The 2023 edition of the annual Canadian Music Week conference and festival put a spotlight on Hip-Hop to celebrate the culture’s 50th anniversary. The summit included interviews and speaker panels with artists like Chuck D and B-Real, including a screening of part of Chuck’s new documentary series Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World, and would feature several concert showcases from all genres throughout the week. For Hip-Hop heads, the biggest highlight of the festival may have been The LOX returning to Toronto on the Friday night, performing in the city for just their second time as a group despite having a career that goes back to the ’90s. The trio of Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch were a fitting headliner to celebrate Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, as they represent the culture’s birthplace, New York City, and deliver a pure, authentic performance whenever they bless the stage.

While we got to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre just after doors had opened, there would be delays getting the show started, as we’d later learn that The LOX were held up at Canadian customs for several hours when trying to cross the border. The doors to the venue were open on time but we’d have to hang at the bar in the lobby, not being allowed into the theatre itself until about an hour after the scheduled show time. Once inside though, it was all good vibes. The seating had all been removed so that the theatre was one big general admission floor area, and it slowly filled up with fans ready to celebrate Hip-Hop.

This being Canadian Music Week, we of course had to have some homegrown legends included in the celebrations, and so opening for The LOX would be a special DJ set by Canadian Hip-Hop royalty, Kardinal Offishall. Slated to receive the CMW Social Justice Award later in the week, Kardi put on a DJ set curated to fit the style of rap The LOX associate with, playing hardcore Hip-Hop tracks from artists ranging from Griselda to KRS-One. He’d test the crowd to see how many fans knew the words to classic songs by artists like Biggie, Nas, Gang Starr, and Smif-N-Wessun before bringing out some special guests to join him on stage. Kardi would bring out a pioneer when it comes to Hip-Hop radio in Canada, DJ Mastermind, who would take over the turntables as Kardi got on the mic to give an energetic performance of his own classics, “Ol’ Time Killin'” and The Clipse’s “Grindin’ (Remix).”

Kardi and Mastermind kept the party going by spinning some more classics, playing a lot of Mobb Deep and other New York artists to set the mood for The LOX. More guests would bless the stage and hype the crowd up to these songs, including Juno award-winning emcee/producer Rich Kidd, and the starring actor in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air remake, Jabari Banks. After rocking the crowd for an hour, Kardinal Offishall would make way for The LOX’s tour DJ, Technician The DJ, who would warm up the stage and make sure the equipment was all set up right.

Technician The DJ would bring out another special guest, New York’s own Tony Moxberg, who was hyped to be performing in Canada for his first time. Telling the crowd how him and the crew just arrived within the past hour after being held up at the border, Tony Moxberg would use his set as an opportunity to test out the sound levels and get the mic sounding right for The LOX. He’d sometimes get drowned out by the beat as the sound levels got adjusted, but he’d eventually spit a verse acapella to show that he really had skills on the mic, and would close out his set with his song “Love,” which has guest features from The LOX as well as Griselda’s Benny The Butcher. After putting on a solid set, Tony would make way for the main event, as Technician The DJ got the crowd hyped up before he brought out The LOX.

Almost like a National Anthem being sang before a major sporting event, the entire crowd rang out in chorus as we all sang together in anticipation:

“Everywhere we go, people wanna know
Who we are, so we tell them
This is D-Block! Mighty, mighty D-Block!”

It was a perfect queue for The LOX to come out to what could be considered their own anthem, “Mighty D-Block (2 Guns Up),” but instead Technician The DJ played the same DMX intro they used to come out for their infamous 2021 Verzuz event with The Diplomats, adding dramatic effect as they hit the stage. They’d then kick things off with one of their newest singles from 2022, the high-energy, Public Enemy-influenced “Terminator LOX,” although Sheek only got through part of his opening verse before the DJ cut the track. Wanting to lean more into the classics than promote anything new, The LOX’s first full song they’d perform would be the aggressive, unapologetic “Fuck You,” with each of the three emcees rocking their verse.

The LOX would lean into their 2000 We Are The Streets album for the first few songs, taking turns performing tracks where each emcee shines the most. Styles P would rock “Felony N****s,” followed by Jadakiss getting the crowd to chant his name on “Blood Pressure,” and Sheek turning up the energy with “Wild Out.” You could tell this was a crowd full of passionate fans with the way they shouted out lyrics and finished lines for the emcees, even for the deep album cuts. They would rock one more off that album, the Timbaland and Eve assisted “Ryde Or Die, Bitch,” before taking it back to 1998 with “Money, Power, Respect” and “All For The Love.”

After performing several of their own album cuts as a group, The LOX would start to get into a more sentimental segment of the show. Styles P would perform his solo track, “The Life,” getting the crowd to sing along to Pharoahe Monch’s chorus, and the group would then get into a tribute to the late DMX. They’d get the crowd to join in as they covered a few of X’s classics, including “Ruff Ryders Anthem” and “Get At Me Dog,” before they actually performed a DMX track they’re featured on, “N****z Done Started Something.” Keeping the crowd participation going, they’d move on into some anthems everyone could sing along to, with Jadakiss doing his guest verse on Ja Rule’s “New York” and Styles P doing his feature on Akon’s “Locked Up.”

