Big Brother Canada Ehhhhh!

Well, for those of you living under a rock, the most talked about reality show has hit up Canada for the first time ever. That's right! Big Brother Canada made its debut a couple months ago after having auditions across the country with thousands of Canadians showing up. Of course, I decided to audition too since I am a HUGE Big Brother fan since season one of the U.S version made its debut. I even watched a few seasons of the U.K version. Sadly, I didn't make it but that's not going to stop me from auditioning again. You can watch episodes every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday on the Slice Network. If you don’t have Slice, you can always find the episodes on the official Big Brother Canada website, where you can find out more about the lucky contestants and see After Dark Episodes. I love watching Big Brother because I love studying people and watching how they interact in a new social setting. That is what I went to school for so I believe I would be great inside that house. Nevertheless, as many contestants have said, it is harder than it looks. As the first season comes to an end in May, former winner of the U.S Season 1O and second place on Season 14, coach and author Dan Gheesling will come on Big Brother Canada to mentor the remaining 5 players and stay for a sleepover. Dan Gheesling, who was known for his social skills and genius plan on Big Brother 14 hit up Toronto a month ago for a mini Big Brother tour and stopped by Ryerson University. I had the chance to talk to him and we connected on our faith and he told me not to give up and audition again. He is genuinely nice and smart. I also had the chance to finally try slop for the first time and yep, it was GROSS! Why do I want to be on Big Brother Canada, because I need the money and I want to play this social game, which I’m already great at doing naturally.

So visit bigbrothercanada.slice.ca to catch up on episodes.

Engeyum Eppothum Raja Show in Toronto

Engeyum Eppothum Raja was a concert that happened in Toronto on February 16^th, 2013 put together by Trinity Events. It was a star studded concert to celebrate the success and musical history of music composer, songwriter, singer and Maestro Ilayaraja’s hits in the Kollywood music industry. He composed over 4000 songs over his 30 plus career. A gold medalist in classical guitar, Ilayaraja is the first Asian to compose a full symphony with over 120 instruments. His sons Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja who also are in the music industry came to support their father and perform. What was bizarre was Dr. Raja did not want his fans to whistle and that is hard for his Tamil fans because we get super excited and rowdy at concerts. However, comedian Vivek stated that although Ilayaraja requested for no whistling, he would allow it.

I ran into the host of the show, poet, director and actor Parthiban who brought his daughter, award winning child actress P.S. Keerthana who acted in the critically acclaimed film 'Kannathil Muthamittal'. After that movie, Keerthana decided to focus on school. She may go back into acting after. I interviewed Parthiban who was the only actor who was keen on talking to his fans. Other Kollywood stars who came to support Ilayaraja were newlyweds actress Sneha and actor Prasanna. Everyone thought the couple would dance to an Ilayaraja hit song since she said it was Ilayaraja who encouraged the couple to be together but they just thanked him on stage and said they were big fans. Many fans said that Sneha was being a diva backstage and would not take pictures with them, including me. Another incredible singer who took the time to say hi to me while he was running back and forth backstage was hit maker and singer, Hariharan. Find out who Hariharan was excited to see in my video. Other legendary singers included; S.P Balasubrahmanyam, Karthik, Chitra, Ramya and more!

My favorite Ilayaraja song was ‘Rasathi Unna Kanatha Neram’ and he performed it! Sadly, there were many hits he did not perform because the show started 2 hours late due to road closures and bad weather conditions. Some fans were really disappointed. Nevertheless, many mega fans were just thrown back with emotions of all his songs from the past. I heard one father who told his daughter that, this is what original real music is and that she needs to really enjoy it.

Thank you Trinity Events for inviting me to the show! Click on the link to see some quick interviews and a little clip of my favorite Ilayaraja hit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_z_YtVptww&list=UU8sbqnKmIE08gqksjvBdcgQ&index=1

Turn It Up!

What's up readers?! In case you didn't know, I made a very brief cameo in the Kardinal Offishall and Karl Wolf music video for 'Turn It Up' The video was directed by Chris Strikes who I worked with before for my girl Farahri's song 'Favorite Day'. It was a super fun video shoot but my arms hurt from throwing them up so much for the final scene. Kardinal's bro Prince was in the video and so was his wing man Solitair. Click on the link to see the video and remember to TURN IT UP! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu4-aJ7gYa0

Playing Solitair

Canadian Hip Hop producer and rapper Silver Roland aka Solitair has been on the Canadian hip hop scene for many years. When you are a Canadian artist it is hard to branch out overseas and get the recognition you worked so hard to get. Nevertheless, Solitair has been working hard nonstop producing and teaming up with friends and other recognized artists such as, rapper Kardinal Offishall and r & b songstress Jully Black to encourage people all around the world to listen to their music. Solitair is constantly on the move travelling and making music. He aims to make his music different by fusing consciousness, hip hop, rock and dance, which can be heard in his songs ‘Come True’ and ‘Change The World’. 

