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King of the Dot

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BY DT THE ARTIST

This was my first experience going to a King of the Dot Event, now a worldwide Branded Phenomenon. When you walk into the building it looks like the stage is set for the heavyweight wrestling championship of the world. The room is filled with hip hop heads waiting for the craziest bars and wittiest punchlines. For those that are new to the scene or have never watched a Rap Battle, this is the basic premise. Two artists are scheduled to battle each other; they are given a few weeks to prepare. Their mission is to totally and verbally destroy each other’s credibility to the audience, while at the same time putting themselves in the better light. When these battles start nothing is off limits, anything that is found in research is usable in the battle ring. And that is exactly what they do.

The organizers step onto the stage and address the crowd, giving the rules for the night’s event. The room fills with smoke and the stage is now set for battle. Then the big screen turns on and the round begins. The first two opponents rip each other verbally, throwing everything at each other, including the kitchen sink. Whatever they have in their personal arsenal becomes a weapon for their verbal warfare. Analogies, wordplay, double entendres, cadence flipping, unique rhyme schemes, these guys use everything they have to lower their opponent to the position of choking, meaning having no rebuttal, no response.

Battle after battle happens and the crowd shows no signs of fatigue, they get hungrier with each round. After each battle has been completed a ten-minute break is given for the audience to talk, grab a drink or smoke. There is no talking during the rounds so as not to disturb the battling MC’s. Battling is a mentally draining experience and requires absolute concentration, which is why opponents try to knock each other off of their game.

According to Wikipedia this is how King of the Dot was created. “Travis Fleetwood, a.k.aOrganik, built a reputation as one of Canada’s elite battle emcees, winning title after title, including four wins at the well known Toronto-based freestyle competition Proud 2B Eh Battle MC, where he met a local producer/DJ by the name of RyanPVP. The two teamed up with the help of promotion guru Avi Rex to put together the first event which was initially intended to be a flash mob style event at Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto.”

KOTD is an unforgettable experience that I would recommend to any serious hip hop head, or even a lover of the hip hop culture. Fans have so many options to keep the experience going, from the merchandise for sale sporting the KODT logo and each battle rappers specific line, to the videos that get posted online. As well, for the hardcore fans the opportunity to meet your favorite Battle Rapper creates a momentous occasion. While at the event I met a few Battle Rappers that I had seen from watching KOTD videos, such as one of my favorites Charlie Clips, Iron Solomon, Arsenal, Big T, and one of my new favorites Femcee Bonnie Godiva to name a few. Each artist was cool and down to earth and took pictures with audience members.

The event was well organized and looked very professional in terms of delivery. Just the experience of being at the event felt like an opportunity to be among fellow artists. And at the end of the weekend, after the lights go off, everybody goes home and the money gets spent, the biggest thing everybody is looking for is the bragging rights. And trust me the winners deserve it. I look forward to the next KOTD event. Well worth the time. For Info on King of the Dot Events go to www.kotdtv.com or follow them on Instagram @kotdtv.

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Candace Owens threatens to sue George Floyd Family, George Floyd’s family suing Kanye West, and Balenciaga ends relationship with the rapper

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr

BY SYDNEE WALCOTT

This year rapper Kanye West has been at the centre of many controversies.

So far West had been banned from performing at the 2022 Grammy Awards, he received a one-day suspension from Instagram after making racist comments towards The Daily Show host and 2022 Grammys host Trever Noah (who had voiced concerns over the rapper’s conduct) and had continuously trolled ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her now former ex-boyfriend, comedian Pete Davidson.

The controversy does not end there as West continued to stir up more controversy this month.

The rapper recently received backlash from many celebrities after spending more than three hours making insulting comments towards different celebrities and going on an antisemitic rant while he made an appearance on a now-removed episode of Revolt TV’s Drink Champs podcast.

During the podcast, West also made misinformed comments on the death of George Floyd by claiming Floyd did not die by having former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneel on his neck, but by a fentanyl overdose.

