Throwback – We’re Bubblin’…

February 2011

Presented in footnotes* By Chris Shaban - Originally written for HHC.com in September 2002

So Willis and I are sitting here thinking about how to start this edition of footnotes* and, not surprisingly, a few things are coming to mind Okay, for the record, I’m sitting here thinking… Willis is licking, purring and kinda just whoring himself out for some rubdowns. You know, all the things a cat does when he’s not eating or sleeping. . First idea was the fictional story about how I had joined the touring musical act ‘The Blue Man Group’, but it didn’t feel right in my stomach as I have given Arrested Development enough airtime already PS – That’s not possible. I can watch the same episode 200 times. . Next I was going to tell you guys that I’ve started my own prank show called “Shab He Does It”, but although it feels like I’ve been doing it for a while now, you can’t just substitute Delocated for ADGet it… . Then it dawned on me, instead of doing another shameless plug to for Jon Glaser, why not spice up another Throwback article that I scooped from my good friends at HipHopCanada.com. Because the last article about FOUNDATION seemed to go over so well, I thought I might as well post the joint that started the whole series on Toronto Plus the links that I could use for this bad boy were sick… I like to bring the heat on the education tip whenever I can. Especially when it comes to music. .

No big long intros this time, just down to business – Bon Appetite

Toronto, ON – Were I would just like to reiterate that I do not change any of the grammar here… Part of when keeping it real goes wrong. bubbling… the whole city is bubbling and anyone that is near here can feel it. Canada, but Toronto more specifically, is bubbling Seems I didn’t have a Hip-Hop Thesaurus handy during this writing session. However, it was also the name of the article so I’ll intercede for young Shabby and say that he was just trying to make it stick. , and as the old saying goes, it’s only a matter of rhyme Ahahaha… you get it, “rhyme”… ahahaha… you know, instead of “time”, it’s a matter of “rhyme”… Wow, how has Time Magazine not called me yet? . As a staunch music lover I’ve always had strong ties to big musical movements.

I used to think what San Francisco must have felt like in the late 60’s. I would wonder what influence the flashy, celebrity-filled, drug-riddled Studio 54 in New York City had on the music in the 70’s. When the 80’s came, were British groups like the Sex Pistols and The Clash so disgusted with the music that was coming out that they had to be so abrasive to get their message across? Seattle in the 90’s? Four eras that will forever define their listeners lives And I’m quite sure their photo albums as well… ;-) .

Now in the days of plastic-pop and, if you can believe this, real ‘Thug-Love’ songs (“Where Would I be Without You Now that he’s going to jail, is it still kosher to send shots at Ja Rule? I mean, unless of course you’re 50 Cent ?” – probably 6 girls deep in a hot tub) dominating our airspace, what is going to define our era Sadly, it turns out not much has changed. Plastic pop and thug-love are right where I left them when I first wrote this piece. I’m a little surprised to say the least. We need to have some kind of storm come through this bizness and knock us on our ear. I guess it’s safe to say the Internet and iPod’s spawned a generation that wasn’t defined necessarily by a genre as much as its eclectic tastes. Let’s see how we do in the 10’s. ? T-Dot Massive stand-up, our time is now. The same thing that forced the musical change in the last four decades I outlined is the same feeling that is pushing us now, a movement that I like to call ‘Going-Against-The-Grainism PS – I made that term up… I know, shocking. I also think I was being a touch too romantic with that sediment. There was nothing in our city at the time from an urban perspective that would have blown the doors off the entire world, but I guess I just wanted to see SOMETHING happen. It’s just that we had been stagnant for so long. Now in today’s game we have Drake and he’s a unique artist who has the ability to do what Wayne is doing with Young Money, when he gets a few more years under his belt, only on a more diverse canvas. ’.

It’s time for the world to know what hip-hop is like from the streets of Toronto and all the cities in between I know the world has been DYING to hear what Hip-Hop sounds like from Bayview & Sheppard or Whitby. . Canada has proper worldwide representation in every musical genre, cept one. Now don’t get it twisted, I’m not a playa-hater, and this does not all fall on the shoulders of the artists On the real, I was kissing some A right here. It’s true that it didn’t all fall on the shoulders of the artists, but that’s because, well, they just weren’t talented enough. I know, I know, I’m sorry… . Truth be told, on an international level, their They’re… :-( paving the way for the young cats to do their thing (So when you see Choclair, say what up Chiz-Knock). This is way deeper than that.

Believe it or not, heads all around the world check for Canadian music. Think I’m bluffin’, check some of the multi-platinum Canadians this year alone – Nickleback (4X), Sum 41 (3X), Avril Lavigne (probably by press time It went on to sell 6 million in the States alone ) or even the Spiderman soundtrack that had Canadian artists on both lead singles“Hero” & “What We’re All About” . Those still not impressed there’s a couple others that have sold 10’s of millions like Alanis Morrisette, Celine Dion, or Shania Twain… act like y’all don’t know. The true North STRONG and free… trust me Canada is without a doubt one of the strongest countries in the world from a musical perspective. We have had so many superstars grow from our soil that the excuse of “it’s a result of being close to the United States” is ga-bage. .

I have lived in Toronto all my life I’m going to let this next paragraph speak for itself. I think I’d say the exact same thing right now. ; my heart is buried in streets that y’all walk everyday. Now is the time to show the rest of the world how serious the game is out here. Hip-hop is very territorial, rivaled only by country music (take my word for it), so if you in the game, rep your set. Rep for the dudes up here freezin’ from late-September to early-April. Rep for all surrounding areas Sauga, Brampton, Jane & Finch, Neptune, Vaughn, Scarborough… rep your click. Hey ‘hip-hop heads’, you wanna know the deal, pick up the independent stuff that seems to be flooding the streets these days, hold down these Emcee’s holdin’ it down for you. I’ma do my part, over the next few weeks on these very pages I am going to rep what I believe to be the strongest cats bubbling There it is again… in the city right now. If you agree or disagree, HOLLA.

Shabs Sidebar: In my humble opinion there is only one explanation for the movement taking place in our city, the addition of Flow 93.5 to our airwaves Honest moment – I feel like this station had gone backwards and I’m not heartbroken about the recent adjustments made by CHUM… I mean that with no disrespect. I have a few friends that used to be there and a few people that still are and I think they do an excellent job at the station. I understand everyone’s hurt and anger with taking away what we all considered to be a true Urban station, and your feelings are justified. But I’m going to be true to myself here and speak from my own opinion, this was just not a top quality radio station. And yes, everyone is right that our city has the ability to sustain an Urban station and I believe we should have one. Flow just wasn’t it…………………….. . Never before did we have a popular, widespan radio station that was playing our music, thank you Milestone Radio Inc I’d be remised if I didn’t pay homage to the company that brought us to where our community is today. I wrote this almost 9 years ago and I would have not foreseen the changes that came down last week back then, however I hold out hope for a day when we can have another 100% Urban station in our city. One that I would be 100% proud of. .