The LOX have been showing a lot of love to Toronto in 2023, making multiple trips to perform live in the city this year. The trio consisting of Sheek Louch, Jadakiss and Styles P kicked off the summer with a headlining show at Canadian Music Week back in June, and individually returned to perform at other concerts throughout the year, including Jadakiss joining LL Cool J & The Roots on The F.O.R.C.E. Tour in August, and Sheek making a surprise appearance at Ghostface Killah’s concert right here at The Opera House in May. Now it would be Styles P’s turn to make a solo appearance in Toronto, headlining his own concert at The Opera House for what would be both his first and rumored last performance as a solo artist in Canada. With nearly 30 years in the game, word is that Styles is looking to retire from music as a solo artist and focus on other business ventures, such as the multiple health food stores he’s opened in New York, while still supporting The LOX with anything they do as a group on the music front. Dubbed the Respect My Legacy Tour, Styles P would be looking to go out with a bang before he hangs up the mic.

Besides his work the The LOX, Styles P’s solo discography runs deep, with over 15 albums released over the course of his career. The most notable would be his 2002 debut, the gold-certified A Gangster & A Gentleman, which we saw him celebrate the 20th anniversary for with a special concert in New York City last summer. Most recently, Styles has released Penultimate: A Calm Wolf Is Still A Wolf earlier this year, rumored to be his last solo album before he retires. Reflecting back on all of the albums and mixtapes he’s released over the years, Styles may have one of the more underrated discographies in Hip-Hop, as he’s consistently kept it raw for the underground and stayed true to his style the entire way.

The Opera House would slowly fill up with fans of raw, underground Hip-Hop, and DJ Mercilless would hold it down for 2 hours after doors opened, playing classics from the ’90s and 2000s that fit the vibe. When it was eventually time to start the show, the host of the evening, Lord Fury, would bring out Juno award-winning emcee Rich Kidd to set things off. In terms of performance, Rich Kidd set the bar high with the way he interacted with the crowd, beginning his set by going right up against the barricade as he performed songs off of his decade-old album In My Opinion. He’d then jump into the crowd itself and perform most of his set moving through the club amongst the people, even standing atop the bar at one point.

Much like the set we saw him perform in Dundas Square this past summer, Rich Kidd’s standout songs included “Let’s Go,” “Can I Get A (Bom Bom),” and “Syke,” all for the way he got the crowd engaged and joining in on his hooks. It wasn’t all just chants and call-and-response though, as Rich Kidd killed it on the mic too, spitting his verses raw with no backing vocals and showcasing dope bars. After doing a lot of jumping and maneuvering through the crowd as he rapped, Rich Kidd was covered in sweat by the end of his set, as he put his all into his performance and made sure to leave a lasting impression for any new fans in the building.

Along with the Ghostface Killah concert back in May, this Styles P show at The Opera House would be brought to us by Toronto-based indie label Supreme Genes Records, who would have their artist Asun Eastwood hitting the stage next. Just like last time, Asun came through with raw vocals, sharp rhymes and a crisp delivery, but would be quick to share the spotlight with other Toronto-based, up-and-coming artists. Literally wearing his Toronto pride on his sleeve with a jacket made by local designer Tre Paul, Asun would bring out several special guests during his set, all representing the hometown.

Hwy 308 would come out to perform his collab “Souffle” with Asun, plus spit a raw freestyle to show off his bars. MBK came out next to perform their collab “Be Careful,” followed by Ashton Francis performing a couple tracks both with Asun and on his own. Closing out Asun Eastwood’s set would be the duo Fuego Gawds performing another one of his collabs, plus their newest single “Salud (Survive),” standing out with the way they seamlessly switched between English and Spanish in their raps. Asun Eastwood did a great job showcasing some of Toronto’s top talent throughout his set, as each emcee who hit the stage came with sharp lyricism, dope flows and good stage presence.

Next would be Technician The DJ setting up for the main event. Just as we’d seen him do when he held down The LOX and Ghostface Killah at their concerts earlier in the year, Technician would get the crowd pumped by running through a medley of Hip-Hop classics, speedily transitioning to the next song after playing just enough of the beat for the crowd to recognize. He’d show off some fast DJ skills with the way he had the next song queued up so quickly, only giving himself 4-6 bars to line up the next drop. Pretty soon he’d introduce the man of the hour, Styles P, and the crowd got hyped!

Similar to when we saw him perform solo in NYC, Styles P would come out performing the title track off of A Gangster & A Gentleman, with the first verse working as an autobiography and taking the fans through his origin story. He’d also bring us to 2007, performing the sequel “Super Gangster” before Technician The DJ announced that we were about to go through a LOX journey. Styles would then perform several LOX tracks, doing some verses we don’t always get to see when The LOX perform together, like his verse from “Wild Out,” which he stopped midway to break up a fight in the crowd before restarting the track. Styles had a good sense of humour about it, exclaiming “I didn’t mean Wild Out like that!” and “I’ve worked security before too!” He’d follow up with some of his standout verses that are staples in The LOX setlists like “Felony N—-s” and “Fuck You,” getting the fans turned up as he spit all his verses word for word with the same aggression that you hear on the record.

After teasing the hook from “Breathe Easy,” Styles would start getting back to his solo joints, next performing his ’02 Pharoahe Monch collaboration, “My Life.” This was one of the most hype moments of the night, as the fans recognized that beat as soon as it dropped and all started singing along passionately to that P-Monch chorus before Styles nailed his verse. After getting the fans in a singing mood, Styles would follow up with another big chune for the fans to sing, his classic 2004 Akon collaboration, “Locked Up.” Styles would even get in on the singing, having a fun moment by jokingly singing some of Akon’s verse with his much hoarser voice.

Styles P would follow his big sing-along anthems by digging into his mixtape bag for the underground heads, pulling out rare freestyles to showcase his lyricism. Even when he went into underground mode, the crowd still turned up whenever Styles spit a fly quotable, like “ask who’s better than me and hear crickets!”. Continuing with the rare cuts we don’t always get to see performed live, Styles would bring it back to his solo debut, performing one of the darker sounding tracks with “I’m A Ruff Ryder,” and did his verse from The LOX’ “You’ll See,” an early Bad Boy Records joint predating any album. With the Bad Boy era on the mind, this of course led into the essential “Money, Power, Respect,” another big track that got the crowd hyped.

Styles and Technician would have some fun with the crowd, as they played the intro to Jennifer Lopez’ “Jenny From The Block” but quickly cut it off before Styles’ verse started. Although the J-Lo hit did earn him a platinum plaque, Styles was keeping it strictly hardcore, shouting “Nahhh we ain’t doing that one, fuck outta here!!” Styles would instead give the fans some of his other collabs with big time producers, performing his verse from the Timbaland-assisted LOX track, “Ride Or Die, Bitch,” followed by a rare joint most had never seen performed live before, the Lil’ Jon-produced, Akon-featuring “Can U Believe It.” Technician would continue to have fun with the set, throwing Styles a curve-ball by playing Jay-Z’s “Reservoir Dogs,” which Styles still nailed his verse to even though it wasn’t originally on the setlist.

Technician The DJ would get some more shine, as he played Jadakiss’ “Who Shot Ya Freestyle” and got the crowd rapping along to the quotable-filled verse, before turning everyone up to the late DMX’s “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem.” With X on the mind, Styles would then return to perform his feature on the late legend’s track “N—-s Done Started Something” and would take a moment to thank the fans for their support over the years. This would then lead into the biggest solo hit of Styles’ career, as Technician teased a bit of Luniz’ “I Got 5 On It” before flipping the track to Styles’ own weed anthem, “Good Times.” Although security was being strict about smoking in the venue throughout the night, the fans still enjoyed the moment as Technician flipped the beat to Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend” for Styles to spit the second verse over, seamlessly maintaining the flow.

After slowing things down and getting the crowd to sing along to the late Biz Markie’s classic, Styles would next turn the crowd up with some of the most energetic beats he’s rapped over, rocking his verses from N.O.R.E’s “Come Thru” and Rick Ross’ “BMF” with precision on the mic. Next, Styles would let his experience and showmanship shine, as he made his way into the crowd to perform his next song, leaving no room for anyone to say any openers out-performed him. With the fans forming a circle around him, Styles got everyone singing to Sheek Louch’s dramatic “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye” before rocking his featured verse on the song, another rarity we haven’t seen at previous LOX concerts. This was another contender for the most hype song of the night with the way Styles had the crowd rocking with him.

Returning to the stage, Styles P would begin to wind down his set by speaking on the war situation in the Middle East, preaching a general message of peace and unity during these troubling times before dropping the classic “We Gonna Make It.” The crowd turned up for this one, shouting out Jadakiss’ rhymes in the first verse as Styles rapped his part of the back-and-forth. To close out the show, Technician would get the crowd to all sing to Styles for a change, playing the anthem “Mighty D-Block” for us to sing as a final salute. Styles would bring Lord Fury back on stage to give him his props for putting this event together, and left the crowd with one more message of unity, making sure no one else fought for the night as we all said peace.

Overall, this was a great concert that took us through the years of Styles P’s career. The setlist had balance between Styles’ solo album cuts, his songs with The LOX, his mixtape joints and his features on other artists’ songs. The event definitely put respect on Styles P’s legacy, as not only did he take us through some of the biggest songs he’s had his hand in over the years, but his live performance showed the experience that comes with 30 years in the game, adapting to the crowd and how the local openers set the stage for him while still killing the mic as always. If this is really Styles P’s last concert as a solo artist in Toronto, it definitely lived up to the hype, as Styles left it all on the stage and had a sold-out Opera House rocking with him the entire time.

Supreme Genes Records continues to bring dope lyricists to Toronto, their next showcase being Conway The Machine coming to The Opera House on his Won’t He Do It Tour. Tickets can be found here.

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