This is admittedly a little late, but…better late than never! Shouts to Sean D for reaching out and blessing us with the piece. If you are a supporter of the arts and arts-based initiatives/events like Manifesto be sure to check the Beautifulcity.ca post below also!!!

Manifesto Review
By Sean Deezill

The wonderful city of Toronto recently hosted Manifesto, a 4 day long festival celebrating hip hop and the essence of a culture that is certainly more than just music. Attracting over 12,000 people at the Main Event on Sunday, September 20^th, an event that was headlined by Reflection Eternal (recently reunited), 9^th Wonder, Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew, and Colin Munroe, the Manifesto team developed [for the 3^rd straight year] a tremendous feat of providing the city of Toronto with over a month of hip hop relative activity. Whether it was the Barbershop competitions with discounted hair cuts and fresh designs, the free-for-all graffiti wall, the hip hop workshops instructing turntablism and breakdancing, the Freshest Goods Market (similar to 100 different merch tables), the hundreds of new talent exposed in front of thousands, the film festival, or the massive art exhibition, Manifesto really brought hip hop to a whole new level in the genre’s second birthplace.

One City Series

The One City Series could be seen as the build up and conclusion to the 4-day climax that is the festival. Not to say that these events weren’t top notch, because with acts like K’naan, Classified, J.Period, Jedi Mind Tricks, Slakah the Beatchild, Mayer Hawthorne, Lindo P, and Scratch, it’s clear that talent flooded the city of Toronto during the month of September. One of the most impressive and memorable moments occurred at the Scarborough Fresh Fair, which ended on the note of a beat battle between the soon-to-be-giants Boi-1da, Rich Kidd, MegaMan, Soundsmith, and Northern Profit. It was all love though, especially considering that most of these cats grew up just around the corner from each other. Hard hitting hip hop beats and a great community to share it with? That’s a win-win nearly impossible to come by at the so-called “Screwface Capital” of the world.

The Festival:

The Film Festival
To open up the main events, Manifesto presented Bomb It! from award-winning director Jon Reiss. It takes the complex art of graffiti and explores greater worldwide issues while revisiting the history of the art from the origins of the prehistoric caves to the current global issues surrounding property and crime control. Additionally, the festival featured The Freshest Kids, a film looking at the groundbreaking origins of breakdancing, as well as famous b-boy crews and rappers that supported the risky and funky movement.

Previous: 9th Wonder says “Toronto is the hip hop capital of the world”.

Canada Pro 2009 B-Boy Championship
Long before rapping was an art and the rapper took front stage, it was the b-boys and b-girls who stole the spotlight. The Pro B-boy Competition brought b-boy culture back to the main stage. Bringing in b-boy and b-girls from across the States, as well as Canada, several crews performed in an all-out elimination style battle for $5000. No race, gender, age or even language was excluded on this Thursday night, garnering a diverse audience from all walks of life, including b-boy Lazy Legs, who single-handedly changed the b-boy game. Hosted by the event director Jon Reid, and Toronto’s own Tona, the crews kicked it with music from DJ Dopey & Ricochet who spun James Brown to Das EFX, needless to say, everybody rocked with the breaks.

The 3^rd Chapter Art Exhibition
Featuring artistic juggernauts Nunca (from Brazil) and Roadsworth (from Montreal), the three floor artistic showcase didn’t fail to impress. On one floor, there was a charitable auction, on another there was an artist workshop and work station, on another floor there was an in depth examination of particular artistic pieces. Don’t think music was left out though, DJ Mensa kept the grooves going all night and there were even live performances from Fresh Kils, Subliminal, and Peter Projects.

Hip Hop Love with 9^th Wonder
The event on the 19^th featured guest DJ, super-producer 9^th Wonder at the Premium Rhythm Bar. With a packed house, 9^th Wonder (alongside his True School Movement crew) worked the crowd with a beautiful hip hop set, but tied in some R&B and Dance tracks to keep variety up in the mix. Jeru the Damaja was in town the night before (for Hip Hop Karaoke) and made a stop by, as well as Voodoo Souljahs from Columbia. The party was a huge success and the hip hop love that 9^th received from the very warm Toronto audience was much appreciated by Mr. Douthit. He continued to talk about the city for days even after his departure (check his twitter around Sept 19^th-21^st).

