Advertisement

Music

AVA: Aubrey’s Vth anniversary

In any other city, the mayor’s annual party would be a celebration of the city as a cultural force, and the biggest hip-hop festival a controversial event with potential for bizarre spectacle and worst behaviour. In Toronto, it’s the very reverse thanks to October’s Very Own, Aubrey Drake Graham.

OVO Fest (not to be confused with Ovu-Fest, a pagan fertility celebration that happens every solstice somewhere in Oregon) comes back for its fifth birthday this weekend with sky-high expectations. The return of Outkast to a Toronto stage for the first time in more than 10 years should be enough to attract every fiend from here to Halifax, but Drake’s penchant for surprise guest stars has put the hype for this weekend’s show over the top.

A lot of ink has been spilled on who might appear (Iggy? Macklemore? David Soknacki riding a burro?), but the show’s almost perfect record so far might have spoiled fans. How can Drizzy top himself, given what we’ve already seen? Here are three of the most iconic moments so far, and how he might supersede them.


1) Eminem and the still hyphenated Jay-Z show up unannounced at the first OVO in 2010. The presence of the kings lets the whole world know this is an event (and kid) to watch.

How to top it Get some real royalty onstage. Prince just celebrated the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain. I bet it would take about three seconds of Let’s Go Crazy before the crowd obliged.


2) In 2011 Stevie Wonder takes to the keys and in a half-hour, almost completely uninterrupted set reminds everyone that you don’t get to use the stage name “Wonder” without keeping your chops sharp.

How to top it Find someone with an even more boastful nom de plume. Get Joey Bada$$, give him a keyboard and let him destroy it with a lead pipe while he raps. (I don’t think he plays.) Better yet, make it Notorious B.I.G. The only thing more impressive than a blind man making everyone see would be making Life After Death a real thing.


3) The white-hot Nicki Minaj arriving for a Young Money love-in in 2012, calling Drake her husband while they duetted on some of their biggest label hits.

How to top it Don’t settle for one token female: get all the women you can. Rihanna. Erykah. Missy. Lauren. Azealia.

Mary J. Bey. Wasn’t it Drake who said Girls Love Beyoncé, after all?

OVO Fest with Outkast, Drake and special guests at Molson Amphitheatre (909 Lake Shore West), Sunday and Monday (August 3 and 4), 7 pm. $49.50-$299.50, LN, TM.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted