Drake

AudioPodcast

Panelists David DesBaillets and Stacy Drake discuss the 2015 Canadian Federal Election, nightlife gun violence in Toronto like the shooting at the afterparty for Drake’s OVO Fest and a rundown of stories since our last podcast in the Old News segment. Plus the Community Calendar.

Host: Jason C. McLean
Producer: Hannah Besseau

Panelists

David DesBaillets: Freelance writer, legal academic, former political operative, former FTB contributor and occasional contributor at Loonie Politics

Stacy Drake: FTB culture and entertainment contributor

You can still vote in our Federal Election Poll

FTB PODCAST #10: Election, Nightlife Violence in Toronto and Old News by Forget The Box on Mixcloud

Microphone image: Ernest Duffoo / Flickr Creative Commons

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It’s no surprise that I am a huge fan of Toronto rapper Drake. It all started back in 2010, when I first heard his hit Find Your Love on the radio. His voice and the lyrics of that song got me hooked. Then I saw the video and that’s when my love for this artist really began.

So far, I’ve purchased three of his albums, I’ve seen him twice in concert and my playlist is full of his latest (and older) hits, including several collaborations. One event I haven’t attended yet is his OVO (October’s Very Own) festival that is held every year in Toronto. I wasn’t lucky enough to get tickets to the festival this year, but I did end up purchasing tickets to his after party for Monday August the 3rd at Muzik Nightclub in Toronto.

The OVO Festival is a concert hosted by Drake which began back in 2009 and has been a success ever since. The three day festival is known for the special guests that the rapper brings to Toronto and this year, like every other, he did not disappoint. His featured artists were none other than Future, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

On the night of the after party, I decided to meet up with my friend at the club around 11pm. Obviously there was a line up and security was tight. According to the venue’s website, there were 73 security guards on duty that night, where they conducted body searches, checked all of the girls purses and used metal-detecting wands.

I met up with my friend inside and we grabbed a spot, ordered a couple of drinks and enjoyed ourselves while waiting for Drake to make an appearance. At around 2:45 am, he finally came on stage, said a few words, thanked his fans and then called it a night.

As people started leaving, the DJ kept playing music and I was determined to stay so I can at least catch a glimpse of my favorite artist. About half an hour later, my friend was tired and wanted to head back. I insisted we stay but he didn’t want to, so we both left the venue at 3:15am.

The next morning, I received two text messages from two of my friends asking if I was alright. I wasn’t sure why they were asking until they told me what had happened. I immediately logged on the internet and saw the news for myself.

A shooting took place at the club at around 3:20am that left two dead and three injured. My jaw dropped as I was reading the article. I couldn’t believe it! I kept thinking, had I stayed at the club….

Neither Drake or his representatives have yet to comment about the incident and Toronto Police are asking for the Toronto native’s help. Meanwhile some of his fans have criticized the rapper for not talking about the shooting.

Personally, I think he should at least send his condolences to the victims’ families. As for the tragedy, it would be great to see him talk about putting an end to gun violence, but other than that, he had nothing to do with the shooting.

CultureCulture

Hash tags, trending topics and random tweets, they all have one thing in common; they can all be found on Twitter, one of the biggest social media services out there. As an avid Twitter user myself, I can honestly say that I prefer expressing my opinion about a topic by tweeting, than writing about it on Facebook.

Apparently, I’m not the only one; stars tend to tweet on a regular basis too. Just this week, Twitter exploded with the #CelebrityFeuds, which was THE trending topic of the week!

Trending topics can vary from the latest news in politics to what color the Kardashian sisters dyed their hair this week (Oh! The suspense is killing me!). But the most talked about story that is still making headlines has got to be the Meek Mill/Drake fiasco.

So, rapper Meek Mill decides to go off on Twitter and diss Drake by saying he doesn’t write his own lyrics, that he has a ghostwriter. In response to that, Drake, like the classy man that he is, decides to drop a song, titled Charged Up. “All ya’ll stare in my face in hopes you could be the replacement,” Drake raps on the song, which has been on repeat ever since I heard it!

But the rants don’t end there; Mill’s girlfriend, Nicki Minaj, also decided to speak her mind over MTV snubbing her video Anaconda for this year’s Video Music Awards. The artist tweeted that if she were a different kind of artist and if her video included slim-looking model type girls, then her video would be nominated for Video of the Year.

She didn’t mention any names, but it seemed as if Taylor Swift was the target of that comment and her nominated video for Bad Blood, which does include women with a very slim figure. The two exchanged tweets but the feud ended quickly when Nicki appeared on Good Morning America and addressed the issue.

I don’t think celebrity feuds will ever end because let’s face it, who doesn’t like a little controversy. The more people talk, the more exposure they get. So do they really do this to get revenge or is it more of a publicity stunt?

ArtsCultureEntertainmentMusic

How is it that every time I want to check my Instagram and Facebook account, there is not one day that I don’t come across a Kanye West and Kim Kardashian article (a.k.a Kimye). Sure, Kanye is a rapper, a songwriter and a record producer; or as he calls himself a ‘creative genius’ (seriously?). But let’s be honest, he isn’t the greatest artist out there; and he certainly wouldn’t be the first person to come to mind when talking about performing at the closing ceremony of the Pan Am Games.

The Pan Am Games is a sporting event featuring summer sports where thousands of athletes participate in various competitions. Just like the Olympics, medals are handed out to the first, second and third place finishers. In addition, there is also an opening and a closing ceremony, which mark the beginning and ending of the event.

The games are currently being held in the City of Toronto and end this month on July 26. It was recently announced that Kanye West will be headlining the closing ceremonies, but not everyone is pleased with the latest news.

drake
Why not Drake instead?

Since news broke that Kanye will be performing, an online petition calling for the singer to be replaced has caused quite a buzz on social media. There are now close to 50 000 signatures, and supporters are asking for the committee to drop West and choose a local artist, perhaps Drake or The Weeknd, who represents the City of Toronto.

It would only make sense to have a Canadian artist close out the games! Also scheduled to perform at the event are Pitbull and Serena Ryder (at least ONE of them is Canadian, eh?).

I am quite happy that there is actually something that is being done about this; that people’s opinions are actually being heard. The Pan Am Games have proven to be important for Torontonians and what better way to end them by featuring some homegrown talent. If you would like to take part and sign the petition, you can at change.org.

* Featured image from olympic.ca