Getting a little friendly competition going, the three emcees would take turns delivering some freestyles, with Jadakiss doing a remix of Jay-Z’s “Where I’m From,” and Sheek going in over Mobb Deep’s “The Learning (Burn).” They’d then get into a segment for the ladies, with Sheek performing his solo joint “Good Love,” and Jadakiss doing his club hit “Knock Yourself Out” to get the ladies dancing. Giving a shoutout to the weed smokers in the building, they’d then get everyone singing along to Luniz’ “I Got Five On It” before Styles P would perform his own weed anthem, “Good Times.” The three emcees continued rotating through hits, highlighting tracks they’ve done with other artists, including a high-energy performance of Jadakiss’ guest verse on Nas’ “Made You Look (Remix).”

The LOX would highlight some of their most iconic moments through their collaborations with other artists, performing arguably the biggest hit of the group’s career with Puff Daddy’s multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning “It’s All About The Benjamins.” Jadakiss and Styles would standout with one of their iconic back-and-forth verses, standing back to back as they went bar for bar on N.O.R.E.’s “Banned From TV.” Not to be out-shined, Sheek would join in as they followed up with the group’s feature on Jay-Z’s “Reservoir Dogs.” The crowd’s energy stayed high throughout this entire segment, as The LOX brought the nostalgia with these classic collabs.

Next would be a familiar routine, as The LOX finally performed “Mighty D-Block,” getting the crowd to sing along to Jadakiss’ chorus, and Jada would go in on that first verse before the DJ flipped the track into 2Pac’s “Ambitionz Az A Ridah” just after Jada name-drops him. They of course followed the 2Pac tribute with a Biggie tribute, playing “Hypnotize” for the crowd to dance to before The LOX performed their actual collaboration with B.I.G., “Last Day.” With Biggie & ‘Pac being synonymous with classic, golden-age Hip-Hop, The LOX would then jump forward into some more modern music from the 2010’s, with Styles performing his feature on Rick Ross’ “B.M.F.,” and Jadakiss performing his feature on G.O.O.D. Music’s “Don’t Like.” Jada would use the latter track as an opportunity to take a humorous jab at the Canadian border agents who held them up and delayed the show. “That’s that shit I don’t like!”

Jada and Styles would keep going back and forth with some friendly competition, Styles next spitting an acapella freestyle to highlight his raw lyrical talent and captivating the crowd with his bars. Jadakiss would follow up with what was his show-stealing moment in Verzuz, his 2010 “Who Shot Ya” freestyle that’s now become a mainstay in his live show since that event. With the track now been given new life since that Verzuz moment, the crowd knew that mixtape freestyle well enough to rap every word with Jada, ready to finish his punchlines for him even though he really went in word for word and held nothing back. Again not to be overlooked, Sheek would return with one of his most iconic solo tracks, “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye,” the crowd getting hyped and singing along to the chorus with him.

The LOX always say that any one of the three of them could be the MVP of their live show on any given night, and it felt like Jadakiss was tonight’s MVP. To close out the show, they’d give Jada the clutch alley-oop dunk thrown to him by Styles P, as the duo performed Jada’s solo hit “We Gonna Make It.” Once again, Jadakiss & Styles would go bar for bar in another one of those iconic moments they’re known for where they each rap every other line in the same verse, then they’d cut the beat and let Jada go acapella for the second verse. The crowd was with it all the way, as they finished Jada’s lines for him in that last acapella verse and cheered as Technician The DJ played the appropriate “Three Kings” for The LOX to have one final salute before saying peace.

Overall, Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch each delivered a raw, authentic performance that was worthy to headline Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary celebration at Canadian Music Week. Their 2021 Verzuz event made cultural waves for the way they took an all-raw, no gimmicks approach to their performance and called out corny rappers who perform over their own vocal recordings; that same energy was definitely felt tonight as they let their performance speak for itself. The LOX went through years of hits, touching on each of the four decades they’ve been active, and definitely brought the nostalgia factor to move the crowd. My only wish was that they performed certain songs in full rather than only letting one of the three emcees spit their verse, like doing all of “Mighty D-Block” rather than just half of Jadakiss’ verse, or rocking all of “Terminator LOX” – that beat is too hype to not rock it all the way!

Regardless, The LOX put on a show with their enthusiasm for authentic Hip-Hop music, and fans who share that enthusiasm can’t deny that energy. Their catalogue includes collaborations with all-time legends, both dead or alive, and their setlist shined light on some of Hip-Hop’s all-time greats besides themselves.

Jadakiss is slated to return to Toronto on June 29th as part of LL Cool J & The Roots’ Frequencies Of Real Creative Energy (F.O.R.C.E.) concert at Scotiabank Arena; tickets are on sale here. Those who were at this show may also remember Technician The DJ promoting an upcoming Ghostface Killah concert at The Opera House that same night, tickets for that one are on sale here.

Special thank you to Canadian Music Week for granting this blog media access to cover this show!

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