Toronto A.K.A Panamania: Tessanne Chin

The year of 2015 will go down in history for the City of Toronto.

Courtesy of Instagram @leighazon

Most North Americans and Caribbean's know that the 2015 Pan American Games are being held in the Canadian city Toronto, and if you didn’t know, now you know.

The city has been buzzing with tourist from all over the world who have come to watch the games, some knowing and some who just came to Toronto on vacation at the right time. because of all the tourists, the city of Toronto has gone out of it’s way to make the city appear exciting and energetic, with cool new statues, like the big ‘Toronto ‘ in front of city hall and free events held all over the city.

Courtesy of Instagram @astroroy

At least once a week a free concert is held in front of Toronto’s City Hall, with headlining artists from different countries within the Pan American region, as well as cultures acts from the Americas. I recently saw Tessanne Chin, an up and coming singer from the island of Jamaica, perform in the heart of the city.

If you don’t know who Tessanna Chin is, she is the Jamaican artist who got her big break after winning season 5 of the hit show The Voice, as a contestant on Adam Levine’s team. If there is one thing Jamaicans are famous for, it is supporting one another. To say that Toronto’s Jamaican/ West Indian community came out to support Tessanne would be an understatement. The support of Toronto was real; people from all nationalities and cultures came out to hear her beautiful voice see her perform live.

Courtesy of Instagram @janaydw

Tessanne performed a medley of songs from her album Count on My Love. During her performance she did a Bob Marley tribute, singing 'Redemption Song', along with a dedication to Whitney Houston, by singing 'I Will Always Love You'. You should also check out her new song ‘Fire' from her album.

Tessanne's performance, along with the exciting acts that are to come within the next two weeks, al aid in creating an amazing atmosphere within the city. Toronto has always been a hub of exhilarating festivals  and events, and the Panamania concerts are a well-welcomed addition to the city for the summer. 

To find out when someone Panamania events are happening, check out Toronto 2015’s website.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Andy Warhol Invades Toronto

A couple days ago, a good friend and myself decided to go visit the Andy Warhol exhibit in Toronto.

Andy Warhol: Revisited is a Warhol exhibition in Toronto that provides an engaging and educational walk through of the development of Warhol 's artistic language and it's greater effect on culture.  The exhibition brought Warhol 's most recognized pieces to he city.

This was my first time ever going to an art exhibit, so this was a new experience for me. The price to get into the exhibit is $10 but if your a student, like myself all you have to do is show your student ID and you pay $5.

To be totally honest with you, I recently discovered who Andy Warhol is. I knew he was a famous artist, but through my school course that I'm doing I learned he had/ still has a very big impact in the art world and also pop culture.

Out of all the amazing painting a and prints that were on display at the museum, I would have to say that the Energy Power painting was my favourite. Something about the painting caught my attention compared to all the others, especially when I read the little article that went wit it. 

" The painting portrays a hand cradling a symbol of a nuclear war which was a looming anxiety shared by the Americans at the time. The quick gestural lines along with the stark black and white contrasting colors serve to convoy a sense of visual and further highlight the anxiety at the time."

You have until December 31st to come and see the exhibit. If you live in the Toronto area or will be visiting soon, I recommend you go and check it out. 

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Beautiful Barcelona! Part 2

On our second day of being in Barcelona, we decided to  try and find the beach. Even though it was to cool to go swimming in the ocean, as a Canadian being able to go to a beach in the middle of February is a huge thing so we headed out and started walking.

While heading to the beach we stumbled onto so many things.

Luckily for us, we were in Barcelona during their Barcelona Light Festival 2015. during the day they have Fiesta de Santa Eulalia, which is Barcelona's biggest festival for children where they have plays with life size puppets that take up to 5 people for it to work.  Saint Eulalia is a patron of  Barcelona.

As soon as night fall happens, a new parade is started called Firework Small Devils, where little children walk in parades holding fire crackers at an end of a stick parading throw the streets of Barcelona to the sound of bands beating their drums.

It was an experience to watch all of this especially because it was a surprise to us, since we didn't know what was happening.

 Along with being able to see the amazing festivities in Barcelona, we stumbled upon the cities beautiful cathedral, Catedral de Barcelona 

And then we finally made it to the beach!!

It was amazing a beautiful and also weird to be on a beach in the middle of February in Barcelona, Spain in 10 degree weather. IT WAS AWSOME!

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure 

Accueillir à Strasbourg, France// Wecome to Strasbourg, France

So I've landed in Strasbourg France, where i'll be staying for majority of my study abroad program.

