Courtesy of the Social Science Student Council, the University of Western Ontario’s Mustang Lounge on January 10 was host to the first stop of Mac Miller’s Larry Fisherman tour with guests The Come Up, Rich Kidd and SonReal.  Virtually selling out as quickly as announced with just over 1,100 confirmed on facebook, which isn’t surprising.  The following Mac Miller has created for himself since emerging practically out of nowhere back in ‘09 is literally devouring, with fans from “hipsters”, party go’ers and hip hop heads alike.  Comparing himself to a modern “ A Tribe Called Quest mixed with The Doors”, Mac Miller has a very humble attitude, stating himself he still has a lot to learn.  Being the first indie act in over a decade to have a number one album, selling out at every venue from his first tour to present day, there is no telling what lies ahead in the near future for the young Pittsburgh artist. Hit the jump to read the full review!

Have you ever heard someone say there is a lot of talent in this room? Well that phrase
could definitely be applied to Friday’s event at Fanshawe College’s The Outback Shack’s
“New Music Night” Head lined by SonReal and Rich Kidd, who have been touring to various cities acrossCanada promoting their new LP The Closers since it came out October 16th, London was host to their second last stop before wrapping up the tour in Toronto at the Rivoli.

Click on the link to read the entire review

On Friday November 23rd, Seattle emcee Macklemore made his way to the Sound Academy in Toronto to perform in front of a sold out crowd as a part of his Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Heist Tour. For Macklemore, 2012 has been a great year; he released his album The Heist independently to critical and commercial acclaim. During its first week on sale the album hit number one on the iTunes Charts and number two on the Billboard Hot 200 Charts. His videos for the singles “Thrift Shop” and “Same Love” have over 7 million views on YouTube and everyone from Ellen DeGeneres to GQ magazine to Rolling Stone have jumped on the Macklemore bandwagon.

Click on the link to read the entire review

This Sunday October 21, “The 2050 Tour” touches down in London, Ontario at the Budweiser Gardens featuring artists Wiz Khalifa & Taylor Gang. Juicy J, Chevy Woods, Lola Monroe, Tuki Carter and Berner. Usually we just assign this review to a member of The Come Up Show team but we want to give a chance to passionate fans of Wiz and company to be able to attend the full concert and write a great review about this concert. No formal experience is necessary but you do have to be confident in your writing ability. Take a look at our past concert reviews and see if you got the chops to do so. You will get direction from us on how to write a great review and what to look for but we aren’t your grammar teachers!

Requirements.
Valid Legal ID. You don’t need to be 19+.
Must be able to attend concert from 6pm-10pm.
Acceptable writing skill and experience.
Send an example of your writing. Essay, Short story, review etc to chedo(at)thecomeupshow(dot)com
Deadline to submit Thursday October 18 5pm ET.

Over the summer, SonReal and Rich Kidd announced they would be collaborating on an EP to be released through Black Box. After hitting the studio in Toronto and Los Angeles, the duo’s catalog grew from an EP into a full-blown album titled The Closers, which is being released this Tuesday, October 16th. The Closers is an infectious album, combining SonReal’s talent for crafting hooks with Rich Kidd’s production talents – not to mention each artists’ strength on the mic. Ever since collaborating on SonReal’s “Already There”, their chemistry on a record has been evident, and steadily improving. On The Closers, they mesh together perfectly.

Stream “Best Believe” below, and hit the skip to read the track-by-track breakdown (streams included).

The Phife Dawg concert at Alex P. Keaton (APK) Live on Thursday, February 16 was quite a special affair, as it was Phife Dawg’s first show in London, Ontario. In addition, there was a strong line-up of South Western Ontario opening Hip-Hop acts, including Young Stunna, Soundminds, and Raz Fresco, who were backed up by highly respected local DJ, DJ Ruckus, who also recently DJ’ed for Raekwon at his concert on January 20th at the London Music Hall

Check the post for the full review.

STS (A.K.A. Sugar Tongued Slim’s) debut full-length album, The Illustrious, which was released in late December of 2011, is an brilliant piece of musical artistry from the highly talented Atlanta, Georgia bred emcee. In an genre where true emceeing and rapping talent are few and far between, STS’ slick emceeing style and poetic lyrics are like a breath of fresh air. However, lately it seems that there has been a re-emergence or renaissance of a significant number of talented artists in the past few years, including, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and Yelawolf (to name a few). Now the interesting thing about STS is that he actually started out as a poet performing at local poetry slams in Atlanta, Georgia to make some money, until somebody told him that he should rap. And the rest was history, or rather, is part of modern Hip-Hop history in the making.

Click the post to read the full review.

This past weekend on Saturday February 4th the Harbourfront Centre hosted the event the Known (UN) Known Artist Showcase to kick off Black History month in association with Tika Simone presents and Kumba. Showcasing up and coming Toronto talent, the night had performances from an all-female MC cypher, a grooved out jam session with soul singers Shi Wisdom and Rochelle Jordan, and a head nodding hip hop performance from rappers Spek Won and KJ.

Check out the full review and photos by checking the full post

In support of his latest album Ambition Washington DC rapper Wale made a stop in Toronto to perform for an enthusiastic crowd at the phoenix concert theatre on January 20th 2012. With a number one album and a second chance in the hip hop after releasing a disappointing debut album Wale gave Toronto fans a reason to cheer for the one time underdog. For those who may not know the story, Wale started out being signed to industry heavy weight Interscope records with much buzz surrounding his debut. All the cards seemed to be in place from him being on the cover of XXl magazines freshman class 2009, having crazy blog-sphere buzz, an acclaimed mixtape series, industry co- signs and a Lady gaga hook for the first single the expectations were high for the DC native to make an impact out the gate. Hip hop was bustling with a new generation of artists emerging with wale at the top of the list along with Drake and kid Cudi as the new school generation rapping about emotions and showing vulnerability in their music. Major co-signs came from raps royalty giving the MC’s the torch to carry for hip hop in the coming years. Drake went on to become a mega star and Cudi carved out his own lane with solid debut creating an allegiance of new stoner fans. The same however, didn’t work out Wale, Attention Deficit dropped with disappointing numbers and like that the buzz and allegiance from fans and a major label backing disappeared leaving many to believe he could never come back after such a disappointing debut.

Check the post to read the full review.

It has been who knows how long since Raekwon performed in the city of London, Ontario. Friday January 20th was an evening to remember as the Unexpected Tour made its first stop at the Music Hall. Raekwon (A.K.A. “The Chef”) demonstrated that he still has the passion and strong emcee skills that he displayed on his debut album Only Built for Cuban Linx back in 1995. And even though the Raekwon and JD Era concert at the London Music Hall was not sold out on Friday night, there was a good sized crowd of Raekwon and Wu-Tang Clan supporters who had nothing but love and respect for one of rap’s finest storytellers.

Check out the rest of the review by clicking the post title.