Listen to The Weeknd – Echoes Of Silence Mixtape in FULL! (Album Stream)

The Weeknd – Echoes Of Silence by The_Weeknd

I’ve played this a couple times so far but I haven’t really given it my full, full attention. My first, snap judgment on this, as rendered on twitter last night when it was released, was that this was better than Thursday but not quite as good as the (now) monumental House of Balloons but that it sounded like Abel and crew had decided to pick up the tempo a little bit.

Not sure that opinion will hold up on subsequent listens but one thing I will say is that I agree with Anupa that him covering Michael Jackson‘s “Dirty Diana” for the opening track on this collection is kind of epic and inspired! It just feels right and really makes you realize how subversive a songwriter and artist Jackson could be even at his commercial peak as the biggest pop star in the world back in late 80’s.

But enough from me, what y’all think??

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[Event] Keys and Krates’ Jr. Flo is DJ-ing the North Star Xmas Party in Toronto on Dec. 15

Shout to the homie, Adrian on this one:

Its a Classic Canadian Christmas Party! The iconic 70s brand is back and wants to celebrate its first season in over 25 years with you!

Enjoy DJ Jr-Flo from Keys and Krates, Brendan Canning aka the Champ, live karaoke contest, food and drinks brought to you by our friends at Belvedere Vodka/Möet/Hennessy.

NORTH STAR XMAS PARTY

at

The Drake Hotel
1150 Queen Street West,
Toronto, ON M6J1J3

6:00pm until 10:30pm

Follow North Star Sportwear online – twitter | facebook | website

CLICK HERE for more details on the Facebook event page.

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This Wednesday in Toronto: Polaris Music Prize Record Salon #12 – the Hip-Hop Panel

At The Drake Hotel in Toronto:

Polaris jurors who love and cover hip-hop will gather for Polaris Record Salon #12, December 14 in Toronto. Your panelists are Ty Harper (City on My Back), Anupa Mistry (freelance journalist), Dave Morris (freelance journalist) and Thomas Quinlan (Urbnet), moderated by Spinner Canada’s Josh Ostroff. They will present their fave hip-hop recordings released so far this year eligible for 2012’s Polaris Prize. We’ll play some tracks plus discuss the state of the genre in Canada. Do they think Drake is a shoo-in or a shut-out? Come find out! As always, cool prizes from our sponsor ClairityOne Earbuds. And did we mention it’s free?!

Wednesday, December 14

Polaris Music Prize Record Salon #12: Hip-Hop Panel
Drake Underground
1150 Queen Street West,
Toronto, ON M6J1J3

FREE EVENT!!!

Doors at 7:30 (runs ’til 10:30pm)

If you claim to love Canadian hip-hop, want to help this country’s hip hop industry infrastructure grow and live in the GTA, you need to be at this!!!!

CLICK HERE for more details via the Facebook event page.

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Artists: Submit Your Application Now to Perform at NXNE 2012!

I am actually screening all the hip-hop submissions for NXNE 2012 so for those of you who see the value in performing at Canada’s equivalent to SXSW, a citywide music festival attended by over 300,000 people, get crackin’ now. Artists of all genres are, of course, welcome to submit applications but note: I’ll only be f-ckin’ with the applications tagged as being hip-hop genre submissions for NXNE.

CLICK HERE to learn how to submit.

[Event] TONIGHT in Toronto: aFRaKaRen at Love Jones Sundays Hosted by Ian Kamau

LOVE JONES SUNDAYS… Where Poetry Meets Soul

Hosted by Ian Kamau

Featuring Spoken Word performances by:

Tommy Hagos, Elmnt, Ms. Faith, Najla Edwards, AfraKaren, & Shoolie

Musical performances by…
Mario “The Voyce” & Angelique

MUSIC by DJ Soul Child

At Cayo Coco
304 Richmond St West (across from the Scotiabank Theater)
7:00 pm -12:00 am
Cost: $10

This is the very close friend of a very close friend and her music/poetry is tremendous. If you’re in the T.Dot WuDot and are into things more on the black bohemian, spoken word, urban progressive side of things creatively, you might could wanna go check this out tonight.

See flyer and details above or CLICK HERE for more information on the Facebook page for the weekly Love Jones Sunday event series.

Connect with aFRaKaRen online: Twitter | Facebook | Blog

Need additional convincing? Check out Ren‘s (what we know AFRaKaRen by) music (the excellent 11:11 EP produced by very slept-on local producer, Gigz ‘The Unknown Producer’) below: