Sense of Class

Classified's crew rolled into apparently hip-hop starved Waterloo last night, selling out the show and forcing me to fortunately grab an extra ticket on the street. Being their first time ever in the K-dub there was a real sense of excitement within the Starlight.
As Class is a champion of the Canadian hip-hop scene..., it was fitting that he invited the local duo of Justis and Mantis to open the show (along with their DJ Tangiers). Though they have noticeably improved since the last time I caught them (opening for Shad in the same space) their set was still noticeably amateur, and Mantis (who I preferred) didn't have enough mic-time for my liking.
From this point on it was the gang of Nova Scotian artists, and with them did we ever get scoshed! In fact, artists all the following artists will be rated on their level of intoxication.
Spec K was up first and did a decent job of opening the show (after an intro from DJ I.V.). After the openers he seemed much more legit, and receives intoxicating mention by doing a single about weed.
After a short throwback set by DJ I.V., a guitar-wielding artist - Chad Hatcher - took to the stage for some chilled out tunes that seem to go hand-in-hand with the mary-jane. So he gets props for catering to those that were already baked. Even for me (who was not) his singing, rather than rapping, was a welcome change, and it was interesting to hear his lisp practically disappear while singing.
Mic Boyd, Class' brother, was up next and in a similar vein to his bro he spit a few raps - keeping it short citing a ragged throat due to touring and toking. Yet that didn't stop him from being awarded an actual joint in my review, considering he smoked one right there on stage.
The next performer seemed to prefer beer as his intoxicant - and I'll hand him all three beers that he chugged onstage as a rating. J-Bru brought it from the beginning with single Help, I Been Robbed before a slight slow-down as he appeased many in the crowd who had requested his song Rain about his deceased best friend.. After that it was the aforementioned beer chugging and more hard hitting songs.
Finally the time had come for Class to hit the stage. After a fair amount of hype from DJ I.V. and J-Bru the man that everyone had come to see, Luke Boyd, finally emerged. With the entire crew backing him, plus his other younger brother on guitar, and a guy on drums, Classified gave the Waterloo crowd the show they'd been craving. There was a solid mix of tunes from his extensive back catalog such as High School Behaviour, hit Hard to Be Hip Hop, as well as tracks from his latest release Self Explanatory including Get Out the Way, and the introductory tune (though not played first) Up All Night. The set was loose, and saw every rapper step up to the mic, notably Chad Hatcher for the first song he ever collaborated with Class on. To add another dimension to the set Class showed how he actually makes his own beats by making a live re-enactment of his instructional tune Beatin It while actually setting up the beat. Keeping with the rating system, this set had everyone off their head - having lit up countless joints on stage which prompted the crowd to follow suit, I think even I was high from the hotbox, though it may have just been from the performance. To top it all off they rocked through an abbreviated version of popular The Maritimes and shut the whole thing down with the anthem-sampling Oh...Canada which brought the whole place down. Makes you wonder when Class, or any other rappers/hip-hop artists, will next return to the nickel-one-nine to satiate our thirst for it. This show was great and should tide over for a short time - but hopefully we showed Class as good a time as he showed us, to convince him to return asap.