In what may go down as the last Hip-Hop concert of 2025 for a lot of Toronto heads, Supreme Genes Entertainment put together one final showcase to cap off the year, headlined by none other than New York’s own CL Smooth. An emcee who’s had his hand in timeless classics, most notably the 1992 single “T.R.O.Y.” and album Mecca And The Soul Brother produced by Pete Rock, CL Smooth was sure to bring a night of ’90s throwbacks to The Phoenix Concert Theatre stage. He’s been somewhat of a quiet artist in recent years, with minimal new music released other than the occasional guest feature, and not touring much either, but the classics he released in the ’90s are enough to make Hip-Hop heads come out to a show whenever he decides to pop out. For Toronto heads, this one-night-only performance by CL Smooth would definitely provide a Hip-Hop fix for the holidays.

DJ Koolie Hi would be spinning ’80s and ’90s Hip-Hop, and the Netflix live boxing special featuring Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua would play on the projector screen to the side of the stage as fans slowly filled up The Phoenix Concert Theatre. Eventually the host for the evening, Supreme Genes’ own Lord Fury came out to introduce a Reggae/Dancehall segment to open up the show, with Trinity Chris blessing the stage. While Trinity Chris is known to light up a stage with his Dancehall chunes, this special setlist had a strong Christmas theme to it, as he sang his own version of “Little Drummer Boy” called “Rum & PumPum,” as well as remixes to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and “12 Days of Christmas.” You couldn’t help but smile if you were hearing these remixes for the first time.

Trinity Chris would bring out another surprise guest, Lindo P, who would also bring that Caribbean heat to the stage. Pretty soon DJ Mercilless would take over the turntables, and he’d bring us back to the Hip-Hop, spinning some Nas joints as well as a remixed version of Styles P’s “Good Times” that had Supreme Genes Records name drops throughout the verse. After making sure the sound was correct, Mercilless & Lord Fury would tap podcaster Johnny I Pro to introduce the headliner to the stage, and CL Smooth came out to set it off!

After the openers brought the island vibes, it felt right that CL Smooth started off his setlist performing “The Basement,” which features a Sister Nancy “Bam Bam” sample in the Pete Rock-produced beat. He’d move through the years early, going on to 1993 and ’94 with “One In A Million” and “I Got A Love” before taking a moment to shoutout the producer of most of his songs, Pete Rock, who happened to perform a DJ set in this same building just a week prior. While Hip-Hop heads would love to see Pete Rock & CL Smooth reunite as a duo on stage, the two are distinctly on their separate paths, and there were no surprise appearances from either of them at each others’ shows, even though they performed at the same venue a week apart. CL would take a few friendly jabs at Pete throughout his setlist, saying “Pete should’ve came with us!”

Diving in to the Mecca And The Soul Brother album, CL Smooth would nail his raps effortlessly, as he got the fans to put their L’s up to “Lots of Lovin,” spit an acapella freestyle verse, and continued with deep album cuts including “Can’t Front On Me” and “Skinz.” The show would move at a slow pace though, as the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight was now on and CL Smooth would often take time out to talk between songs, mainly at the people in the front row. After puffing a joint with some fans, he’d pull out just the second song of the entire evening off of his 1994 album, The Main Ingredient, performing “Take You There” and teased bringing out a bottle of Hennessy to really get wild.

Now getting into the classics, CL Smooth would get the crowd chanting along to the hook as he performed his verse from Run-DMC’s “Down With The King,” and for the day-one fans performed “Mecca And The Soul Brother” off the 1991 EP All Souled Out. There would be more talk between songs, as CL Smooth reflected on the quiet but righteous path he took in the music industry vs. the widely publicized path of chaos people like P. Diddy took, now made infamous through the Netflix documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning. He’d use this as a way to introduce the next song, going back to the Mecca And The Soul Brother album with “Straighten It Out.”

CL Smooth would continue to drag out the show by talking to the people in the front row, but eventually we’d get to the big moment the fans were waiting for, as DJ Mercilless played the Tom Scott 1967 cover of “Today,” which we all knew was famously sampled by Pete Rock to create the classic “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.).” That iconic saxophone riff dropped and CL Smooth would effortlessly nail his verses, getting the crowd to sing along to the sax on the hook. While most songs performed were just one verse and a hook, CL Smooth performed “T.R.O.Y.” in its entirety, sitting down on stage as the saxophone sample played him out. Most would think this would be the end of the show, but after some shoutouts and thank-yous, he’d end it with one more song, performing his feature on Pete Rock’s “It’s A Love Thing.”

Overall, while the show felt slow-paced with a lot of extended pauses between songs, it was still a dope time celebrating CL Smooth’s impact on Hip-Hop, with the setlist leaning heavily into Mecca And The Soul Brother. It would’ve been cool to see some more selections from The Main Ingredient get performed, but CL Smooth at least covered the essentials. A true emcee at his core, CL Smooth performed like a professional and nailed every verse he spit, although he may have shown us what it looks like to be too engaged with the crowd, running out the clock by having full conversations with a select group of fans in the front row. Still, the music and performance was authentic, and it’s what Hip-Hop heads came to see.

Big thank you to Supreme Genes Entertainment & Frosted Promo for hooking up the access for this blog to review this show!

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