Slakah does it again. From the Other Side Of Tomorrow project.

As promised, R&B revolutionary Abel Tesfaye, aka the Weeknd, and his OVO XO team drop Echoes of Silence in autumn 2011, the last day of the fall season to be exact. Much like the previous effortThursday, his website servers ending up crashing due to the overwhelming audience demand to hear how the mixtape trilogy wraps up. Destined to be a fixture on many year-end lists, it’s a given that by now, you’re either down with Tesfaye’s plaintive falsetto or you’re not.

The Echoes of Silence mood remains shadowy, the lyrics unnerving and the production austere. If you’ve heard some of his pre-Weeknd efforts, you know that the 21-year-old appreciates him some Michael Jackson so the opening rendition of “Dirty Diana” doesn’t seem out of place. In fact, “D.D.” is a perfect cover in that it fits in with Tesfaye’s vibe and is arguably sung with more sincerity that MJ ever could have mustered. The bilingual, cathedral sound of “Montreal” is one of his brightest sounding efforts, “Outside” sounds like a lost House of Balloons cut while “Next” goes in on the meta tip: “You just

want me cuz I’m next.” Title track “Echoes of Silence” is representative of the entire musical oeuvre that Tesfaye’s presented all year: a boundary-pushing, genre-bending and progressive R&B sound that’s already transcended the typical “Canadian urban” sound and captured widespread attention. With rumblings of the Weeknd heading out on tour with Drake in 2012 and “not outside the realm of possibility” appearances on respective 2012 SXSW and Coachella line-ups, the Weeknd is on the rise — press/media and major record label rebuffs notwithstanding. Once the dust settles, however, music history will note that last March’s House of Balloons was the strongest effort out of all the three mixtapes the Weeknd released this year.

Make no mistake however: this was Tesfaye’s year and Echoes of Silence puts an enjoyable cap on a successful 2011 campaign. - Ryan B. Patrick (Originally published online at Exclaim! Magazine!)

It was a good year for rapper (and most recently singer-songwriter) Phonte Coleman. This long-term partnership with producer Nicolay and hip-hop/soul band the Foreign Exchange has been paying Grammy-nominated type dividends, any lingering beef with ex-Little Brother alum 9th Wonder has been finally squashed (as seen via various new collaborations), and the North Carolina native finally found time to drop his first solo effort with the satisfying Charity Starts at Home.

The seasoned vet delivers his grown man music approach to hip-hop with unabashed panache and swagger ― proving once and for all that rap can adapt to maturing tastes and outlooks on life.

In a transformative year where young bloods like Drake look to refine the genre, Phonte stays in his underground line and shows ― when it comes to beats, lyrics and originality ― why he continues to be a highly respected MC.

As an obvious year-end candidate, heads should seriously consider savouring this project; with all his other musical pursuits and ventures, who knows when and if Phonte will drop other such effort.

With Charity Starts at Home, Phonte shoots for that coveted classic status and time will tell if his aim was true. - Ryan B. Patrick

Originally published at Exclaim.ca – Top Hip-Hop Albums of 2011

By Ryan B. Patrick

Despite the growing presence of African-Canadian players in the world of professional hockey—Jarome Iginla, Wayne Simmonds and PK Subban, to name a few—Canada’s national pastime is still largely considered a “white man’s sport.”

But many Canadians don’t realize that trademarks associated with the National Hockey League (NHL) such as the goalie butterfly playing style, the slap shot (which is largely credited to white player Frank Cook but was actually first taken by African-Canadian Eddie Martin), and more offensive-minded play, were all innovations introduced by African-Canadians in the early 1900s.

More specifically, it was players of the Halifax-based Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes in the 1920s who brought forth many of the game-changers. The league featured more than a dozen teams and 400 players from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Despite hardships and prejudice, this league—comprised of the sons and grandsons of runaway American slaves—would survive until the mid-1920s.

Sadly, the storied tradition of Black Canadian hockey players is as faded as the historical record itself, and white players of the era have often overshadowed these players’ memories and contributions, say Canadian historians and documentary filmmakers George and Darril Fosty. In 2007, the Fosty brothers released Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925. Based on extensive, painstaking research, the book uncovers the hidden history of hockey in Canada.

The roots of early Canadian hockey, note the Fosty brothers, originate with the North American Natives while the modern day game has many Black influences. But because ice hockey’s story has been based almost solely on the historical records maintained by early white historians, the brothers say, the contributions and innovations that Black Canadians made to the game have been forgotten, deliberately destroyed or conveniently ignored.

“When we released our book, we were immediately attacked by traditionalists,” says George. “Critics tried to disprove it by looking for anything that would question our research, but they actually enhanced some of our storylines by adding additional references. I don’t know that we’ll recover all of it but there were in fact at least 42 hockey teams that existed in the 1890s to 1930s that were all Black, that we know of. We still only have about 30 per cent of the story at this point. But that 30 per cent is so amazing and makes you wonder where the rest of it is.”

