You may wonder why local MC and producer Kardinal Offishall appears for a split second in Estelle's "American Boy" video (the one featuring Kanye West), but the two go way back. Kardi originally appeared on the British singer's 2004 remix single, "Don't Talk," and Estelle—née Fanta Swaray—became part of Kardi's Black Jays collective in 2006. Estelle and Kardinal Offishall collaborated again (with Mark Ronson producing) for the track "Magnificent," which appears on her latest......

Quick, what's the one thing you want from Kanye West? A new, spectacular album? No. Perhaps a free concert at Nathan Phillips Square? Wrong again. If you're being completely honest with yourself, what you really want is for Kanye West to start his own travel website. Who the hell needs Expedia anyway? Kanye's site has everything the big boys don't offer, like a low-resolution scan of his latest album's artwork splashed across the top......

Fans of the French electro scene are having the best week ever. First, DJ duo Justice arrived in Toronto to play a sold-out concert at The Sound Academy on Monday, and now their friend/artistic collaborator So Me is opening an exhibition, Portraits, this Friday, March 21 at Studio Gallery (294 College Street, above the Savannah Room). So Me is Bertrand de Langeron, the man behind Justice's outstanding music videos for "D.A.N.C.E." and "DVNO. He......

Dundas Square gets a lot of flak for being a cold and soulless expanse of commercial neon and grey granite, and in a new music video for local singer-songwriter-producer Colin Munroe, it still is! But in this case, it's appropriate for his fantastic cover of Kanye West's mediocre "Flashing Lights" track. Directed by Toronto-based street artist, musician, and director Philip Sportel, the super-low-budget video effectively dulls the square down into a generic, industrial, underpopulated......

Do you love the music of Daft Punk? Perhaps you hate it. Whatever your feelings on their music, we all know it's better without Kanye West shouting pointlessly over the top. Er, actually, we meant for that sentence to go: whatever your feelings on their music, you might be interested in seeing Daft Punk’s new film, Electroma, which will be screening at midnight, December 7, at the Royal Theatre (608 College Street) as it......

Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for? Austinist was in an entertainment state of mind as they covered the dickens out of the Austin Film Festival, depicted all the Big 12 football coaches as South Park characters, and interviewed Jose Gonzalez. Chicagoist talked about the passion as they bid adieu to Bell......

Night time is the right time when you've got an inch to get up. Dundas West & Bloor. Check out the link for more.......

Okay, so, this week it’s definitely the Oscars! Everyone you know is probably all excited and arranging Oscar parties because, you know, Jon Stewart is presenting! He’ll be all edgy spelt with a ‘3’ and probably insult George Bush or something! Will he mention Cheney shooting a lawyer again? OMG that dude is the funny! Expect a muted performance from Stewart, so muted, in fact, that you’ll wonder if he’s wearing a ball gag. This......

In the year that the popularity of the ringtone might have outweighed the popularity of the single, Toronto-I-S-T comes up with the top ten songs that mattered in 2005. 1. Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - "Welcome to Jamrock" Called "the reggae song of the decade" by the New York Times, "Welcome to Jamrock" is the cross-over hit that shouldn't be: Unlike his contemporaries, Marley the youngest didn't have to employ an RnB hook from Beyonce......

A cleverly-mounted billboard with a comment on the successfully arrogant rapper. He ain't messing with no broke broke. At Front and Bathurst. Local artist Fauxreel first liberated this billboard by painting it white, then pasting it with his own images of Kanye West on it, and then photographed it.......

Kanye West? He was okay. His DJ, A-Trak? Now that fool can spin! After the West affair at the Air Canada Centre, former Montrealer A-Trak and his avant-gardish music troupe arrived the Kanye-Afterparty at Revival without a clear strategy. There was a drum, some keyboards, a table, and a lady shaking a shaker. A-Trak mentioned that there was no precedent for this act, and that they had just been experimenting with live DJ-percussion sets......

There's a breeze in the air, and a million things to do before winter wraps its claws around you. Get out there! - Shock and awk at the El Mo tonight, as unfunnyfunnyman Neil Hamburger takes the stage. 9pm and ten bucks. - South African hip hop phenom Tumi and the Volume make a double stop in Toronto. They poetry slam tonight, and play Harbourfront's Culture Shock fest for free on the morrow. They say:......

Well, The Toronto International Film Festival is over for another year, and even the Torontoists who were deeply involved are breathing a sigh of relief, either getting back to normal life or letting themselves to finally succumb to stress based illnesses. Some final updates, however, with a round of reviews to let you know what you should or shouldn’t have missed, and what you should look out for in the future. Evil Aliens Evil......

It's been a bizarre ride on the promotional side of things for Kanye West of late. After a poorly attended Getting Up Festival, a few random gum purchases and a quick little dust up at FLOW 93 last week, the rapper might be better off sticking to the MuchMusic stage for his next trip to Toronto. Or, even better, let his albums do the talking. Late Registration, released next week but in our hands today,......

Kanye West, in town for a little Getting Up and dropping his Late Registration soon, was spotted Sunday night in and around Queen and John. Here is what has been reported to Torontoist: umm i saw [Mr West] at a convenience store next to the sohomet, i dont know what he was buying, gum i think?? Our correspondent was buying Mountain Dew at the time of the sighting.......

A relatively light upcoming week in shows still has some fine musical happenings to help you kill time while waiting for the apocalypse. And curiously, all on the waterfront. Harbourfront's excellent summer festival schedule continues Friday through Sunday with T.O. Twang, billed as "Toronto's first and only alt.country festival". In addition to musical performances from such excellent acts as The Sadies, Carolyn Mark, Billy Joe Shaver, Elliot Brood, Luther Wright & the Wrongs and The......

The Getting Up Festival really got up. On August 13-14, the hip hop music festival brings in Nas, Kanye West, Ciara, Mos Def, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Ludacris, Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz, Keshia Chante, Brooke Valentine, Rascalz, Kardinal Offishal and mo'. Though not entirely clear, the music has something to do with an Atari video game of the same name. The event will be directed by Toronto-bred director, Lil X. The festival will......

There were few surprises in the Torontoist Single of the Year list, and there are even fewer surprises in our album list. The record of the year spot, even before its release date of Sept. 14, is on lock down with those post-baroque screamo Montrealers, The Arcade Fire. Surprises abound in other lists, but here at Torontoist, we are strictly meat and potatoes, best of the best. Peace on Earth, ba-rump-abump-abump-bump. (P.S. Witness how Torontoist......