For the second year in a row, DJ Skratch Bastid has brought his annual Bastid’s BBQ festival to The Bentway in Toronto. Having continuously expanded the festival each year for more than a decade, now becoming its own international concert tour, the hometown Toronto edition on its own has now become a two-day event taking place in the artistic plot of land underneath the Gardiner Expressway known as The Bentway, with great food on the grill and quality DJs on the turntables. An authentic Hip-Hop festival at its core, Bastid’s BBQ is one of the few that puts the emphasis on the DJ, while also putting an occasional spotlight on the MC and B-Boy/B-Girl, and the BBQ aspect of it makes it a family-friendly way to soak up the summer weather among the sights and sounds of Hip-Hop.

As with past years, the 2024 edition of the festival would have a stacked lineup of DJs, emcees and producers from around the world. While the Sunday night of the festival would be headlined by the Detroit-based group Slum Village, we would only be attending the Saturday night, which featured hometown emcee Raz Fresco, California-based DJ Lazyboy, Japan’s own DJ Koco, and world-renowned producer, Alchemist. Responsible for producing hundreds, if not thousands of underground Hip-Hop records over nearly 30 years, this would be a rare opportunity for Toronto fans to see Alchemist take us through his legendary catalogue of records.

After having attended Toronto’s Festival of Beer (featuring Cypress Hill & Souls of Mischief) the previous night, we took our time and arrived at The Bentway a couple hours into the festival. Just like last year, we were greeted with a warm welcome, with our entry wristbands being good for free samples from Monkey Shoulder whisky and Garage hard lemonade. We started our Bastid’s BBQ experience with a delicious meal from Burger Drops along with our free samples, and made our way to the stage area just as Raz Fresco was kicking off his set.

Being based in Brampton, Ontario, much of the Toronto crowd was familiar with Raz Fresco’s music, some even holding up his vinyl records as he performed. Having seen him perform at several shows over the years, most recently opening for The Pharcyde last October, he began his set with some familiar tracks like “Rain,” “Windows To The Soul,” “Black For Green,” and “S.I.N.,” introducing each song with a speech to get the crowd in the right frame of mind to take in the message. Seeming to always be recording new music, Raz Fresco’s set would also include some new material from 2024, as he brought Daniel Son on stage to perform “What’s The Mission” off their collab album Northside, and would also perform several songs off of his latest album fully produced by Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs, The Eternal Now. With an emphasis on raw raps, Raz Fresco nailed every verse he spit and had the crowd vibing to his set, even pulling out a Magneto helmet for a segment where he performed songs off his Magneto Was Right series of mixtapes.

In honour of Breakdancing (a/k/a Breaking) becoming an official Olympic sport that Canada will get to compete in at the 2024 Paris games, there would be a breaking competition going on throughout the festival, and the final round of the tournament would take place next. The crowd formed a circle around the dance floor as the breakers did their thing, and a panel of judges would select a winner to take home some Bastid’s BBQ merch and prizes. We spent some of this time hitting up the bar and exploring the festival grounds.

Following the dance cypher would be California’s own DJ Lazyboy, who we had seen perform at Toronto’s Festival of Beer the previous night during Souls of Mischief’s set. DJ Lazyboy would get to shine with a much longer DJ segment this time, mashing up Hip-Hop and Funk records to get the crowd moving, and having a hilarious segment where he started playing some R. Kelly but abruptly cut the record with news commentary from the singer’s sex trafficking trial. You had to cringe after hearing R. Kelly’s romantic crooning immediately followed by news coverage of his relationships with teenage girls. After a quick laugh, DJ Lazyboy would keep the dance vibes going, improvising some sounds to fit Skratch Bastid’s commentary at the end of his set.

Next up would be a double DJ set with Skratch Bastid himself joined by Hedspin rocking on two sets of turntables. They started things off by playing some soulful singing, and the fans would get energized once they recognized that the singing was a sample used to create the beat for OutKast’s “ATLiens.” Much of their set would go this way, as they’d play sounds and samples from famous rap songs, and cut up samples of the raps to go with them. The transitions were smooth too, as OutKast’s “Two Dope Boyz” vocals would flow into the beat from Busta Rhymes’ “Pass The Courvoisier Part II” before they cut up that famous line: “Don’t this shit make my people wanna jump!!” Bastid & Hedspin had the crowd grooving for their entire set, even bringing a child on stage to dance at one point.

One theme around this year’s Bastid’s BBQ seems to be surprise appearances, as the New York edition of the festival made waves by having Busta Rhymes pop out on stage as a surprise guest. That moment would come next for Toronto, as DJ Lazyboy returned behind the turntables for a second time, and Skratch Bastid would introduce the crew Lazyboy had performed with at Beer Fest the previous night: Souls of Mischief!

