Although I hope Talib himself reads this, I have a feeling he won't. If you are in any way connected with him please pass this message along.

I was at the show he just did at Downsview for the York University student union. It was one of the most shameful hip-hop experiences in my Toronto concert history. I have seen many shows before where the artist calls Toronto out on being dull and quiet, but this show could have easily gone down as exhibit 1A under the definition of the "Screwface".

All I ask of Talib is to understand three things of that concert:

1) It was free. This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it encourages people who might not normally check out Talib to come and join in on the experience. On the other hand, it encourages these same people to come to the show, without caring to show any love for the artist. It was like half the crowd went by the name Debbie Downer.

2) It was only for York Students (although i am not one and went anyways with no problems). This meant that the crowd was mostly under 23. That would put most of them at 13-15 when Train of Thought came out. Talib even called out the crowd for not being old enough to know KRS when he played "Perfect Beat".

3)The Beer Garden was caged in and wasn't in the same room as the show. The venue was a film studio/warehouse of some sort and was not made for concerts. Everyone was pretty baked as well so the crowd was pretty much all burnt out.

Hopefully, talib or anyone else reading this will not be turned off by the T Dot. I love my city and it is very hard to shed a reputation as the screwface capital of North America, but shows like this definately don't help our cause.

Note to anyone from the Tdot: If you had to jump through all the red tape involved in performing in Canada would you make all that efort if you knew that the fans sucked and there was no energy at the show you were considering. I know I wouldn't, which is why I completely understand why artists avoid crossing the border on a tour.