With this being one of the last few Hip-Hop concerts Toronto would get to see in 2024, Supreme Genes Records and Roadman Productions put together an epic one to close out the year. The stage was set for Toronto Hip-Hop heads to celebrate 3 iconic groups representing the golden era of New York’s underground scene: Mobb Deep, Smif-N-Wessun and Black Moon. While Black Moon’s Buckshot had to pull out of the show last minute, the Brooklyn duo Smif-N-Wessun would hold it down for the Boot Camp Clik collective, and Havoc & Big Noyd would be carrying the torch for Queens’ own Mobb Deep (RIP Prodigy). It was fitting to have both duos performing at the same show, as they each had some soon-to-come milestones to celebrate, with Smif-N-Wessun’s Dah Shinin’ and Mobb Deep’s The Infamous albums both set to turn 30 years old in 2025.

That energy of classic ’90s Hip-Hop could be felt throughout the night, as DJ Mercilless held it down on the turntables, spinning throwbacks as The Phoenix Concert Theatre filled up. Another factor that added to the hype surrounding this show was that it was originally going to be the last Hip-Hop concert hosted at The Phoenix before the iconic venue closed its doors for good; that is until the owners were able to extend their lease for another year, buying more time before we say goodbye to this location that’s hosted thousands of concerts over 30+ years. While we wouldn’t be saying goodbye just yet, a stacked lineup was assembled to make it an epic occasion anyway, with local Toronto-based artists rocking the stage before the New York legends came on.

The show would get started with Supreme Genes’ host Lord Fury introducing an emcee named Raw to the stage. Raw would warm up the stage with a handful of songs, getting the crowd to listen in on his bars, although his vocal delivery could have been sharper for first-time listeners to pick up on the lyrics. Following him would be Brooklyn-based artist Nejma Nefertiti, who made an incredible first impression with the way she cut through on the mic and got heads nodding to her track “Valley of the Queens.” Although she only performed two songs, Nejma Nefertiti set the bar early in terms of energy and stage presence.

The local openers seemed to fly by quickly, each performing 4-5 songs before making way for the next artist. Ayoo Bigz would deliver his hardcore, aggressive style of rap with the duo Fuego Gawdz backing him as his hypemen, the song “Stamina” standing out with the ill rhyme pattern and punchlines. Jon Kabongo would go up next, joined by DJ T.Lo, and he’d come with some new material released after we last saw him open for Elzhi back in March. Songs like “Free Me” showcased his rapid-fire flows, and he’d get the crowd to light up their cell phones as he closed out with “Still Rich.”

The last of the local performers would be Supreme Genes Records’ flagship artist who always blesses the stage at every show they organize, Asun Eastwood. With Lord Fury promoting another event earlier in the evening where WWE star Kurt Angle will be interviewed live (March 15, 2025 at Lee’s Palace), Asun Eastwood would make a wrestling-themed dramatic entrance, with the lights going dark and the Undertaker’s bell ringing. Asun would use that energy to attack the mic with his sharp lyricism, performing standout tracks like “Toast Tito’s Vodka” and “Verified Account” to showcase his bars. While he kept it rugged and hardcore for most of his set, Asun would close out with a more soulful, introspective track to celebrate having a newborn son, and would have Lord Fury perform one of his own Reggae-infused joints before taking the show to intermission.

DJ Mercilless would get back to spinning classic Hip-Hop records as Smif-N-Wessun’s tour DJ, DJ Logic got his gear set up. Many fans didn’t know yet that Buckshot wouldn’t be performing, and Mercilless dropped a hint by playing one of Black Moon’s classics, “Who Got Da Props” before any of the New Yorkers hit the stage. One could remain hopeful though, as pretty soon the Boot Camp Clik portion of the show would get started with Smif-N-Wessun taking the stage!