The Oakland, California group made up of emcees Tajai, Phesto, Opio and A-Plus took over the front of the stage and performed a shortened version of the setlist they rocked at Beer Fest, setting it off with “That’s When Ya Lost.” While the group is most known for their work in the ’90s, they made sure to perform their new 2024 single “yes LOvELy” to show that they’re still sharp on the mic, each emcee nailing their verses word for word with no backing vocals. They’d then get into a few of the essentials, performing the Hieroglyphics classic “You Never Knew” and getting a big reaction when Opio rapped in his verse “we unstoppable, droppin’ flows in Toronto!”. To close out their quick set, they’d perform their biggest hit, “93 ‘Til Infinity,” getting the crowd to wave their arms to the beat and rap along to the hook. Souls of Mischief had a short time on stage but they got a big reaction from the crowd.

Following Souls of Mischief would be a treat for DJing fanatics and students: DJ Koco. Hailing from Japan, DJ Koco would captivate the crowd by taking it old-school and performing his entire set with 7-inch vinyl records rather than digital. He’d ease his way in by playing “No Face” off of the new Ghostface Killah album, Set The Tone, and from there would put on a clinic on what Skratch Bastid would later describe as creative DJing. Throughout his set, DJ Koco would chop up the beats to classic Hip-Hop records before letting the song drop, and he’d transition to the next song with smooth interludes and samples. He’d spend a good amount of time chopping up Gang Starr records, and had a standout moment flipping one of the most sampled records in Hip-Hop, “Apache” by The Incredible Bongo Band, and transitioning it into the beat from Nas’ “Made You Look.”

It was a fun time watching DJ Koco cook, and Skratch Bastid would be sure to let the crowd know that he’d be returning for another performance at Day Two of the festival. Bastid would take a moment to thank the crowd for supporting Bastid’s BBQ over the years, from back when it was hosted at Steamwhistle Brewery up to the now two-day major event at The Bentway, and would speak on the next artist he was about to bring to the stage and their influence on Hip-Hop: Alchemist.

Once Alchemist got his gear set up, he would take the crowd on a journey through some of the classic beats he’s produced over the years. Early on in his set fans could recognize beats produced for the late Sean Price, and Al’ would let the vocals play out on songs by Prodigy/Mobb Deep, and even Lloyd Banks/G-Unit mixtape tracks. The presence of the late Prodigy was especially felt throughout Alchemist’s set, as he sprinkled a ton of Mobb Deep and Prodigy solo joints throughout the setlist.

After letting the beat build for Jadakiss’ “Still Feel Me,” Uncle Al’ would start to dig into his late 2010s/early 2020s pocket, playing “God Is Perfect” off of his Grammy-nominated collab album with Freddie Gibbs, Alfredo. He’d then go full Griselda mode, playing a song each by Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher, that “Rubber Bands & Weight” especially getting heads nodding. Continuing to go in on his latest collabs from the past couple years, he’d play a Roc Marciano joint off of their 2022 collab album The Elephant Man’s Bones, and would actually get on the mic and take the front of the stage to perform his featured verse on Larry June’s “60 Days,” featured on yet another full-length collab album, The Great Escape.

Now slowly going back in time, Alchemist would play the samples and build up tracks to songs he produced in the 2010s decade, playing tracks by Earl Sweatshirt and Action Bronson. He’d also play his Schoolboy Q joint “Break The Bank,” notably showing love to TDE while staying neutral in the ongoing lyrical sparring between Kendrick Lamar and Drake; Al’ produced Kendrick’s Drake diss “Meet The Grahams” but didn’t feel a need to pull it out during this performance. The crowd continued to stay hyped, waving their hands in the air as Alchemist paid tribute to the late Mac Miller with their 2013 song “Red Dot Music.”

With fallen legends in mind, Al’ would next go in on a Prodigy tribute, playing some of my personal favourite joints he produced for Mobb Deep including “When You Hear The” and “Got It Twisted” off of their 2004 album Amerikaz Nightmare. Although he didn’t produce the next joint, the crowd’s energy got absolutely cranked when he continued the Mobb Deep tribute with their classic “Shook Ones Pt. II,” with everyone throwing their hands up to an absolute-must when you mention Mobb Deep. Alchemist would then wrap up his Prodigy segment by taking the front of the stage one last time to perform his own vocals on their ’04 collab “Hold You Down,” with damn near every artist who previously graced the stage joining him to build up the hype. He’d then play one more classic with Jadakiss & Styles P’s “We Gonna Make It,” the crowd turning all the way up when that beat dropped, before winding down the setlist with some more instrumentals while giving shoutouts and thank-yous.

Overall, Day One of the 2024 edition of Bastid’s BBQ was an incredibly fun time. Skratch Bastid has nailed down what a summer Hip-Hop festival is supposed to feel like, as it was good vibes all around between the food and the music, and the weather turned out beautiful as well. With the festival being DJ-driven, there was never a stop in the music and the energy was consistent throughout the entire event. While I personally hoped to see some more emcees make surprise appearances, especially with the wide range of collaborators Alchemist has worked with over the years, it was still a fun time just vibing out to each DJ’s setlist. Every DJ who hit the stage had their own unique approach to the artform, from the ear for samples to the technique of analog vs. digital, and showing the diversity amongst DJs is another thing Skratch Bastid has mastered when curating these festival lineups.

Bastid’s BBQ will be coming to Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal in the coming weeks, with each city getting their own unique lineup. Info and tickets can be found at bastidsbbq.com!

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