And despite today’s increased presence of African-Canadian and African-American players, the specter of racism still looms. Most recently, it surfaced this past September when Philadelphia Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds was taunted with a banana thrown by a fan in a preseason game. There is also a gap, say the brothers, in promoting hockey to Black Canadians.

“There’s been a poor marketing job by professional hockey in making today’s game relevant to African-Canadians, culturally,” says George’s brother Darril. “When white Canadians had hockey heroes like Guy Lafleur, who were easily recognizable as sports heroes, for Blacks there wasn’t the same thing.”

(Originally published in the December 2012 (Winter) issue of Sway Magazine)

“Nostalgic. It’s a longing for the past. That’s what this record felt like,” says singer-songwriter Frank Ocean of a mixtape that snuck up on many in 2011. Fearless best describes the 14-track mixtape and, ultimately, the artist himself. His loose affiliation with the now-notorious hip-hop collective OFWGKTA (Odd Future) notwithstanding, his raw and laid-back approach to music shocked many ears to attention.

Owing just as much to Coldplay and the Eagles as it does to Otis Redding and R. Kelly, Nostalgia, Ultra smashes pre-conceived notions of what R&B should be in modern times. Downbeat slow jams, kinetic dance grooves and inferences to casual drug use draw comparisons to another avant-R&B crooner the Weeknd, but it’s somewhat unfair to realistically state that their musical approach is the same.

What Frank Ocean does manage to accomplish is further prove that contemporary soul is undergoing somewhat of an identity crisis, where the lines of what is R&B have been blurred for so long that seemingly anything goes. If anything, Nostalgia, Ultra is a signpost for where soul music may be headed for a while ― dark, moody, borderline nihilistic ― but at its heart it’s still ultimately about love and all the jacked up feelings and experiences that stem from it.

Via his impressive ear for beats, layered lyrics and sophisticated production skills, Ocean sets himself as a powerful voice to watch in the coming years.- Ryan B. Patrick

Originally published at Exclaim.ca – Top Soul and R&B Albums of 2011

“On an unseasonably warm Sunday evening in November, local Toronto radio station Flow 93.5 FM has scored somewhat of a coup ― an exclusive live in-studio with Toronto’s own Aubrey Drake Graham as he pushes his new album, the soon to be platinum selling sophomore effort Take Care. It’s more love-in than actual interview ― Drizzy is gracious but humble to a fault as he gives props to touring DJ Future the Prince, shouts out crew members (of his massive creative team titled October’s Very Own or OVO XO) such as producer/engineer Noah “40″ Shebib, and casually dials up fellow Young Money mate and hip-hop heavyweight Lil Wayne. Surprisingly, Drake also calls up one Abel Tesfaye, aka the Weeknd, who is featured on five Take Care cuts.”

Head on over to read my Exclaim! Magazine cover story on the enigmatic Abel Tesfaye, also known as The Weeknd. Despite getting ZERO response from the XO camp, it turned out pretty well methinks.

It’s undoubtedly been a huge year for the Toronto-based Tesfaye. On the mixtape front, House of Balloons was a big record. Didn’t vibe to Thursday the same way but it was cool. Many industry peeps in the city are pulling for him (and for the urban music takeover movement the OVO XO crew seem to be building). The Weeknd is an intriguing artist for sure; 2012 seems to be his breakout year.

Now there’s that Echoes of Silence at?

Even during an 8 a.m. call, Richard Yearwood’s energy seems boundless as he cracks jokes and generally exhibits the warm, charismatic personality that’s carried him as a successful Black actor in Canada.

It’s a verve that’s working for Yearwood (currently seen as the “Ligerian” spy Benjamin N’udu on CBC’s InSecurity  tv sitcom)and stoked an enduring career spanning more than three decades of film, television, theatre and voice-over work.

“When I first started out, there were hardly any leading roles for people of colour in Canada,” he says. “You almost had to resign yourself to guest spots or playing the best friend of the main character. Flash forward to today and there’s so many opportunities for people of colour in series’ leads. It’s amazing, and night and day from when I started.”

Check out my full article on actor/producer Richard Yearwood (CBC’s InSecurity) over at Sway Magazine.

Well here’s the official video for The Knowing. Hmm, interesting. And you can expect nothing less, knowing Weeknd’s enigmatic steez. Directed by Mikael Colombu, who shaped a similar artistic vibe for Bilal’s Robots last year.

As for the Weeknd, the countdown is on for the release of Echoes of Silence to wrap up the House of Balloons mixtape trilogy.

Whoa. Who made Common mad?

Fire. From the anticipated The Dreamer, The Believer due out soon.