This coming weekend is Maximum Efficiency Crew‘s 12 year anniversary. If you’ve been following this blog from time, you’ll remember that I did photo coverage of their weekend long festivities last year. It’s crazy to reminisce upon last year’s anniversary — it was unexpectedly one of the dopest weekends I’ve ever had in Toronto. Insane battles, crazy parties, and too many laughs. The MEC boys have truly become my homebways. Every Granby Mansion jam, every party I work at in this city, these boys are always there to support and come through. I’ve had enough drunken real talk love talk moments with these guys and I know if I ever needed anyone to be roughed up, I have them to call. (Although, I would never want to inflict physical pain upon anyone as a means of retaliation, it’s nice to know I have that potential option. Lol.)

[Miss Carmela Antonio and I at her private Paper Dolls EP Release Party!]

Here’s another video part of our Carmela Antonio Sessions! We filmed this back during Michael’s birthday anniversary, and wanted to do a special tribute to him. I love this. I love Carmela’s rendition of this song. Video after the jump, enjoy!

Here’s the third installment of the Carmela Antonio Sessions! Thursday is her private EP Release party which I’m stoked to attend at this secret location. Oooooooh. Check the video after the jump.

Here’s part two of the Carmela Antonio Sessions, her singing a track called “Don’t You Worry” off her new Paper Dolls EP. Hollerate if you Appreciate. Check the video below, homes.

[Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Carmela Antonio]

At the beginning of this summer, my homegirl Carmela approached me to work on a series of videos helping her promote the release of her ‘Paper Dolls‘ EP. Inspired by the intimate and inviting space of her bachelorette apartment, we decided to do these acoustic takeaway shows (with Oscar Dominguez on percussion!) at her home, with a full audio recording studio set up. Collaborating with audio engineers Max and Rob, and the editing savvy of my good friend Justin Borja of Black Suits & Broken Hearts, we came up with the Carmela Antonio Sessions. Welcome to the first video we’ll be releasing: “Blindside”. Consider this a very Happy Birthday greeting, from all of us;)

Yesterday, my boys Mark Valino and Giles Monette from A.H.R. Films (Art. Honor.Respect) invited me to be their second camera for an interview with 9th Wonder before the screening of his autobiographical documentary called The Wonder Year. After meeting 9th, watching his film, and taking part in his Q&A, my respect for him as a producer, a musician, and as a human being, skyrocketed to the levels of ‘ULTIMATE respect.’

The past month working on this mini-doc has been such an incredible learning experience. The piece isn’t perfect and there’s so much I wish I could’ve done to make it something more, but the fact that I know the work isn’t finished, excites me. I think what I value most through this was being able to establish some real connections, and being given the privilege to be let into a world that is not my own. This is only the beginning. This isn’t just about a Graffiti war that’s being waged with Ford. This goes beyond that: this is about the system that we live in and recognizing we have a voice to speak up about it’s injustices.
Whether you choose to be idle or do something through some sort of medium that you excel at, whether that IS graffiti art, writing, music, dancing, film, photography… I provoke you to be more intentional with your talents. Join the movement and cause a ruckus with me. Silence is over-rated. This is our city.

Mad Love to everyone who helped put this together. My team, Dylan Mc Fadyen and Eric Kupp; the artists, Teaser, Under the Radar, Zion; the soundtrack, gripski, askyaluv, fate, switch b, sunclef, hector, and special shouts to Giles Monette, Water, Jedi, Skam, and The Bombshelter.

Now share this sh*t!!! Join the movement.

[Still shot: the gorgeous ETERNIA]

It’s been a minute, folks, pardon my in-and-out presence on the bloggy. School’s been gwannin’ hard these days and it’s borderline driving me nuts. Either way, I always have something to talk about/things from the Lovehard archives to share, and I thought posting up this snippet of Eternia would be totally fitting this week.

If you don’t know who this powerhouse of a woman is, lemme drop some science on ya. Ottawa born, Torontonian forever, now lives in Queens, NY, this emcee is nasty on the mic and shares messages of truth and vulnerability. She is someone who I feel really understands what it means to use her music as a voice for the voiceless and make a stand for those who haven’t quite found the strength to do so yet.

[Ma Dukes aka Dilla’s Mom]

A few weeks back during my reading break, my man DJ Nana hollered at me and asked me if I was down for being part of this very, very exciting weekend he was putting together for Ma Dukes, aka Dilla’s mom. It was one of those unknowingly amazing weekends that I never expected would unfold. In lieu of his birth/death anniversary, Nana along with a super dope team of peoples, organized a special screening of Suite For Ma Dukes — a short film about a composer who took some of Dilla’s best songs and had them performed by a 30 piece orchestra, with guest performances by D’Angelo, Bilal, Common, and De La Soul.

[Jeff, myself, and Shihan]

Talk about a full house!! I haven’t seen a UHHU event get that crazy since I’ve been at Rye High. I’m sure that I’m not alone in saying that I was astounded by the support and response of all who attended this event this past Friday. World renown spoken word poet (HBO Def Jam Poetry), Shihan, made his first Canadian appearance right here in Toronto. A discussion about Love and Hip Hop, Shihan got real personal on the mic about his thoughts, inspirations, and how he’s been shaped by the experiences of Love in his life.