While much of Smif-N-Wessun’s setlist would be similar to when we saw them perform at The Rivoli just last year, they were quick to showcase some new music, with General Steele and Tek each coming out one at a time as they performed their verses on the new 2024 single, “Fifty Fifty.” The energy in the room got cranked from the beginning, as the duo displayed impeccable chemistry built over 30+ years of experience, performing classics like “Let’s Git It On,” their feature on Mary J. Blige’s “I Love You (Remix),” and a version of “Stand Strong” that had the beat flip to Boogie Down Productions’ “The Bridge Is Over” midway.

Fans still hopeful and wondering whether Buckshot would perform his own setlist or join his Boot Camp Clik family on stage would be disappointed, as Smif-N-Wessun went on to perform their feature on Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage album, “Black Smif-N-Wessun,” and this is when most of us found out Buckshot didn’t make it to the show. Tek & Steele would take a moment to relay Buckshot’s appreciation of the fans’ support, mentioning that he’s doing well after recently being assaulted in New York. While the missed opportunity to see the three emcees united on stage was disappointing, Smif-N-Wessun still put on an epic show on their own.

Along with the ’90s classics, Smif-N-Wessun would also sprinkle in some relatively new joints off of their 2019 album The All, including the album’s intro, “The Education of Smif-N-Wessun,” and two different versions of “Let It Go,” getting some crowd participation by having everyone shout out the “woooo!” adlib on the beat. They’d also do their segment paying tribute to fallen legends who’ve passed away, rapping along as DJ Logic played classic songs by Big L, Big Pun, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, The Notorious B.I.G., Biz Markie, and of course their fellow Boot Camp Clik fam Sean Price. This would of course lead into a performance of their Pete Rock collaboration, “Roses,” with the song’s message of giving people their flowers while they’re still here resonating with the crowd.

Smif-N-Wessun would perform some familiar routines to turn up the energy towards the end of their setlist, playing M.O.P.’s “Ante Up” before getting into their own tribute to their hometown of Brooklyn, “Bucktown.” You could tell the room was full of diehard fans with the way they all shouted out the name of the song in the chorus. They’d then mention they couldn’t leave without performing one last song, which led into General Steele doing a quick cover of Damian Marley’s “Welcome to Jamrock” before getting into an epic performance of their classic “Sound Bwoy Bureill,” which saw them run it back for some added energy. With Toronto of course embracing the Caribbean influence on Hip-Hop that Smif-N-Wessun embody in their style, the whole crowd was chanting “boom bye bye!” along with the duo as the beat played them out.

There would be another break as DJ L.E.S. got his gear set up and played a medley of tracks, highlighting his Queens influence by playing the song he produced on Nas’ Illmatic album, “Life’s A Bitch,” before bringing out Mobb Deep.

The lights would go dark and the fans got hyped as the beat slowly built up for the 1995 classic “Survival of the Fittest,” with the energy getting cranked once the beat dropped. Havoc and Big Noyd would go bar-for-bar covering the late Prodigy’s opening verse, Noyd triumphantly raising a bottle as he rapped Prodigy’s lyrics “Lord forgive me, the Hennessey got me not knowin’ how to act,” and Havoc of course went in and killed his own verse second. They’d stay in ’95 for the first bit of the setlist, performing fan favourites off of Mobb Deep’s classic The Infamous album including the hook from “Eye For A Eye (Your Beef Is Mines),” before going in with the verses from “Right Back At You.” Big Noyd would also get to shine, performing his own featured verse on “Give Up The Goods (Just Step)” and also helping to cover Prodigy’s.

After hitting fans with some 1995 classics, they’d go on to perform a few joints post-2000, including a couple off of Mobb Deep’s last album from 2014, The Infamous Mobb Deep, and some early-2000s hits like “Get Away” and “Win Or Lose.” While many praise Mobb Deep simply for 1995’s The Infamous being an all-time classic Hip-Hop album, we were about to be reminded of the deep discography the duo has. The next several songs would lean heavily on 1996’s Hell On Earth and 1999’s Murda Muzik, as they covered Prodigy’s menacing opening verse on “G.O.D. (Pt. III)” with precision and continued on to perform ’96 classics including “Hell On Earth (Front Lines)” and “Drop A Gem On ‘Em.” The ’99 era would also shine as they performed cuts like “Allustrious,” “The Realest” and “Thug Muzik.”

