The next day, I wake up early, to meet up with Ian & Komi, Ikenna, PrufRock (most of which I had never met prior to my arrival) at Rideau Mall. On the drive there I get my only sense of what Ottawa seems like, and I got to see the parliament building for literally 5 seconds lol. ...but I was awed by its architecture nonetheless, and made a mental note to come back in get a fuller sense of the city.
I arrive at the mall, say my goodbyes to my cousins and uncle. And welcome and greet everyone. I will be completely and honest and admit, that though I was looking forward to bus ride because it cost me less than a greyhound ticket, and also because I knew Ian was 'cool peoples' and would assume everyone else would be too. After a bit of a wait, we finally get on our way. Ian names me the Dj of the ride... and so it begins.
I wasn't sure which track to start playing, or what they would all enjoy... I will admit I have songs, that may cause a "wtf" reaction after considering the different line-up of artists I have on my ipod (but it's my ipod and it's me, so I don't care, but still..) ...And since I never mastered the art of 1st impressions, I settle to start it off with The new track of: The Foreign Exchange: Maybe She'll Dream of me (see my past post). Everyone starts to nod their heads, I get asked where/how I got a hold of the track, and smile and giggle internally and think to myself: "this is going to be sooo coool!" lol.
What followed was alot of jokes, alot of in depth Hip Hop Talk, Music talk, Emcee talk, Playing then rewinding dope lines from dope tracks. And shaking our heads at the madness of the coherency. AAHH (of course Monster was one of the tracks!)... Everyone's ipod got a fair listen/head-bob during the ride. I was taking it in. So I was quiet.
During the car ride a reoccuring theme would come to be talking about the spoken word pieces that these poets had prepared. It was obvious from how they were talking that they had been doing this for a while. I felt very awkward being there, for many reasons. For one, I was the only female in the car, and my womanly-senses were tingling, second though I wrote pieces, had performed 3 times ever in my life... I was below the level of a newbie. I wasn't too sure how to react, or what to say, but I loved listening to every word. To paint you a picture it was as if these guys were sketching out their game plan, and working on their game faces before their official face offs. It reminded me of my High School Rugby Practice, My track&Field conditioning, and my dance practices. .... I was in awe. It was like heavyweights talking about taking a championship. Some real' heavy-hard-coreness. It felt as though I was a fly on the wall, in a boys locker room... I felt like I was intruding for just being there.. but I found it interesting, I took it all innn, it was almost like a preamble to prep me for what to expect from my first official slam experience.
I made the mistake of drinking sodium-infused no-name water prior to leaving Ottawa, a decision I came to regret, after I prayed we would make the next stop. Let's just say my bladder wasn't very impressed. ...oh did I mention neither were my legs, since I decided to wear shorts. ...it was raining almost the WHOLE time I was in Ottawa, including on the ride back. ...thankfully the AC wasn't on blast, otherwise I would've died.
smh
After some running around We get to Toronto, walk around the city and among the counteless jokes including a tired/angry Robin-looking Batman-street performer, and an undercover b-boy, we eat, and walk 20 blocks to the venue. lol.
We get there and see more than a few toronto familiar faces. A lot of which I've seen on Facebook. Meet some new cool peeps. For some reason, not sure if it's because of this water or not, but I felt incredibly thirsty and by the bar, I hunt for a pitcher of water. I find one, then proceed to grab a cup... only to realize after my first big gulp that it tasted like a cold mop, with Lysol and a hint of chlorine. A girl that was beside me witnesses this, and thus the start of a cool camaraderie.
I recover thanks to a bite from her banana bread, and a sealed bottle of water.. get seated and await the arrival of poets to bless the mic.
...
here we, here we, here we gooooo...
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