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Big Up’s:
The Canadian Urban Music Awards…
While it may not be considered good form to judge a man by the company he keeps, the old adage happens to provide a convenient way to measure the success of an award show. Take the recent American Music Awards, for example, which most artists didn’t even bother to attend. The same was certainly not true of the 2005 Canadian Urban Music Awards (CUMA). If any local artist didn’t represent at this year’s show, he or she was probably not terribly important to begin with.
From left to right: Red One from The Rascalz gets ready to party; Kardinal Offishall with photographer Josh Power and Solitaire; Farley Flex relaxing pre-show; Farley Flex accepts an award. (Photos courtesy of Josh Power.)
Held November 29 at Kool Haus, the star quotient at the CUMA this time around was considerably higher than in previous years – definite testament to an expanding industry and the growing importance of the event itself. It also made for some exceptional highlights, including hip-hop legend Maestro executing his hit “Criminal Mind” onstage with 80s Canuck rocker Gowan.
Maestro, who covered Gowan’s song on his 1998 album Built to Last, told reporters: “That’s the first time we’ve performed together, and it was great.” Among other spirited CUMA performers were Jully Black, Best Global Rhythms winner Fito Blanko, and Sonia Collymore, who lost to Blessed in the Best Reggae Recording category.
Particularly evident this year was just how big the event has become. While the CUMA hasn’t quite yet reached the same level as, say, the Juno Awards, it is definitely grabbing its fair share of attention. And, in a music industry that requires a high percentage of its artists to continue holding down full-time jobs while they chase their dreams, it’s nice to see homegrown Canadian talent receive the accolades and respect it deserves.
Case in point: Divine Brown, who copped both the R&B Recording of the Year and New Artist of the Year awards. Despite a CBC.ca claim that Brown is “a newcomer to the Canadian urban music landscape,” most of us know she’s been a fixture in Toronto’s music scene for years, since the days when she was known as Divine Earth Essence. And, though more than a few eyebrows were raised, Somali-born K’naan deserves a shout out for winning Hip-Hop Recording of the Year for "Strugglin’." The Toronto-based rapper beat out fellow hip-hop heavyweights k-os, Maestro and Rochester aka Juice.
And that, perhaps, was what was most impressive about this year’s awards: a noticeably high level of parity among the winners. Unlike past shows, which have more resembled something along the lines of all Choclair all the time, prizes were more equally distributed among artists this year – a good sign the Canadian urban music industry is finally growing up. Even comedian Russell Peters, who emceed the event, couldn’t help but joke: “You couldn’t have had this show in the 80s. It would have sucked.” Now, thankfully, there is finally enough domestic talent to support a Canadian urban music industry. If nothing else, this year’s show proved just that. ¤ Noa