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The evolution of Little Jamaica aka Eglinton West ~ 2015 version

5/19/2015

The evolution of Little Jamaica aka Eglinton West

Got to give props to African Star aka Stuart Brown for relighting the reggae vibes on the place in Canada where reggae actually began and still continues to this day. At his newly opened spot on the strip called Sankofa, 1653 Eglinton Avenue west, he hosted a meet and greet for a concert that included Kabaka Pyramid, 4 times Juno award winner Exco Levi, Juno award winner Mikey Dangerous out of Montreal and King Ujah.

Reggae is bubbling again on the strip with folks gravitating towards the place where it all began. The Reggae Lane project has certainly created such excitement as we gear up for a 11th July ceremony and African Star, a veteran, a legend and a generous man is becoming a catalyst for this resurgence. Get your Reggae Lane gear on reggaelane.org and wear it on the deeply historic day as the city reveres those that were there when it all began to those who carry the torch today.

Friday night started with the meet and greet and one of the things about Eglinton west is that one can eat food at all hours of the night while restaurants remain open and have a reasoning on Ras Tafari with the man Zebulon or stop in Raps. It is all love.

Little Jamaica is the place for reggae music this and every summer... Watch de ride...

Then on Monday, we revisited Denday. I beleive that we have found our new home. Lion's Den will set up in Sankofa. The original crew Xixgon rolled through with Shai and Kwesi bringing back the original vibe and feel as only they can. Blessings to DJ Chocolate aka Lauren Speers for blazing the culture tunes and heavy selections. Thank you Tonya P for the live performance...

And thankful that I was at this venue, where the owner is a legend and played tunes into the weeeeee morn. African Star is certaily what The Lion's Den needed.

"Reggae Lane for Reggae Life"

All proceeds of Reggae Lane merchandise goes directly towards the upliftment of reggae music in and out of Canada. The re-growth of Eglinton west / Little Jamaica is a focus for us.

Buy a tee or ball cap and show you love and support for Reggae Canada.

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Fujahtive vs the human rights ~ live horns

5/17/2015

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Fujahtive vs The Human Rights ~ Live Horns

Two of the best reggae bands in Toronto that have horn sections and are very proud of that. Burning Spear, The Skattalites, The Sattalites and many other greats used live humans to blow their horns. One of the coolest things about live music is the intricacies of horn lines. Live horns can drop a level or raise the band to higher levels. Both these bands are fans of each other and are bringing a friendly love and competition as they ‘battle’ on this night.

Live Horns!!!!!

Coolest thing when they are hot like these two are. Truth be told, they are fans of each other and support and revere each other’s work, yet for this event they dropping it old school.

Each band plays a half an hour set. Then they will get progressively less time in each set till they are going “one for one”, which means there is a switch after each song. The whole band goes on, the whole band gets off.

Taking on a concept that is adopted in the dancehall as it pertains to clashes these guys are having FUN with music and performance. Saturday, 6th June at Lee Palace will be a night to remember!

A night of pure skill and pure fun and a whole heap of reggae music!

Deets for the night ~ ~ ~

The Human Rights and Fujahtive together for the first time in a summer kickoff double bill friendly Reggae Horn Section SoundClash.

If you have not seen The Human Rights and you love music then come see this brand of Reggae music that is a direct expression of their name, preaching love, kindness, oneness and basic Human Rights and dignity for ALL people. Check out the video from their most recent release LIONHEART from their upcoming album.

Fujahtive are the This Is Anvil of Reggae playing music together out of pure love for music ever since they met in high school starting in 1986. Fujahtive toured Canada extensively through the 90’s and 2000’s and when in Toronto were mainstays at the sorely missed Bamboo Club in the heyday of Reggae in Toronto. The band's video for Send Fi Mi Girl from their first album "In Black and White" was one of the first Reggae songs in regular rotation on Much Music. Their first album In Black and White was winner of the Prestigious Canadian Reggae Music Award and their second album "The Sound" was nominated for a Juno Award.

Tickets are also available at the following retail locations

Ellingtons - 805 St. Clair W - (416) 652-9111

Soundscapes - 572 College - (416) 537-1620

Play De Record - 357A Yonge - (416) 586-0380

Rotate This - 801 Queen St W -(416) 504-8447

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floyd mayweather

5/7/2015

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Interesting the take on Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his reign as boxing’s best of this era.

“The American Dream”, the myth that is passed on to about 400 million citizens. It is a dream that if you are willing to work for your wealth and you achieve it without breaking the law to do so, to achieve your wealth by the sweat of one’s brow you are the epitome of said dream.

The dude has been in a gym training and honing one of the greatest techniques of fighting ever seen by man, especially now that we can slow and stop film to better breakdown defense to offense. No one today or during his reign is as adept at any style that is able to defeat him. A master technician and craftsman whose personal life as it pertains to female abuse is thrown out to the world to make him seem even less than dirt. His bravado and arrogance hiding behind a tortured soul, of a mom who was affectionately known as a “crack head” and a pops with his own issue with the law and jail time, the childhood examples were not nearly ‘normal’. Considering the upbringing, the behavior of wife / female battery and abuse are never excusable in any realm or any time, yet it is used as a battering ram against a guy who exemplifies the “American Dream”. Who grew up rough!

What makes Americans hate this fighter? I know that Floyd’s bragging does not aid his situation yet it is what he has been taught by a capitalist system. Earn what you can with your own skill, creativity and tenacity and you are a hero. How come it doesn't work for Floyd Mayweather? This rich nigga is self made! He is supposed to be glorified by their system! Yet he is not!

