“Manifesto was born out of the meeting of a small group of people in Toronto who were young event presenters and concert promoters, many of whom were artists or creatives themselves. This group identified a major gap in high-level programming and festival opportunities for hip-hop and the urban arts and an overall lack of cohesive infrastructure for this community in Toronto and the GTA. The original concept was the gathering of many people operating independently to produce a festival that represented the community as a whole,” explains one of the co-founders Jesse Ohtake.

Over a decade of existence, the organization has grown into a multi-disciplinary, world-class festival with a positive social and economic impact. During the months between the annual festival, the Manifesto works towards empowering local communities by providing them with opportunities for artistic and professional development within the largest area of Toronto.

“Over the years Manifesto has continued to work with communities on a project-by-project basis, and the festival works to serve as wide a group of people as possible, based on our capacity and ability to do so as a non-profit organization” continues Ohtake.

“We’ve been able to establish many exciting partnerships with well-established organizations and companies in Toronto, including Harbourfront Centre, Luminato, NXNE, The AGO, The ROM, Massey Hall – Roy Thompson Hall, TD Toronto Jazz Festival, Canadian Music Week, and more. These opportunities have allowed us to bring our artist community in front of thousands of new audience members through collaborative presentations.”

“Our overarching goal is to unite, inspire, and empower diverse communities of young people through arts and culture. We strive to build careers, foster community connections, and fuel civic pride all while contributing to the vitality of the city we love,” explains Ohtake. That strive and passion is continuously illustrated through Manifesto’s actions – this year the anniversary festival featured big shots such as Anderson Paak, Rich Kidd, Kaytranada, and more through a multitude of city venues and free concerts at Yonge and Dundas Square.

Manifesto’s support (though not exclusively) contributed to the success of artists such as Shad, EGR, Tanika Charles, Jimmy Chiale, Rich Kidd, Fiya Bruxa, Zaki Ibrahim, Pluto, Sara Golish, a l l i e, and Son Real.

When asked about his favorite success story, Ohtake went on to talk about the 9th Wonder festival edition, the one that made them top of mind for many Torontonians and artists alike. “The Legendary Live Mixtape features almost every legendary Canadian hip-hop act in a single set. Young breakout artists Jhene Aiko and Raury making their Canadian debuts in Toronto, and likely the biggest shows of their career at that point in time at Manifesto. Raekwon and The Beatnuts jumped on stage as unannounced guests at Yonge-Dundas Square. Souls of Mischief shouting out Manifesto during their set as a comparable festival to Hiero Day in Oakland – quite the honour.”

Despite their success the organization remains humble: “Over the past 5 years, there have emerged numerous community organizations who have been able to carry the torch in some areas where Manifesto’s capacity became stretched. Groups like UNITY, R.I.S.E., Spoke N Heard, Kapisanan, Culture Shock, and others have emerged and been able to provide niche communities with services and programming that Manifesto always saw potential for in the past, but may not have been able to execute ourselves” points out Ohtake.

All images courtesy of Manifesto

The post Manifesto is on a mission to give voices to the hip hop community appeared first on Quip Magazine.

These are times when dramatic shifts in technologies and economies are causing popular uprisings throughout our universal culture. The youth are becoming more politically and socially minded in ways society hasn’t seen in decades. Raury, and his debut album All We Need, represent the youth, the future, and the now.

Conversations about “aboutness” can become tedious without much effort, so to keep it short, All We Need is about coming of age and accepting responsibility, as well as pointing out the shared responsibilities we, as a society, need to acknowledge.

It’s an album that summarizes a history of aggression, mistakes, and wasted potential. It describes the current state of a nation, specifically that of the African-American millennial, and it outlines the general steps that need to be taken in order to course-correct the history that’s being made right now. All We Need is–mostly–a political album. Its ethos is social consciousness. Again, mostly.

Raury is not Rage Against the Machine, and his style is closer to Jack Johnson than KRS-One – sorry, dated references. Guessing that Raury’s influences are based off what his parents might have listened to when he was 10.

This album is decidedly mellow. It’s like he took all the angst and trepidation of being young and politically conscious, and expressed it as if it were Opposite Day at the recording studio. One’s head nods, but doesn’t bang. This is fitting, because while half of the album is socially responsible rap for kids to look up to, blah blah blah, the rest of it is romantic music, in the generalized sense. He has a song about going different ways with a friend, a song about how he loves his mom, a song about a special girl, etc.

Here’s a cynical read of the album that might smell a little like a conspiracy theory, but what if Raury isn’t the next Nas? What if all the talk of reclaiming dignity and being positive role models is part of a tactic used by the Music Industrial Complex to create the image of an acceptable rap star that can be easily marketed on several levels? “He’s political but he’s a lover with deep feelings, too,” and so on.

This is still just a theory, not a claim, but it does seem fishy that a 19-year-old has advanced sound recording techniques, backup singers, a nation-wide tour booked, and a full-length album of 14 masterfully crafted and relatively clean tracks that are all perfect radio-play length.

Thinly veiled insinuations aside, it’s hard to trust a musician who claims to be dispelling the evils of big corporations, but is signed with Sony.

This is a difficult album to listen through from start to finish. It has great songs, this is a fact, but trying to get from track one to track 14 feels more like work than pleasure. Maybe it’s the dreary, high-quality slowness; the over-infusion of a bleeding soul into every song; or the lack of a sharp edge. Maybe I’m wrong. Comparing the whole album to the singles, All We Need seems like it would be an incredible album, but regresses back to the mean.

The post High hopes for Raury’s “All We Need” appeared first on Quip Magazine.