Manifesto 2011 ~ Live at the Square

The Manifesto Festival in Toronto celebrated its 5th year in existence. It’s a festival that celebrates hip hop community and culture. It last for about a week or so filled with some competitions, film, seminars and all types of love shows. Every year it ends with a big bang by having a free all day outdoor concert on its last day. I didn’t go last year which had Jay Electronica and Black Thought as headliners but I’ve been to the ones previous and it is a great time. This year’s headliners at the concert called Live at the Square, included Phonte & 9th Wonder and Kid Capri & Rakim. This show marked the first time Phonte & 9th Wonder performing onstage together in years so I was really hyped about that. Other artists to grace the stage included The First Look Cypher which included Jelly Church Chizzle, Jelly Too Fly, Element, Fresco P and pHoenix Pagliacci, Michee Mee, Stalley and JD Era who brought on Wu Tang’s Raekwon as a surprise guest. The crowd went crazy when he came onstage! Hell, I’m still trippin at the fact that I was able to dap him up! Lol!

Throughout Dundas Square the concert’s location there were different tents where you check out and buy items from various local merchants including clothing from local designers. There was also a huge wall on one side of the square where you can watch some really talented graffiti artists do their thing. All in all, it was an amazing experience. The show was….GREAT, for lack of a better word! It’s so wonderful to see a HUGE amount of people get together all for the love of hip hop.I filmed some video of The First Look Cypher and 9th Wonder & Phonte to share with y’all. When I got home, I realized my camera settings weren’t where they were supposed to be so it’s not the quality that you may be used to from me. I was really upset about that.

The First Look Cypher Part 1

I was so happy to see my girl, pHoenix Pagliacci on stage. It was my first time seeing her perform and she did an awesome job. I also love the freestyle she kicked in the 2nd vid I took!! Her album, Books, Bucks & Beats comes out 11/11/11 and I'm sooo looking forward to it!

The First Look Cypher Part 2

Here’s a shot of 9th Wonder &Phonte with their new albums, The Wonder Years & Charity Starts At Home. The official release date was September 27th but they brought a bunch of copies to sell and sign for the folks in Toronto.

Seeing them perform together was pretty epic. Knowing that they hadn’t been on speaking terms for so long and reconciling earlier this year, it was crazy that Manifesto brought them up for the first performance in about 6 years. It was quite fitting that 9th walked out onto the stage to the Star Wars theme. For those who may not know, he is a HUGE Stars Wars fan. When he called out Phonte, the crowd lost their minds.

Intro/Dance In The Reign (Not sure why this came out blurry...sorry folks...
Filmed by The Sol Kidd)


Everything Is Falling Down

They even performed some Little Brother classics like Speed, The Way You Do It and Raw Life from The Foreign Exchange’s CD, Connected. And of course, what is a Phonte performance without a freestyle?

Little Brother Medley/Phonte Freestyle


Raw Life

Phonte’s new tracks from his album Charity Starts At Home were received well by the crowd and just before 9th Wonder spun some classic hip hop tracks for the people in the square, they ended their set with Lovin’ It.

Not Here Anymore


Lovin' It