TheMeaningOfDope

Back in ‘94, I was a 13 year old shorty splitting TTC bus tickets in half and taping them to dimes so they wouldn’t flip when I dropped them in the pay slot to get on the train. Living in the west end you never really saw a lot of dope writers. The Source was your source for what was poppin’ in the graffiti world unless you were spending most of your time downtown, in which case you started to get familiar with who was nice with it and who was just around for a few months bombing here and there.

There was a spot on Queen Street back in the day, just west of Aritzia and east of the Black Bull called, Number 6. The shop, run by Matt Robinson and Lena Kim was later relocated and renamed, “Delphic”, but even back then had some dope shit, including the first version of Style Wars on video that I had ever seen. This issue of Xylene magazine is something that I cherished growing up, as it gave some promise that there were dudes on the west coast of Canada just as hype about this Hip-Hop shit as I was, (big up Figure IV and the Rascalz crew, once again).

There was probably a whole shit load of hot shit in that spot that I was too young to even fathom, and for all I can remember this was the only thing I could probably afford. But I’m telling ya’ll, that Sunglass Hut that replaces that old shop ain’t got shit on what it used to be.

The inside cover was tagged a year later by Toronto Legend, Duro The Third.

Is that a bowl of sliced apples? A stuffed panda? A high heel phone? A portrait of himself?

Big Daddy Kane’s swag in this video>every Bad Boy video ever

This is another 2 part clip from Slammin’ The Rap Video Magazine hosted by my boy and your boy, Alex Winters who in some strange twist of fate missed this interview as well. How ironic and comical!

Basically, they turned the camera off and Kane’s “secretary” gave him dome and a pedicure. That’s how he was livin’. Pimpin’ ain’t easy indeed.

How many times have you seen “Allah U Akbar” live? For me, it was never, until I saw this video.

Decked out in army fatigues, the puba-less Brand Nubian tear up the stage. The best crowd reaction is when they drop the unedited and highly controversial “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down”.