The appreciation for Havoc’s production was felt, as the beats playing through the concert hall speakers definitely had that knock to them, but he made it a point to show out as an emcee as well. He’d next go back to ’95 with “Temperature’s Rising,” nailing his own verse and spitting Prodigy’s verse acapella, word for word. After the mellow throwback, he’d then pick the energy back up with one of his most hype beats emcees love to freestyle to, “The Learning (Burn),” nailing his own verse along with Big Noyd turning up for his guest appearance on the track.

While much of the setlist was feeling similar to when I last saw Havoc & Noyd perform back in 2017, they had a surprise in store this time to make this show unique. Havoc & Big Noyd would continue on to perform “What’s Ya Poison” and to everyone’s surprise they brought out fellow Queens legend Cormega to perform his guest appearance!

Cormega’s time on stage was short but he made a lasting impact, nailing his verse on “What’s Ya Poison” and performing a couple more tracks solo, including his feature on Nas’ “Affirmative Action.” Before he left the stage, Lord Fury would come out and gift Cormega a wrestling championship belt, calling him The People’s Champ, as this was his third time performing at The Phoenix Concert Theatre within the last quarter of the year. Mega graciously accepted and fell back to watch the rest of the show from the back of the stage, saluting his fellow Queens icon Havoc and Mobb Deep.

Before Havoc would make his return, he’d give Big Noyd a chance to shine on his own by performing solo cuts. Noyd’s own approach to rapping has a much more energetic vocal delivery compared to when he’s covering Prodigy’s purposely monotone style, and that energy shined has he performed his own songs “Shoot Em Up (Bang, Bang),” “Air It Out,” and “Recognize & Realize.” After a quick 3-song run, it was time to get back to that extensive Mobb Deep catalogue.

While Mobb Deep’s music is mostly hardcore, they do have a few party records released over the years, and Havoc would perform a couple of those when he got back on the mic. They’d take it to the mid-2000s, touching on the G-Unit era with their 50 Cent collaboration “Outta Control Remix,” followed by another one of their many Alchemist-produced classics, “Got It Twisted.” Continuing to turn the club up, they’d then take it back to ’99 with another hit showcasing Havoc’s genius ear for sampling, “It’s Mine,” getting the crowd to sing along to the Nas hook. The crowd’s energy stayed high as they did a tribute to Prodigy by covering one of his solo tracks, “Keep It Thoro,” and rocked the Mobb Deep classic “Quiet Storm.”

With the clock nearing 1am and so many hits having been performed, you could tell we were nearing the end of the show. Havoc would take a moment to thank all the fans and announce that he’s working on another Mobb Deep album posthumously for Prodigy called Infinite, set to release in 2025. With no games being played to get the crowd to do an encore chant, Havoc would then dive right into Mobb Deep’s biggest hit to close out the night, “Shook Ones Pt. II.” The energy felt like the end of 8 Mile with the way the crowd all had their hands up, and we all rapped along to help Havoc & Noyd cover Prodigy’s opening verse to the song before Havoc closed it out with his own verse.

The pairing of Queens’ Mobb Deep and Brooklyn’s Smif-N-Wessun made for an epic celebration of New York Hip-Hop excellence. Both groups shined with their unique approaches and styles, with Smif-N-Wessun showing impeccable chemistry and stage presence as a duo and giving an all-raw performance, and Mobb Deep showcasing an extensive catalogue of hits that took us through several nostalgic years and eras of Hip-Hop. It’s a team effort between Havoc, Big Noyd and the fans to make the late Prodigy’s presence felt, as Noyd does an admirable job stepping in and filling the space Prodigy once held, and Havoc shows he’s just as comfortable rapping Prodigy’s parts of the songs as he is doing his own verses.

Havoc, Big Noyd and DJ L.E.S. will continue touring through Canada this week, hitting Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary before they start a European tour in the new year. Tickets can be found here!

Big thank you to JD Era, Roadman Productions and Supreme Genes Entertainment for granting this blog access to review this show!

Check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos.

Also follow SYpherSights on social media below:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram