Author: Kevin Bourne

Yesterday, LeBron James opened a public school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. The school differs from other celebrity funded schools in that James’ school, an initiative of the LeBron James Family Foundation, will not be a private or charter school, but will operate within the public school system. The school, called I Promise, will be home to 240 at-risk children and may eventually be home to 1,000 students. Children who attend the school may also be eligible for a full scholarship to the University of Akron. James calls the opening of the school the most important accomplishment of his…

DeMar DeRozan finally broke his silence a week after the Toronto Raptors broke the internet by trading him to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for all-star guard Kawhi Leonard. He sat down with ESPN’s Chris Hayes in an extended interview to basically put into words the shade he’d been throwing at Raptors GM Masai Ujiri via social media over the past week. By all accounts, this was DeRozan’s official venting session and most would say he’s rightfully due for one. After nine years with the franchise, DeRozan led the team to the playoffs the last five seasons, making it as…

Last month, I ventured out to the Origin Arts & Community Centre in Ottawa’s Mechanicsville neighbourhood to check out the listening party for hip-hop group Missing LinX. What I saw from Jamaal the Poet, Prufrock, Cheko Salaam and Cannon2X was a sense of brotherhood and pride as they shared their latest project SpaXe Camels (pronounced “sh-pay-sh”). It was six years since their last album and it was worth the wait. My initial thoughts at the listening party were that this should be an award-winning album; Juno, Polaris, whatever. Following their appearance at RBC Bluesfest alongside local hip-hop group Tapas, I…

The world is reacting to news of Demi Lovato’s recent drug overdose. She recently revealed she was no longer sober releasing the song Sober after six years in recovery. Reactions have been mixed. While many are shocked by the news and are extending their thoughts and prayers, some understandably don’t care or are far removed from the situation. Meanwhile, there’s a third group of people who are flat out rude and inconsiderate, and I know why. Our most recent post on our Instagram account was a post about Lovato with lyrics from Sober. To be honest, it garnered the most…

This past weekend would’ve marked the 64th birthday of comedy legend, Robin Williams, who died almost four years ago from suicide. As fans, we had no idea what he was going through, but in private he was fighting a bout with depression. Since then we’ve lost a number celebrities to suicide. This year alone we’ve lost at least two more- Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and fashion designer and entrepreneur Kate Spade. For years rappers have been candid about their battles with depression and suicidal thoughts, from Kid Cudi to Joe Budden. XXXTentacion, who was recently killed in his home state…

If you’re into rock, RBC Bluesfest 2018 had some iconic names – Bryan Adams, Foo Fighters, and Dave Matthews Band. There were major lineups. People were buzzing. Meanwhile, if you’re into urban music, not so much after three years of being spoiled with the likes of Kanye West, Nas, Chance the Rapper, 50 Cent and Migos. It’s not to say that Rae Sremmurd, Ghostface Killah, Machine Gun Kelly, and Naughty By Nature aren’t icons as well, but you get my point. Perhaps it was in response to last year’s near riot during the Migos concert (which would show fans why…

Trap artists often get flack for following a consistent formula- dreads, drug talk, similar delivery, similar production. And a lot of them lack stage presence. They tend to focus their crowd interraction around some chant that they repeat throughout their show when they don’t know what to say. “Sremm Life!”, “Mi-go!” So when it comes to Rae Sremmurd it was important to find out what made them different. What makes them stars? What makes them special? What makes them unique? What makes them real artists and performers? They started their performance with No Type and No Flex Zone (which meant the…

Throughout all the local hip-hop shows at Bluesfest one thing was consistent- Rita Carter. She was the unofficial cheerleader for local acts. I saw her at all but one show and that was only because her show was happening immediately after. At one of the shows I was introduced to Aspects, her sometimes collaborator who she would be performing with at Bluesfest. With his baseball cap low over his eyes, his many tattoos, and his name, I totally profiled him and assumed he was just a rapper. He ended up being a lot more. Fast forward to their show at…

In the intro to her show, she was described as a woman of extremes. I only saw one side of her on Saturday night- intense. We were also told she just came from busking on the streets in Florida. If that’s true, she earns some serious cool points. She came out wearing a green John Deere hat that completely covered her face until well into her first song, which made just seeing her face an event let alone hearing her music. This was her first time on the road with her own band so even if you had seen her…

Yes, our headline is very cheesy, but there’s so much to love about Ottawa biggest musical success story right now- Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine. As we all know, earlier this year they appeared on CTV’s The Launch and won with their rendition of Ain’t Easy, and the rest is history. I was first introduced to Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine almost a year ago. I was riding in a car with Brian Tong, who has a reputation for knowing what’s hot in Ottawa. He played me some music from local artists who were killing it on Soundcloud yet flying…

One thing I learned at Bluesfest 2018 is some artists are better suited to small intimate venues and others are better suited to the big stage. Local rapper Black Iri$h is for the big stage. I had the opportunity to see Black Iri$h and RBLx perform at Marvest last year and liked what I saw.  Aside from making good music, they were also good performers. That was the beginning of my conversion from being only a boom bap and bars guy to being open to the new wave of hip-hop. Even though I went to his Marvest show, I have…

Thursday night at Bluesfest was for the 80’s and 90’s kids. I gathered as much from the intro of hip-hop group Naughty By Nature. The show opened with a medley of classic songs, including We Will Rock You, before going into probably Naughty By Nature’s second biggest hit of their career, OPP. DJ Kay Gee modernized it a little ad-libbing, “Slide up in the DM’s. Slide up in the DM’s”. Similar to other Bluesfest shows, I was surprised they started with such a big hit right out the gate. After 27 years in the game, Treach and Vin Rock decided to…