Canada's urban music scene finally got its due spotlight last Monday at Toronto's Queen Elizabeth Theatre, where over 1,300 people attended the DJ Stylus Awards, the only urban music awards event of its kind in Canada.
Hosted by CP24 Breakfast's Matte Babel and E! Canada's Arisa Cox, the 2009 DJ Stylus Awards were a who's who of the Canadian urban music landscape. Tunes provided by DJ Starting from Scratch kept the notoriously stoic Toronto audience energetic and boisterous throughout the entire ceremony.
Among the night's winners were Kardinal Offishall, who won both Hip Hop Single and International Hip Hop Single of the Year for his song "Dangerous" featuring Akon, DJ Agile's Toronto Love Jay for Mixtape of the Year, DJ Spex for Reggae DJ of the Year and Lissa Monet for Female DJ of the Year.
The event also featured performances by up and coming urban artists. MMVA nominee Danny Fernandes performed his hit "Fantasy" while rappers Famous, Luu Breeze and Page did an impromptu posse cut that was hard and edgy. But the highlight of the evening was Andreena Mill, who, along with producer extraordinaire Saukrates on backup vocals, performed her award winning R&B Single of the Year "You and Tomorrow" accompanied only by a piano. The diminutive songstress' vocals hypnotized the audience and earned her the night's biggest applause.
Meanwhile, Hall of Fame inductee DJ Earl da Pearl from Vancouver was the best dressed person in the room, wearing a red and white checkered jacket with red pants.
The night of celebration was also tempered with social awareness. After a very heartfelt speech by World Vision to help open the DJ Stylus Awards, members of the record label Capital Prophets pledged to the crowd that they would sponsor a child.
© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