On October 18th, 2022, the family of George Floyd announced their plan to file a $250 million lawsuit against West, his business partners, and associates for the comments he made on Floyd’s death.

Roxie Washington, the mother of Floyd’s only daughter, filed the lawsuit and will be suing for harassment, defamation, misappropriation, and inflicting emotional distress.

Lawyers representing the family also issued a cease and desist letter to West for his comments and said they were a “Repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death.”

While fentanyl was found in Floyd’s system, a toxicology report did not identify it to be part of his cause of death.

Chauvin, who was found guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights and has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death, is currently serving a 21-year federal sentence and a 22 1/2-year state sentence, which will be served concurrently.

Due to all the controversy that has been surrounding Kanye West in recent months, people and organizations have been urging companies who have worked with West to sever their business ties with him.

As of Friday, October 21st, 2022, one of those companies recently decided to part ways with the rapper.

The French luxury fashion house Balenciaga became the first company to sever ties with West after the rapper made a series of anti-Semitic comments and misinformation on the death of George Floyd.

According to a statement sent to the Women’s Wear Daily, Kering, the parent company to Balenciaga, provided a statement them with a short statement saying:

“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects relating to the artist.”

West has had a long history with the luxury brand due to the close relationship he had with the luxury fashion house’s creative director, Demna Gvasalia.

Balenciaga has since removed the rapper’s look from his runway debut at Paris Fashion Week and a section featuring the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenziaga collaboration from their website.

While Balenciaga severed their ties with West, the Anti-Defamation League, Campaign Against Anti-Semitism and many celebrities are calling for Adidas to also end their partnership with the rapper.

Adidas, who has been collaborating with West since the release of his Yeezy brand in 2015, currently have their business partnership with the rapper ‘under review.’

Amid all of his most recent controversies, it seems as if Kanye West has an ally who has recently come to his defence.

Candace Owens came to the defence of her friend as she has threatened to sue the family of George Floyd in response to the lawsuit they filed against West after the rapper claimed it was a drug overdose that contributed to Floyd’s death and not police brutality.

According to Mediate, Owens based Floyd’s family in a recent podcast of her show after it was announced that his family will be suing West over the comments he made on Floyd’s death.

“I’m also sick of frivolous lawsuits. You know, if this is actually considered credible – if you sue somebody because you’re feeling ‘emotionally distressed’ because of them going out and saying things – well then I think that I have grounds to sue George Floyd’s estate,” said Owens during her podcast episode.

Owens said she is considering seeking lawyers’ advice to file a complaint against Floyd’s family.

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Denyse Thomasos Paintings garners the first major retrospective at the AGO

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Photo by Sydnee Walcott

BY SYDNEE WALCOTT

For those who love to learn about history and contemporary issues through artwork, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is giving people the opportunity to explore these topics through paintings and photographs at an exhibit they have available for a limited time.

From October 5th, 2022 until February 20th, 2023, the AGO will hold its first major retrospective of paintings created by late painter, Denyse Thomasos.

The exhibit, known as “Denyse Thomasos: Just Beyond,” is set to feature more than 70 paintings and works on paper from almost 40 years ago alongside archived photographs, sketches, interviews, and documentary footage of Thomasos at work.

The day before the exhibit was open to the public, members of the media had the chance to get a view of the exhibit through a press preview curated by: Renée van der Avoird, Assistant Curator, Canadian Art, AGO; Sally Frater, Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Guelph and Michelle Jacques, Head of Exhibitions and Collections/ Chief Curator.

The first piece of work viewers will notice as soon as they enter the exhibit will be a large-scale photograph of the artist working on a piece called Hybrid Nations.

In 2005, while the AGO was undergoing a major renovation, contemporary artists were invited to the gallery to create site-specific wall works. Thomasos created a massive mural that contained a mixture rendition of a computer-generated panopticon, a building designed to have consistent surveillance of occupants from one authoritative point without the occupants knowing if and when they were being watched or not.