It is fine for Robin Leach to speak of the homes and the yachts and islands that rich white people own and have all people’s mouths water for those riches that they will never see, yet this braggadocios fellow flaunts his cars, his house, his private jet, his superior boxing skill and the only thing we see and hear is “wife beater”.

No I am not down with abuse of any human being, child, adult, male or female yet in order to remove this arrogant upstart, the highest paid athlete in the world, the campaign of racist abuse hides behind the distraction of the “wife beater”. America is not pleased to have this bronze medal Olympian, giving his life and service to God and country, but he is a wife beater so all accomplishments are no longer valid. He is now a rich piece of shit to be removed from the bottom of any shoe.

What I truly question is the motive by the American media to continue the wife beater tactic. Repeating it once or fifty times does not take the crime away and serving jail time does not take the crime away in my mind either. A villain is rich and successful! A rich nigga!

I DO NOT CONDONE SPOUSAL ABUSE!

I also refuse to have the media sources paid by a group of white supremists to have the focus of negative behavior take away from the skill in the ring. Another tactic to bring down a nigga! He toes their line, obeys their laws (up to the wife beating charges yet serves his jail time aka “paid his dues”), and excels more from dogged determination, amazing, unparalleled physical discipline for over 20 years in the ring, exceptional dedication to his craft...an exemplary force and existence! Astute business man, exceptional marketer, selling his own brand successfully, highest paid athlete in the world with ZERO endorsements which sets him above all as he is his OWN man! Because of the constant “wife abuse” moniker, young black children are hidden from the positives. The exemplary positives!

I will not allow the smear job by white master’s media to cloud my better judgement!

They tell me that Mayweather is boring! Boring? Why? We honed a boxing style that is unbeatable. You don’t think other fighters are watching and learning his techniques of offense and defense? They most certainly are! Bruce Lee created Jeet Kune Do , the art of “the intercepting fist” which he fashioned martial arts styles with boxing. I am sure that Bruce would approve of what Mayweather was doing.

They are used to dumb mandingoes going in there and brutalizing one another for sport and for their entertainment. Floyd Mayweather should be applauded for being an innovator as Robinson, Ali or Duran. I do not care for your personal feelings towards an individual that the media hates and are doing a smear campaign on because he is a rich nigga.

They are shooting niggas in the back in the USA – by “they” I mean law enforcement! America hates niggas! Ask Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X or Martin Luther King. They vilify and hate niggas who think for themselves and rise up within a system that is set up against them. When one rises up, and is not exactly humble, they go on the attack. Dr. King was pretty humble but was murdered anyway! Many quickly forget the constant disrespect of white America towards a brilliant, humble black man in Barack Obama. The smear campaign against successful black Americans is a constant.

Then they get other dumbass blacks siding with their thought process as many of these house negroes are happy to please whitey. If we hate Mayweather, massa will like us more. He won’t let the police shoot my children.

As a “human” it is my / our role to uplift self as well as the community around us. I see a young man coming in from huge negatives what many would consider, inner-city-hard-life where it is the norm and some negative behaviors are learned. Not an excuse! A fact of life for many! Again, not an excuse! I say to a Floyd Mayweather that he is more of a spiritual force than he understands and that is a direction that he must seek. A deeper journey into a depth of spiritual connection to a positive force in his belief system where humility beckons him, yet maintain that confidence and creative power that he honed over the years to put him in this position today.

What is also exceedingly evident is the obvious importance of family. He / they have a strong dynamic and even with all of the pain, crack cocaine, battery, assaults, incarcerations, they seem to band together and father and son obviously love and respect each other. They fought through their imperfections and still preach family first. Exemplary positive!

I must say that though I am a humanist... I am one with black skin, so inside me there is GREAT JOY of a resilient soldier, with the world against him, standing like a lion and delivering. He made me proud. 98% of Floyd Mayweather made me proud. The 2 – 10 or 20% of negative behavior I have no pride in yet I am more interested in him receiving the messages of humility, temperance, self restraint, self respect and a willingness to serve humanity. I will not go along with the vilifying and glorifying constant and sustained wife abuse rhetoric (notice how many times I brought it up here? I really don’t respect that behavior yet many of his other behaviors are some positives to be taught to many within black communities.

A true “rags to riches” story with some very negative situations along the way yet we do have an opportunity to elevate him spiritually because he is a wizard at boxing , promotion and business and is a real credit and asset to the world community.

I was at a bar in Toronto, The Contender, and the place was packed! Mayweather’s name meant hundreds of millions, even billions to the North American economy! It does not absolve him of spousal abuse! There are also noticeable positives to focus on to encourage more lions and lionesses to come forward if you can withstand the hailstorm of abuse!

Lauren Hill, Wesley Snipes, Dr. King, Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Jim Brown, Marshawn Lynch, Adrian Peterson, Kobe Bryant, are a small sample of prominent black humans, who for a litany of reasons are shamed by their system in America. There almost seems to be a pattern to things when a black human seems to have some perceived influence. Conspiracy theory I will be told and I’ll say that niggas aren’t being murdered by law enforcement either.

“Let him without sin cast the first stone.”

The positives should be held up beside the negatives. Not just the negative. The positives are just as important to shine light on so that it can be used to encourage the current as well as the next generation of star, black athlete or business professional. There is a great deal to take from Floyd Mayweather’s positives as well. We need to glorify those also. We elevate him and ourselves.

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The evolution of Little Jamaica aka Eglinton West ~ 2015 version

Fujahtive vs the human rights ~ live horns

floyd mayweather

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