In hip-hop right now, experts busy themselves with anointing the next big thing—Drake, J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T, your next-door neighbour. But what’s defined this generation of rappers so far is an absence of artistic integrity, from a hit-hungry B.O.B. to a characterless Wale. But Los Angeles’s Blu, whose 2007 Below the Heavens caused hype to […]
Adrian Lee
Posted inArts + Music
Laura Marling
Too often, people hyperbolize, misusing the phrase “mature beyond their years”. But Laura Marling is what that idiom, distilled, sounds like: at 18, she released Alas I Cannot Swim, 12 pitch-perfect songs of true love lost. Now, wizened (relatively speaking) at 21, her third album A Creature I Don’t Know finds a more assertive voice […]
Posted inArts + Music
J. Cole
If hype’s habits held, J. Cole’s career should’ve been over before it even began. He was the first artist to sign to Jay-Z’s label, and when he declared Nas was a personal hero, hip-hop heads started dreaming of a modern Illmatic—rap’s most explosive debut. Cole World: The Sideline Story isn’t that. Instead, it’s “only” satisfying and supremely […]
Posted inArts + Music
Next big thing
Halifax’s rich and diverse arts community makes it a logical host to the downright kaleidoscopic Sobey Art Award, one of Canada’s most prestigious contemporary art prizes. The shortlist features six artists under the age of 40 from five different regions, and until January, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia will show an exhibit of their […]
Posted inArts + Music
Pinecones home to seed
We see the pinecone, science tells us, in seasons of change. And over the last five years, The Pinecones— the pop band formed in Halifax but now based in Toronto—have changed, too. They’ve got a new home, a new name (formerly Brent Randall & His Pinecones), and even a new band (it’s on its third […]
Posted inArts + Music
Teenburger
In many ways, Burgertime—by the Teenburger trio of Ontario rapper Timbuktu and Halifax’s Ghettosocks and DJ Jorun Bombay—is the aural, moral opposite of Watch the Throne, the Kanye and Jay-Z collaboration. Watch the Throne is meticulous luxury rap over airlessly handpicked samples; Burgertime is three friends hanging out and delivering freewheeling wordplay about arriving late […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The dark side of Halifax
If you’re a new student, you’ve probably been told at every turn about how great this city is—that Halifax is so much more than the quaint hamlet overrun with lobsters that your friends back home warned you about. There’s a lot to enjoy here, from pastel north end neighbourhoods, postcard harbour views, a hearty community […]
Posted inArts + Music
Teenburger serves up Burgertime this week
It’s game day at Ridgemont High School. The campus buzzes as jacketed jocks hit on leggy cheerleaders; severe history teachers patrol the halls as stoners slink around the bleachers. But just when you’re getting settled in for a throwback coming-of-age classic, a funk bassline and turntable scratches twist up the familiar scene. This is the […]
Posted inArts + Music
ROYCE DA 5’9”
History is littered with average albums trying to recapture an artist’s prime. Hip-hop fans don’t have to look far for recent examples, from Jay-Z’s drowsy Blueprint 3 to Wale’s embarrassing More About Nothing mixtape. But Royce Da 5’9” feels a little different. Although he’s in a different place, he’s got the same feral hunger. The production is glossier and the […]