The Main Event w/ Headliners: Reflection Eternal
The Main Event took place at Nathan Phillips Square in the heart of downtown Toronto. This location keeps the music and other activities open to the general public, and the curiousity of the civilians this day was contagious. People of every age and every colour, left-and-right, were asking what was going on; eagerly approaching the various stations set up around the NPS ground. Manifesto Guidebook cover artist Saidah Baba Talibah put on quite the show, displaying the varying ranges of her sexy voice and unique soulful ballads, while the other Guidebook cover artist, Sage, kicked a relaxing, introspective set loaded with laid back and thoughtful vibes and content. Art of Fresh, a duo comprised of Slakah The Beatchild (producer) and D.O (rapper), came dressed in their best business attire and went to work for the attentive crowd. Combining both the soulful rhythms and Dilla-esque vibe of Slakah with the high energy flow and skull crushing rhymes of D.O has (and will) certainly provide to be beneficial for the duo.

A lot of local talent brought their best performances to the stage of Manifesto in 2009. Veterans Solitaire and Ro Dolla really put on for the T Dot crowd, delivering a high pace, up-tempo barrage of tracks. Toronto’s own supergroup, Empire, continues to carv their name in the list of the country’s elite performers. Especially for how gritty and raw these cats are, to deliver an outstanding (and 99% clean) performance to people of all ages is a whole new level of impressive. Another bright spot of the day-long event was Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew. Fully loaded with a live band, the crew dropped a highly impressive and enjoyable collection of tracks with a plethora of sounds appeasing to the ear. No complaints at all.

The main acts, namely Tona, Colin Munroe, and Reflection Eternal, all earned their top billing. Tona’s enjoyable presence speaks for itself, but throw on Richie Hennessy and Ayah for his supporting vocals and the stage gets a lot livelier. Not to mention a surprise from Saukrates to deliver some timely verses and chorus vocals; that’s what Manifesto is all about, helping out your brethren. Toronto resident Colin Munroe brought along a live band and performed his name-making rending of “Flashing Lights,” along other material from his Colin Munroe is The Unsung Hero mixtape. His voice carried well throughout the large stage, and his future is evidently loaded with positives, both on the stage and in the studio.

Reflection Eternal came on the stage via a humbling introduction from 9^th Wonder. Kweli and Hi-Tek opened with “Down for the Count” alongside chants of “1, 2, 3, 4.” Traveling through his lengthy catalogue, Kweli performed all the crowd favourites: “Too Late,” “Never Been in Love,” “Definition,” “RE: Definition,” “Move Something,” and “The Blast.” Even Hi-Tek came down from the DJ booth to kick his verse from the latter track. Scrambled in that mix, RE performed a few tracks from their upcoming album and got more than a warm reception for the unheard material. The largest applause of the night came at the hands of “Get By,” a joint that got every voice humming and every hand up in the air. Still, at a festival entitled Manifesto, one has to wonder why the duo wouldn’t perform the song of the same name, especially since the lyrical message defines that of the festival.

Regardless, Manifesto is evidently here to stay and will continue getting bigger and better. The city is undoubtedly in support of Manifesto. Whether it is getting an in-person stamp of approval from Toronto’s Mayor David Miller, funding from the government, and property for one of the largest gathering areas in the city, it is clear that the festival is driven to be amongst the best and most well respected hip hop festivals in North America. Eventually, it will be a destination that every emcee, every DJ, every breakdancer, every graffiti artist, every spoken word artist, and every writer will want to be at. Soak it all in Toronto. This is you.

*big thanks to Jesse Ohtake, Soul360tv, and Mindbender for additional information.