When things throw off my emotions I can have trouble sleeping. When I need to wake up and do important stuff, it compounds and makes it worse. When I’m also excited about the reason to wake up, it’s a trifecta for insomnia.
So at like 4:45 AM I was out of bed on Wednesday. There’s a power outage with limited internet, so while I’m writing this the day after, who knows when it gets posted.
Either way, I had to sit there and feel through the dark thoughts on my mind to embrace the light of the day.
It turned out to be one incredible 24 hours before my head hit a pillow again. I had to get to the Enterprise rental place on St. Jacques to start the grind. Ya boy had money to make.
Sim simma who got the keys to my Beamer
I was anxious. So anxious I thought I lost my wallet and keys. I woke Bonnie up and stressed her, then it turned out they were in my pockets. Not my finest moment.
I did need my license though. Any bread to be made was contingent on me driving. The stress didn’t stop there. On my way to the Enterprise they call and tell me their only SUV isn’t ready.
I let them know I’m on the way, we’d deal with it when it I get there. We go through the available options when I arrive and turns out the only thing good enough was a BMW. I had never driven one before and all of a sudden the day got sunnier.
I wait a bit as they get the car ready. I knew I had to be at the hotel in Quebec City by noon. I was pulling off the lot at 8:45 AM or so. I was ahead of schedule and ready to go.
The car was running when I got in. Low key I did not know how to turn it off. I pulled up to get a coffee at one point and it took me like 3 solid minutes to find the engine button.
Good thing I did not have the guests in the car at that time. I be doing embarrassing stuff all over.
Quebec City is whelming AF
There was this one really nice bridge in Quebec City. Otherwise it’s kind of regular. I saw no collection of cool architecture and stuff. You drive through it and it’s like a lot of small town Quebec, only there’s a lot more houses.
I’m sure there are some nice, touristy spots. I’m sure there’s all kinds of cool stuff there. I did not see them.
I just found it whelming. It is a meets satisfaction standards without exceeding them vibe.
I wad also in Quebec City for all of 90 minutes. It is quaint and has charm. That bridge was cool. I was left whelmed.
I pulled up to the hotel and parked. I walked in and found a washroom. The drive down was a bit slow over the weather. I knew it may be a no bathroom breaks drive.
I did not know how bad the weather would get.
I was Smif-N-Wessun’s driver
Steele was downstairs waiting with all his gear when I did my bathroom run. I introduced myself and we started chopping it up as we went out to the car.
He seemed genuinely interested in the pickle campaign. He said he liked weird stuff like that. It meant a lot to hear that from him, I felt his sincerity.
He also really dug the Regulators hat I had on. It feels cool to be in a place where I can introduce my homie’s brand to a Hip Hop legend.
Inevitably Tek and Radimo (their tour manager and DJ) arrive. We pack up the car, pushing the trunk to it’s limits. Radimo clearly has Tetris skills.
Then we piled into the car. Before leaving for Montreal we had a stop to make.
Phil’s Smoked Meat makes a good sammy
I found out every time Smif-N-Wessun are in Quebec City they hit Phil’s Smoked Meat. I have been to Quebec City now twice in my life, Tek and Steele got a sandwich spot they recommend. I feel like I need to go to Quebec City more.
It was pretty dope to be able to share a meal with them. Both Steele and I took pics of our food and filmed a bit. We ate our food and it was pretty good.
I think Dunns is a much better Smoked Meat. But Phil holds it down.
Steele really impressed me. He spent a lot of his time during the day working on content. He literally posted a video of the smoked meat to his Instagram before the show.
I spend a lot of time trying to push the content game on people. Watching Steele put that much work into his videos was humbling. He has been in the game so long and just is down to create content to share his journey with his people.
That inspired me.
Driving legends through a blizzard
Tek hadn’t spoken much yet. I get the feeling Steele is the more talkative of the two of them.
The first time the car slipped a bit, a piercing “bumbaclat” came from behind me. Tek definitely reinforced the notion that my job was to drive these folk to Montreal safely.
At first it was all good leaving Quebec City. Then the snow came. There was happy fun fat snowflakes in the city. On the highway it was like a sea of white.
The roads were not good at all. It was 1 PM when we left the restaurant and I was forced to do 70 KM/HR. Low key there were several slippy slide moments.
I also knew we couldn’t stop. Shout out the BMW, I put 675 km on that thing on one tank of gas. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
I was very stressed driving at first. For a solid 20 minutes I was having a lot of wild thoughts. Finally we made it through the bad. The closer we got to Montreal the easier the driving got.
I got them to the hotel safe around 4 PM.
The time crunch begins
Once I drop them off I rush home to change. I was in the crib for all of 25 minutes before I was back on the road. The hotel was right by the SQDC on Drummond and I had not planned that side of my life appropriately.
I made my quick stop and was back at the hotel, 5 minutes later than planned. The next address, the supper restaurant, brings me to the Angrignon mall. Silly me never asked for the name, I just had an address.
We end up wandering around the mall as I realize I have no idea where we are going. Good Friday Man eventually finds us and guides us to the restaurant.
La Belle et La Bouef has a special menu. Everything looks fire and like you’ll need a big nap after. There is a 60$ burger with a fried Kit Kat inside, clearly designed for influencers and stoners.
We all stare at the menu, four of us, myself included, needing to perform in a couple of hours. We inevitably order and wait.
And wait we did.
Lasalle had just lost power. The number of orders to the restaurant spiked and the food just did not come. We inevitably got the food to go.
I never did get to eat that burger. I next ate at 4:00 AM, glad I got that smoked meat.
Pulling up at Le Belmont
We get to the venue about 7:45 PM. Sound check was at 7:00.
If you read my blog you know how much I’m all about punctuality for sound check. I was only hosting, I didn’t really need to sound check.
As long as the rest of the acts sound checked first, we were good. We pulled up and Smif-N-Wessun mingle around as the DJ tests his gear.
Arguably sound check is often checking your beats work. The live mixer man can adjust your volume before you finish your first line. Seen him do it at Belmont enough times.
So far, Tek and Steele are the first big acts I’ve seen congregate with us normies at sound check. Big respect ro them, I feel that added some energy to all of the openers.
Since I’m the host and need to be there when the event starts, Good Friday Man drove them back to the hotel. The artist can either wait downstairs at Belmont or at the hotel.
The hotel was pretty close to the venue, that was the clear choice.
Being a host is weird
The last time I hosted an event was in 2014 before
Piranha Bar told Hip Hop to fuck off. Apparently Maniks convinced them to let us rap there again, 9 years later.
Quick tangent, doing this on my phone is garbage. I’m writing this in spurts because it’s a pretty miserable vibe with no power.
Being a host is like being the lube in sex. Your job is to ensure all parties have pleasure.
I went out and did my hosting duties. It is harder than it looks to be honest. I did crack jokes and made the whole room laugh, I had brief flashes of what a comedy career feels like.
Hosting is work for real. You have to pay all the attention to make sure you are ready when each act is done. I prefer the artist role.
The show starts
DJ Blaster is back again in the story. He is one of the only DJs of his caliber giving the local old man English scene any love. Bless that man.
Rico Blox kicked off the show. He gave a solid performance going through his joints.
Rico is a wordsmith and displays his finesse when he drops his a cappella verse. Than does a joint with 104 bars on it, which the Smif-N-Wessun crowd enjoyed.
Chris Chrome came next. I was on his set so I’m biased but to me, Chris told an entire soap opera love story in 15 minutes. His music bridged together via his storytelling. It was a vibe to watch.
He deadass jumped into the crowd and danced on beat, without missing a bar. CC done made me super proud.
Will E. Skandalz was next. He came with his own DJ, Digital Fire, and did a whole ass intro. He ran through his set giving a dope performance.
Then Will E. called up every indigenous person in the room. His last track is “Mohawks on a Mission” which delivers a powerful message to us colonizers. It hits harder with his people on stage with him.
Sibling performances
Natasha Marie was the 4th opener that night. Full confession I missed half her set adding a new aroma to my sweaty vibe. Okay, more refreshing that smell.
Natasha brought her people in and put on a full show. You could see the crowd vibing to her presence. She comes off like a star on stage.
She also brought on Rozwel, who is her biological brother, to do a song. To me that was great to witness. I had no idea the moment her set ended so it was mad clumsy identifying when to grab the mic from her.
Then I brought out Smoking Ink. Only I really bought them time to get changed. Rozwel worked out a whole thing with the light guy. They were starting with a bang.
On some real shit, I love how my team makes the effort to be extra. Smoking Ink’s intro was fire. They dominated their performance.
I did stop paying attention at one point. Then I heard my name and saw the whole team on stage. I ran up clumsily and turned up, my team be the best and you know that we know it.
Introducing Smif-N-Wessun
I started to hype the crowd up for Smif-N-Wessun. The thing is I didn’t know how this works. I didn’t see Tek nor Steele. DJ mans is behind me, so I know they are in the building.
I talk and talk. I’m sweating and low key tripping. Some guy heckles me, I talk right back to him. Then the DJ, who I never thought to look at once ends my misery. Lets me know we’re good.
I get off stage. The beat plays and Steele comes out the crowd gets on and raps. Tek ducks into the corner at the side of the stage waiting for his cue.
Then Tek gets on stage too and they are off. I can tell you all one thing, my next set, I’m changing how we start things.
I’ve witnessed some greatness in action and now want to grow as a performer. It was an incredible start to a show.
Top 5 concert I have seen
You got to understand, I don’t know Smif-N-Wessun’s music like that. I did spend my drive to Quebec City bumping their albums as homework, but I’m not going to play superfan.
That being said I am now a big fan. That live show was great. Crowd interaction, great music and chemistry a la max. Their DJ even busted out a saxophone and I believe a flute to play live.
My favourite part is their homage to fallen artists. They played snippets of songs from everyone from Biz Markie to DMX. We were encouraged to sing along with them to celebrate their honour.
It felt like the coolest karaoke session od my life. Tek and Steele beaming as they sang along.
So many artists I know refuse to rap another man’s bars over ego. Smif-N-Wessun use their stage to give love like that. It was a fire intermission and the crowd loved it.
They finished their set and honestly it was incredible. I was awkwardly on stage as it ended to close up the show.
Meet and greet was a vibe
I was ordered to tell everyone without a meet and greet ticket to leave. I did just that.
I know how many people paid for one. Half the crowd did not leave. Tek and Steele did not care. They were down to mingle with fans.
Everyone who stayed got a pic. Pro tip, wait until you are actually kicked out. You don’t know what will happen if you act like you belong.
It was dope, the post show vibe was something I won’t forget. These men gave a big lesson on how to foster your fan base.
Plus everyone who came braved the storm. I had to assure them this weather was wild to me too. We were watching ice slabs fall off buildings when we pulled into Montreal, shout out the fans who came.
Driving Vince home
Good Friday Man was down to drive the crew back to the hotel. I got tasked with driving Vincent Pryce back to his crib.
Truth be told this blog never would have been written without Vince. He had been a source of big blessings in my life.
Appreciate those people for real.
We did have a small delay over a fallen tree. I was overtired and not down. Still got all the driving done and dropped the car off in the middle of the night.
Took about 30 minutes to walk home and the entire time I wad swirling with emotion.
To quote Ice Cube, today was a good day. Even though it was Wednesday and now it’s no electricity Friday.
Shame the follow up was no power.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone