Summer Jam Canada 2010: Recap, Photos, Videos

Summer Jam Canada 2010. It would be the first one. A mega concert event, piggybacking on the legacy of the fabled Hot 97 Summer Jam concert series, which for more than 10 years, has become the standard bearer for large scale, radio-led summertime hip hop and R&B concert events. It was being held at Bingemans, an enormous outdoor camping resort, located about an hour and a half outside of Toronto, and would have radio backing (91.5 The Beat), local favorite DJs/MCs hosting, local up-and-comers opening up the bill, and massive headliners, some of the game’s brightest stars, Fabolous, Rick Ross, T-Pain and the inimitable Busta Rhymes. And the people would come from all throughout the Northern land to witness the birth of a new tradition.

—> Click here to view a full photo gallery from Summer Jam Canada 2010 <—

In fact, aside from a bit of the frantic, semi-organized madness that accompanies any such large-scale concert event, and the fact that perhaps the out-of-the-way proximity hindered the attendance levels, the event had to feel like a victory on several levels. For the promoters, who fended off the strong possibility of rain, the tackling capture of a man by police on the festival ground hillside, one almost-altercation in the crowd, and a couple of technical glitches, to stage an event of this magnitude, particularly in this genre, and have it come off as well as it did, had to be a relief. For hip hop, it’s always a good look when a large group can assemble peacefully, and enjoy a large event with good music. For New York hip hop, which is of course our main concern and why we attended, it is interesting and enjoyable to witness a (technically) foreign nation’s hip hop audience respect, enjoy and revere our NY hip hop icons, such as Fabolous and headliner, Busta Rhymes.

We were so proud.

Equally as impressive was the Teflon Don himself, Rick Ross and our personal favorite of the night, the energetic, cleverly humorous, auto-tune wizard hit-making  machine that is Teddy-Pain. I say this with all honesty, though Busta definitely tore it down, T-Pain was right there in terms of energy, nostalgia and pure entertainment factor. A great performer.

Nevertheless, Canada will need a couple more years to get their Summer Jam up to our level.

As alluded to, there were some clear missteps by event organizers. In one example, a mis-communication left three women from dance crew Team Jump Off, who were supposed to be allowed a vendor’s table,  sulking in the parking lot, unable to sell the bottled water they brought. It was part of their ongoing fund raising efforts to start an urban arts center in the area, but unfortunately, their U-Haul truck filled to the rim with bottled water, was never allowed in.

Additional mini-events, scheduled and promoted, were simply absent, including a basketball competition which was to showcase a dunk and 3-point contest. An onstage dance competition with competing crews did go off as planned, and local openers, including JD Era, J Diggz and vocalist Dylan James certainly did an adequate job of warming up the crowd.

Oh, and the “Best Ass” contest. Not bad, eh?

All in all, it was an enjoyable event, one that lasted all day and night, starting in early afternoon and finally wrapping up around 11pm. Many area residents who were thrilled that such an event occurred in their normally-quieter surroundings, were left hopeful that this would be the first of many large-scale hip hop concerts to roll through the area.

We’d like to extend a thank you to Jason Paul and the Summer Jam Canada staff for inviting us to the event, a thumbs up to DJ Capone and MC Crazy Chris who did admirable jobs holding down hosting and DJ duties, and an extra special thank you to Erin Lang, of Transitions Photography, who worked tirelessly during the day and night to help photograph the event.

—> Click here to view a full photo gallery from Summer Jam Canada 2010 <—

Below, T-Pain performs “Rap Song,” his new single from upcoming album, Revolver, at Summer Jam Canada 2010.