I had a chance to sit down with him in his studio to discuss his success, friendship with Kardinal and the importance of being a role model to the youth. Even though Solitair came from a safe and privileged community, he wants to be a mentor for the youth who live in priority communities who are often disappointed by their social systems. Solitair was nice enough to visit the Regent Park Community at an event where he presented an award to youth Shebah Toussaint for her community involvement. I first met Solitair when he performed alongside Kardinal Offishall at Ryerson’s Frosh week and I was told to get up onstage and show my dance moves. Then, I ran into him at WE Day in Toronto when we talked about keeping in touch and exchanged contacts. Solitair is currently working on THE CITY Project. He is looking for a poet from the Toronto to be featured on a song for this project.

I ran into Solitair with Kardinal at the 2013 Canadian Radio Music Awards and he told me he is excited to see this interview. I hope you like it Solitair. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91xQw-_miSY&list=UU8sbqnKmIE08gqksjvBdcgQ&index=3

Inspired Voices of Youth and Nelly Furtado in Regent Park

I've worked in the Regent Park Community for a few years now and it is like my second home. In the beginning, I was afraid to enter this community from the messages I was getting from my peers and the media. However, I have met so many talented youth and people in this evolving community. Amidst the current revitalization, ongoing gun violence and deaths of young people, the youth aim to speak up using their creativity in the arts and voice their views on what their home in Regent Park means to them. Many inspirational Canadians in the media have taken time out of their schedule to visit and be motivational speakers in the Regent Park community for the youth including; reporter Dwight Drummond who came from an ‘at risk’ community himself, rapper Solitair, Degrassi actors Sam Earle and Jahmil French and recently Grammy Award and Juno Award winning super star Nelly Furtado. I was the only local community reporter who was able to squeeze in a question for Nelly, who attended a Regent Park community event and had a surprise for longtime resident and poet, Mustafa Ahmed.

Nevertheless, click on the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZurpbQ8Tyo&list=UU8sbqnKmIE08gqksjvBdcgQ&index=2 

to see what Nelly has to say about the Regent Park community and hear what a few youth in the community have to say in their own words how they are using their talents to send a message to all misconceptions and the people who stereotype and label the Regent Park Community.

Thank you Isaac Mbikay, Fatima Animer, Shebah Dominique Toussaint and Mustafa Ahmed for participating.

Lupe Fiasco at York University for a Show

  

Every year the York University Campus Life team and York Federation of Students hold a concert for students. Last year they were able to bring rapper Nas who called in sick for the original date but luckily rescheduled for the disappointed students. In 2012, for frosh week, they brought out thought provoking American rapper, Lupe Fiasco. Speaking of Nas, it was rapper Nas’ ‘It Was Written Album’ that made Lupe gain an interest in liking rap music. Lupe was not a fan of hip hop music because of the explicit language and profanity. Nevertheless, when Lupe started rapping he did lead the path that he didn’t want to go to. He became a hypocrite rapping about cocaine, guns and degrading women in his gangster influenced rap group, ‘Da Pak’ at the age of 19. He soon realized he wanted to take his passion for rap in a different direction. As noted as one of the pioneers of the conscious hip hop movement, Lupe now focused his music to be more aware of the social issues in our society and around the world. In his first album ‘Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor’, Lupe raps about terrorism, religion, war, poverty, prostitution and even parents. These are topics that will draw in diverse age groups including, youth. His aim is to educate people with his attentive lyrics in his music. Lupe also contributes charities to promote awareness. He has spread awareness with the disastrous Haiti Earthquake, donated tents to protesters for Occupy Wall Street and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa with other celebrities to spread awareness about the billions of people worldwide who sadly lack access to clean drinking water. The Grammy Award winning rapper has proven to not just fall into one genre, he loves jazz, blues and even rock music. He has numerous side projects including, ‘Japanese Cartoon'. 

The York University crowd loved Lupe Fiasco at the 2012 York Fest. He even performed my favorite song, ‘Superstar’. One of my favorite videos by Lupe Fiasco is ‘Bitch Bad’. Now, I work around a lot of young kids and notice that they watch music videos that are inappropriate. They want to be older than their age and are easily influenced by female artists who are sexually provocative in the lyrics in their music and music videos. As someone who wrote plays when he was younger, Lupe used his skills in theatre to carry out in his music videos. I really enjoyed the message he set out in the ‘Bitch Bad’ video.

When I spoke to York University Vice-President Robert Cerjanec, he told me that it was hard to get artists to come play music for the students. It takes a lot of hard work and convincing. He even told me that some Canadian artists ask for way too much money to perform. Now that is disappointing. Canadian artists should support students. President and official spokesperson for the York Federation of Students Vanessa Hunt told me that you have to balance university life and she wants to welcome students to the York University student life. Vice-President of Campus Life Jessica Thyriar, who coordinates York Federation of Students events, was super excited to have Lupe Fiasco perform at her school because she is a super fan. Well Jessica, you will be happy to know that at the 2013 Grammy Awards red carpet special, Lupe stated the he will release his 5^th studio album called, “Tetsuo & Youth.”

Thank you York University for having me at York Fest. I had a blast!

Click on this link to see a bit of Lupe Fiasco performing at York Fest 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YWtmzhIW_s&list=UU8sbqnKmIE08gqksjvBdcgQ&index=4