Any Night of the Week by Jonny Dovercourt

Author:Jonny Dovercourt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Coach House Books

TORONTO HIP-HOP’S FIRST WAVE

1989–91

Homegrown hip-hop hits the mainstream via four breakout recording artists and the support of community radio stations.

On February 3, 1990, six thousand screaming teenage fans mobbed the HMV at Square One mall in Mississauga for the official album release party for Symphony in Effect, the debut album by Maestro Fresh Wes. The lead single, ‘Let Your Backbone Slide,’ had already challenged New Kids on the Block for the top chart spot on the city’s lead pop radio station. Homegrown hip-hop had arrived.

Wes’s album promotion dates included gigs at huge suburban nightclubs like Super Stars, where he opened for Young MC, and headlining the Marquee, a massive club in the sleepy deep east end. Six months earlier, he was playing the annual CKLN benefit at the tiny Rivoli.

Born to Guyanese-Canadian parents in 1968, raised in North York and then Scarborough, Wes Williams was turned on to hip-hop by DJ Ron Nelson’s Fantastic Voyage on CKLN. In 1982, Nelson featured him as a guest on the show, where he rhymed over roller-disco classic ‘Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll.’ In 1983, under the moniker Melody MC, Wes formed the Vision Crew at L’Amoreaux Collegiate at Warden and Finch. Five years later, he walked past a Tuxedo Royale store, which inspired him to wear a tux to match his new moniker as Maestro. Demos produced with DJ LTD led to an indie video, ‘I’m Showing You,’ airing on MuchMusic. Manager Farley Flex landed Wes a breakout appearance on City-TV’s Electric Circus, where the rapper premiered ‘Let Your Backbone Slide.’

Maestro: ‘This is a throwdown.’ The reason why I wanted to start a cappella is because I’m a huge fan of Public Enemy. When you look at Chuck D, every song is like a punch in the face with the first line. That was just me saying, ‘I’m here.’ So yeah, I did it, I went out and I performed the song for the very first time. Stevie B from LMR Records just so happened to be performing that day. (to CBC Radio, July 23, 2019)

Noted Miami freestyle artist Stevie B hooked Wes up with his New York label, distributed and marketed by Attic Records north of the border.

Most Toronto Gen-Xers can recite ‘Backbone’’s unmistakable lyrics by heart. With a deep voice and flow reminiscent of Big Daddy Kane, Wes rapped over a catchy, dance-floor-friendly beat, reeling in house music fans as well as pop kids. Though its US chart impact was modest, domestically it became the first Canadian top forty rap record.

Symphony in Effect was an uneven debut album, however, and in my humble opinion, his sophomore album, 1991’s The Black Tie Affair, is superior. The cheery single ‘Conductin’ Thangs’ saw Maestro amping up his local Scarborough namechecks over a speedy sixties ska beat. But it was ‘Nothin’ at All’ that really saw Wes boldly sidestep mainstream concerns, as he embraced Afrocentric consciousness on a searing track that celebrated the accomplishments of prominent African-Canadians.

Though he was the first to release an album, Maestro Fresh Wes wasn’t the first Canadian hip-hop artist signed to a US record deal.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.