The piece also included hand-painted details of structures and rigid cells that delegate into curved forms that surrounded the computer-generated panopticon.

Thomasos hoped this piece would remind viewers there is a connection between the present-day prison industrial complex and the transatlantic slave trade.

The exhibition will also include some of Thomasos’ earlier work from when she was a graduate student who started as a figurative painter.

In an untitled self-portrait, created when Thomamsos was an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, Renée van der Avoird, one of the exhibit’s curators, describes how the artist portrays herself as a very strong and serious artist.

The painting features Thomasos sitting on a chair with brushes and paint underneath the chair.

“It’s really an opportunity, 10 years after passing to look at the impact of her work,” said Sally Frator, one of the guest curators. Frater describes the exhibit as a celebration of her work and the sheer brilliance of her artistry practice.

Two things Frater looks forward to when the public has the opportunity to look at Thomasos’ work is the interest in hearing the reactions of people who are encountering her work for the first time and hearing the experiences of people who knew Thomasos through work and through those who have maintained a friendship with her and seeing all of her work being featured in the AGO.

“I think it is entirely fitting that this retrospective is opening in Toronto,” said Frater who shares how Toronto has been formative to Thomasos’ development as an artist.

After the exhibit concludes in Winter 2023, it will make a few more stops at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon in Spring 2023, and at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Thomasos, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago and raised in Toronto, received her BA in painting and art history from the University of Toronto in 1987, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & and Sculpture in 1988, and enrolled at Yale University where she would receive her MFA in painting and sculpture in 1989.

That same year, Thomasos would have her first solo exhibition at the Alpha Gallery in Boston.

Thomasos’ was at the height of her career with major museum shows, gallery representation in New York and Toronto, and achieving many prominent awards when she passed away in 2012.

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Vybz Kartel and Stefflon Don Release New Music; Popcaan earns First Canadian Platinum Certification, and possible collaboration between Popcaan and Post Malone in the works

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Photo Credit: Joseph Okpako

BY SYDNEE WALCOTT

Jamaican artists, Vybz Kartel and Stefflon Don, paired together again on their newly released dancehall single, “Amazing.”

Amazing, which was released last Friday, marks the second time the two artists have collaborated together, after both were featured on late rapper XXXTENTACION”S track, Royalty.

The single is also one of many songs of the dancehall producer Dunw3ll’s PlayStation Riddim, which featured the most streamed songs by Jamaican artists.

Other songs featured on this riddim include: “Day 2 Day” by Sean Paul, “Bye Bye” by Shenseea, “BFF” by Govanna featuring Romeo Nelson and “Please Yuh Girl” by Moyann Montique.

Dunw3ll is also credited for Vybz Cartel’s 2016 hit, Fever, which received a Gold Certification Plaque from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2020.

There’s more great news for Jamaican artists. Even though Popcorn has a collection of plaques, this plaque he recently earned is special as this is his first Canadian platinum certification for his featured single, “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times).”

Music Canada issued the Platinum Single certification on September 14th, 2022 after selling more than 80,000 units in combined digital and physical sales and on-demand audio streaming in the country.

The single had also been certified silver in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) after selling 200,000 units and was certified gold in March of last year in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after seeing more than 500,000 units.

The song, which was by English producer/DJ Jamie XX and also features American rapper Young Thug, is the third single from Jamie xx’s 2015 debut album, “In Colour.”

More great news for Popcaan is a collaboration between the dancehall artist and rapper Post Malone, which is apparently in the works.

Post Malone’s manager, Dre London, who is currently promoting his tequila brand Don Londre’s broke the news of the collaboration and hopes for more collaborations in the future.

Since Popcaan’s rise to fame, the dancehall artist has been part of a long list of international collaborations with artists such as: Pusha T, Busta Rhymes, Chaka Khan, Megan Thee Stallion, Maroon 5, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Lion, Drake and countless others.

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