If you've ever been to Strasbourg, then you know why I love this city so much already, and if you haven't been here yet, come, it is so worth the time, money and energy

For those of you who don't know where or what is Strasbourg, " Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany..." (Wikipedia)

Strasbourg is a beautiful city that's had it's ups and downs being so close to the border of Germany during the wars, so it has a big French/German influence all throughout the city, from the local language to the architecture.

When you come to Strasbourg, you have to stay at the Château de Pourtalès, not just because i'm staying here, because you get to stay in a beautiful 18th century Castle , where historian like Napoleon III and the First Lady Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden have graced the presence of the Chateau during it's lifetime.

Château de Pourtalès

The one thing you HAVE to do when you come to Strasbourg is visit the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg, it's a beautiful church with most of it's original work still in place after going through two world wars. You can check out it the Astronomical Clock, that was made in the 1800 by Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué. Also if you want a beautiful view of the whole city of Strasbourg you should climb the tower of the cathedral, it's a steep walk but it's all worth it once you get to the top.

The top of Cathedrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg overlooking the City of Strasbourg

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

#TBT Throwback Thursday// The Internet, SZA, Jhene Aiko

It's Thursday and you know what that means, it's Throwback Thursday.

This Thursday i'm throwing it back to Jhene Aiko's Enter the Void Tour at Sound Acadmy with The Internet and SZA as her opening acts.

It was my first time going to a all general admission venue in the winter and to be honest it might be my last, cause it was freezing outside waiting for the doors to open, but besides that the concert was amazing.

The concert started with The Internet opening the show. If you don't know who The Internet are they are their own group part of the  Odd Future clan. Their lead singer Syd the kyd, is the sister of Taco, Tyler the Creators right hand man and she is also one of Odd Futures producers.

I would say that The Internet's music is more of a jazzy blues sound, if you listen you most of the Odd Future artist music beside Frank Ocean, they are the total opposite.
Besides that they set a good vibe to the opening of the concert.

here's a little video I took of them performing.


After The Internet's performence, the beautiful first lady of Top Dawg SZA came out.
If you haven't heard of SZA, I would say start listening, she's blowing up BIG.

If you've been to a SZA concert then you know she is full of life and is constantly moving on stage, i've seen Instagram videos and Youtube videos of her performing, and the Turn up is real with her.

I even caught a video of her singing and dancing to COCO


She sang some songs off her S EP and also her See.SZA.Run EP, with hits like Advil, Babylon, Castles and Teen Spirit, the crowd didn't want her to leave.

And then the lady of the night came out, looking oh so beautiful.
Jhene Aiko looks as pretty in person as she does in all her photos, and you could tell she is so down to earth.

She performed everything, from her Souled Out album to her Sailing Souls EP.
She even took a female audience members phone while performing Lying King and sang to their ex-boyfriend on the phone.

Jhene Aiko is a real artist and she sound the same live as she does on her records, I would soo pay to watch her perform again, especially if she has this line up again.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

NXNE Festival // Volunteer

As some of you may know, there is a festival held annually every June in Toronto, Canada called NXNE, which  is a Music, Film, Interactive, Art and Comedy Festival.

You may have heard of the festival held every year in Houston, Texas called SXSW which is the same thing as NXNE, but held in Canada.

NXNE has been happening in Toronto since 1995, and has been getting bigger and bigger every year while bringing many artist to the city of Toronto. Some artist that have performed at NXNE are: Ludacris, A$AP Ferg, Danny Brown, Run The Jewel, and Spoon, just to name a few. The festival brings about 13,000 people from outside of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) to Downtown Toronto to come and see performances or conferences.

Krazy Drayz

This year I was able to sign up as a Volunteer at the Festival and was placed at one of their bigger venues. Younge-Dundas Square is the heart of Toronto and is where NXNE keeps their free performances for the city to watch, which usually holds well-known performers from around the world.

As a volunteer I was selling merchandise and interacting with the guest who attended. I would recommend everyone to volunteer at music festivals, you get to meet the coolest people who you wouldn't meet on an everyday basis and you also get to discover bands and artists who you never knew about before.

You also get to see some cool Toronto native merchandise and clothing.

Merchandise from Aloha and other artists

 PLUS, a bonus for volunteering and going to music festivals is you never know who you'll run into. You guys remember ASTRO from America's Got talent..? well he preformed at NXNE at YDS and guess who got a picture with him?... ME!

Me and Astro

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure