[CONTEST] Win Tickets to See Absolutely Free & Keita Juma at X Avant X in Toronto Oct. 18

If your read the Kitchen regularly, you already know who Keita Juma is. If you’re not familiar with Toronto’s experimental pop trio, Absolutely Free though, think a slightly darker, more leftfield take on Toro Y Moi‘s music and that’ll give you somewhat of a sense of their sound.

The bottom line though, we are giving away one pair of tickets to see both live at the Music Gallery this Sunday (Oct. 18) as part of the X Avant X festival so you’d be out of your mind not to try and win them. We’ll make this pretty simple:

1. Follow me on twitter at @Stellaskid (necessary so I can DM you in the event that you win)

2. Tweet the following message exactly: “Hey @Stellaskid: I wanna win tickets to see @FreeAbsolutely & @kjforshort at @musicgalleryTO in Toronto on Oct. 18” (note: no quotation marks needed, just the message inside the quotation marks is fine)

Simply RT-ing any tweets I do promoting this contest does NOT enter you to win. The contest will close at 6PM EST on Saturday (Oct. 17). The winner will be notified via twitter DM. Winner will also be responsible for their own transportation to the show.

For more info on the show, CLICK HERE: website | Facebook

(Thank you to David Dacks and the Music Gallery for helping to facilitate this contest with free tickets.)

[Article] ICYMI: 10 Canadian Artists You Need To Know Besides Drake…

ICYMI, last week I wrote a piece for BBC 1Xtra‘s DJ Semtex‘s new A Nation of Billions site on the Canadian hip-hop scene. Here’s a quick taste:

It’s been a busy past few months for Drake. A couple weeks back, he rode to the top of the Billboard album charts yet again with, What A Time To Be Alive, his quickie collab mixtape album with ATL autotune auteur, Future. And before that he spent the summer leaving Meek Mill’s career in ruins after the Philly rapper’s ill-advised attempt to call him out on his MC bona fides. Both things solidified for all but the most stubborn haters that, at this point in the game, his position as the biggest rapper on the planet is pretty much undisputed.

[Yet] for all of Drake’s success and influence though, none of these new artists has been able to ride the wave his success has set off and become the next breakout star, yet! But even as the Canadian music industry largely ignores this scene for reasons that have been critiqued, many in this next wave aren’t waiting for major label anointment and instead are taking a more DIY, entrepreneurial approach to building their careers leveraging the power of social media and the internet to develop their brand and grow their fan base. One article can’t really do justice to everything happening here even if it only focused on Toronto, let alone the whole country, but here’s 10 other artists worth keeping your eyes and ears on…

CLICK HERE to read the full article. And to hear an audio playlist of the artists featured in the piece, click the Rdio player below:

[MP3] Listen to Two Tracks from Wasiu: This Is Ain’t Toronto / Texaz Feat. Trae the Truth

Glad I wrote that “10 Canadian Artists You Need To Know Besides Drake…” article for DJ Semtex‘s A Nation of Billions site because all my people are coming out of the woodwork to set me straight on acts I missed. Most notably my homegirls, Olivia from Pop Montreal and Michelle from Audible Treats both of whom pulled my collar on my (I admit) far too GTA-centric list and to let me know about Wasiu from the MTL (Montreal). Yes, this ain’t Toronto indeed! Dig these two tracks (and really, I cannot be mad at any Canadian cat who gets Trae the Truth on a track and nether should you!)? Then listen to his entire MTLiens EP HERE.

[MP3 + Music Video] Listen to Two Recent Tracks from Montreal’s The Posterz

FYI: in case you missed it, I just wrote an article on the Canadian hip-hop scene called “10 Canadian Artists You Need To Know Besides Drake…” for the homie, DJ Semtex‘s new A Nation of Billions site. Here’s two recent tracks from Montreal’s The Posterz who are one of the 10 acts featured in the article. Check it out and let me know what you think: did I miss anyone you thought should have made the cut?

[MP3] Grandtheft – Quit This City Feat. Lowell

The homie, Grandtheft has been blowing up over the past couple years. This track, the title track from his forthcoming Quit This City EP on Mad Decent sounds like a hit to me! Pre-Order the EP HERE to get a download of the track FREE!

Follow Grandtheft online: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Previously on The Kitchen:

– Rihanna – B-tch Better Have My Money (Diplo & Grandtheft Remix) [MP3]