TUMF 2005

Divine Old School Rocks The Toronto Urban Music Festival

By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
Pride News
September 7, 2005

For the first time in the history of the nine-year-old event, it was a Canadian who headlined the Toronto Urban Music Festival (TUMF) at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) last weekend.
Past headliners for the TUMF have included rapper Mos Def and soul songstress Jill Scott, so for Toronto's own Divine Brown to be on top of the bill, that included American singer Jaguar Wright, was a huge deal.
"It's great to be able to play in front of my people," says the talented Brown.
It appears Brown's time is now, and judging from the crowd response, she is a hometown hero made good.


At TUMF, she performed cuts off her self-titled debut disc that has been getting local and national recognition off the strength of her throwback track, "Old School Love".
And after only a few months in release, the disc is on its way to going gold in Canada and is already a fixture on the Soundscan Top 50 sales chart.
Brown's apparent "overnight success" has actually been almost a decade in the making.
Formerly known as Divine Earth Essence, Brown (who has a five-octave vocal range) has been a longtime fixture in the Toronto nightclub scene and recently completed a stint in the hit musical Ain't Misbehavin', co-starring the legendary Jackie Richardson.
Brown's appeal has been strengthened by her captivating live performances, and, this past weekend, she didn't disappoint.
Joints like, "Twist My Hair", "Something 'Bout You", "Single Momma", and current second single, "U Shook Me", showcased Brown's polished sound and flair, and served as an excellent reason why her album will make her a surefire Juno Award nominee.
Brown's closing performance capped off a day that included other emerging African Canadian acts.
Former "Canadian Idol" contestant Jermain Maxwell performed a short set of songs off his recently-launched R&B/soul project titled, Longtime.
The first single of the same name can be heard on FLOW 93.5 FM.
Compared to a "young black Cyndi Lauper" by rapper/producer Saukrates, newcomer Andreena Mills rocked out with a lively collection of songs from her upcoming album.
Signed to Capitol Hill Management (Jully Black, Saukrates, Kardinal Offishall and Glenn Lewis), Mills has the charisma and stage presence to make waves in the very near future.
Montreal-based hip hoppers The Butta Babees (MC/producers Manchilde and Zip Loks) attempted to inject some life into the show with their unique brand of hip hop.
The Butta Babees sound is best described as positive, feel-good hip hop. The duo did songs from their Urbanelo album.
Philly-based singer/songwriter Jaguar Wright almost stole the show with a dazzling set, and scored some points with the crowd to boot.
"People say I'm insane because I'm a Black woman with a brain," Wright says. She railed against an image-conscious and sexed-up industry, much to the delight of the audience.
Best known for her Coca Cola commercial a few years back, Wright threw down with cuts off her new album, Divorcing Neo 2 Marry Soul.
Yet, the night truly belonged to Divine Brown.
Although her performance had to be cut short due to time constraints, Brown proved the time is now for Canadian urban artists.
Last week, TUMF also held its annual Toronto Urban Music Conference.
Held at Hart House, at the University of Toronto, music industry experts discussed important issues concerning Canada's urban music industry.
This year the conference featured panels on music publishing, how to network and how to obtain funding for projects.
The keynote speaker was hip hop historian Jeff Chang, whose critically acclaimed (and recent American Book Award-winner) Hip Hop 101 history book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation outlines the roots of the genre.

Chang did his research in looking at the roots of the genre (from its Jamaican roots in the late 1960s, to its birth in the Bronx) - and it showed. He eloquently explained how hip hop got to be the global juggernaut it is today.

He reminds us that, even in its current "bling bling" incarnation, hip hop is not dead; rather it's been split in two.

Chang argues that you have the glossy, poppy, highly-materialistic and commoditized "50 Cent" version of hip hop, then you have the "real" underground hip hop, which consists of positive, conscious, and also traditional hip hop elements, such as b-boys and b-girls.

The problem, Chang says, is that mainstream hip hop has been hijacked and is now controlled by corporate interests, which pump money into artists they feel will sell to the masses.

All other subsets of hip hop get pushed to the fringes, leaving a popular (but erroneous) perception that hip hop is all about gangbanging and misogyny.
Hip hop is also cyclical, Chang says, and it reinvents itself every four to six years.
He concludes: the "trinity of hip hop music" (Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and DJ Kool Herc) don't get the props they deserve for creating the music so many love today.