familiar voice.

Nas

Hip-hop needs progress, in fact at one point it was progress.

When KRS ONE preceded Nas and Jr. Gong by reading from a list of potential headliners for next year’s fest in the hopes of eliciting some telling fan reaction, the names included Jay-Z, Eminem, Wu-Tang Clan, Dead Prez, Rakim and A Tribe Called Quest. But not only were at least three of those acts on the bill last year, they’re all major veterans.

Yeah it’s great to dance down memory lane and a rap all-star game/hit fest is always fun to watch.

But if Rock The Bells really wants to be a World Class Hip-Hop Platform, more new blood has to be given the chance to step up.

Hip-hop fan “The Beast”

See more from Aaron Miller and others at The Untold City.

aaron.miller@citynews.ca