Although he's Bristol-born and has lived in Toronto in the past, Keita Juma identifies as a child of Mississauga before either, and last night it wasn't hard to see why. If you believed the response to the roll call, there was a faithful contingent that followed him from the suburbs into the city to see him play, and it wasn't long before he had a new room of fans converted.
Juma is probably used to this phenomenon by now. Abstaining from mainstream benchmarks, his abstract, existential lyrics and voraciously informed, often self-committed productions make for frequently cerebral nocturnal hip-hop, and his experimentalism within the genre has earned him plenty of spots as the only hip-hop act on diverse Toronto lineups — always to positive effect.
Serving up cuts from his Chaos Theory EP and the Nights In Space A Short Film album he released this past November, Juma had the room at the Garrison bouncing at his every command to tracks like "Grill$" and "Freely," and by the time he closed with his Brendan Philip joint "Come Over," the rhythms had permeated the room such that there wasn't an unlubricated soul in the joint.
Juma is probably used to this phenomenon by now. Abstaining from mainstream benchmarks, his abstract, existential lyrics and voraciously informed, often self-committed productions make for frequently cerebral nocturnal hip-hop, and his experimentalism within the genre has earned him plenty of spots as the only hip-hop act on diverse Toronto lineups — always to positive effect.
Serving up cuts from his Chaos Theory EP and the Nights In Space A Short Film album he released this past November, Juma had the room at the Garrison bouncing at his every command to tracks like "Grill$" and "Freely," and by the time he closed with his Brendan Philip joint "Come Over," the rhythms had permeated the room such that there wasn't an unlubricated soul in the joint.