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

#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

OVO Fest 2014// OutKast Day 1

As many of you might know the first weekend in August in Toronto is the busiest and I would say BEST weekend in the city because so much is happening.

Some of the major festivals that were happening are:

• VELD Music Festival
• OVO Fest
• Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival aka Caibana
• Taste of the Danforth 

Unfortunately I was only able to to go one of these events and that was Day 1 of OVO Fest.

For those of you that do not know what OVO Fest is, it is an annual 2-Day music festival that is held in Toronto at the Molson Amphitheater hosted by the oh so talented, Toronto born and raised artist Drake.

OVO  Fest (OVO means Octobers Very Own) has been happening 4 years in a row now, and has brought tremendous amount of tourist and visitors to the city of Toronto.

Beautiful scenery of Toronto

In previous years artist like Jay Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Rick Ross and more artists have preformed at OVO Fest for the people of Toronto.

The tickets for OVO Fest, I would say are reasonably priced if you buy them they day they get released or around that time. I got ticket to the lawn section, which aren't as bad as they sound, you could see everything perfectly from there. plus everyone either brought blankets to sit on or just sat on the grass chillin' until the performances started.

YG Opened up for OutKast rapping his hottest hits like Bickin Back Being Bool, My N***a, and my guilty pleasure Toot it and Boot it. he sent a positive vibe through the crowd and got everyone excited and pumped up about OutKast.

OutKast performance was one of the best performances I've seen. From the start it was crazy energy until the end. Andre 3000 aka 3 Stacks came out with his legendary blond wig and a black jumpsuit, while Big Boi was decked out in his usual. They preformed all their greatest songs like: B.O.B, Roses, Prototype, and Int'l Players Anthem.

All in all, next year I will surly make sure I buy the 2-Day tickets for OVO and If your just going to be in Toronto just for the weekend, it surly is worth the while to go.

Of course I couldn't leave without getting an OVO Fest T-shirt and an OutKast one

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