It's been nearly two decades since referential '90s-era rap duo Smif-N-Wessun dropped their seminal debut Dah Shinin, and for a few brief moments the Brooklyn representatives took fans back to those golden days during their Sunday evening set in front of a packed Yonge Dundas Square. Looking out into a sea of moderate head nods and sporadic hand waves, the talkative duo ran through early gems like "Let's Get It On" and "Stand Strong" from that classic first album, often working other artists' hits in as intros, as they did with "Anti Up" into "Bucktown."
Electing to focus as much time on crowd interaction as they did in actually running through their own songs, Tek and Steele took one particular side trip to run down of memorial cuts from fallen rap legends, and another through a short string of dancehall bombs by Barrington Levy and Damien Marley as a lead into fan favourite "Sound Bwoy Buriell." The two gracious and easy-going MCs took a later moment to call Tek's nephew up onto stage for a quick picture, with Steele singing Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love Of All" for a bit of comic relief before dropping two more tunes to close out the set. Despite it's many starts and stops, the Boot Camp affiliates put on a decent showing and made for a fitting nostalgic addition to the day's new-meets-old theme.
Electing to focus as much time on crowd interaction as they did in actually running through their own songs, Tek and Steele took one particular side trip to run down of memorial cuts from fallen rap legends, and another through a short string of dancehall bombs by Barrington Levy and Damien Marley as a lead into fan favourite "Sound Bwoy Buriell." The two gracious and easy-going MCs took a later moment to call Tek's nephew up onto stage for a quick picture, with Steele singing Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love Of All" for a bit of comic relief before dropping two more tunes to close out the set. Despite it's many starts and stops, the Boot Camp affiliates put on a decent showing and made for a fitting nostalgic addition to the day's new-meets-old theme.
