It's Hard To Be A Hip-Hop Fan In This City

So when I woke up from my two and a half hour nap this afternoon I checked my phone and found out that Kid Sister's show this coming Monday is cancelled. I was already preparing for this news when I saw Vancouver left off a tour poster, but I’m still pretty bummed out about it. I don't know why the show was cancelled and I'm not mad at Kid Sister (I mean, she even apologized to us over Twitter!) The thing that I am annoyed about is how this is just another in a series of disappointments in the sad life of a hip-hop fan in Vancouver.

Whether you're talking about some mainstream artists, something more underground, or even some of that hipster bullshit you don't get many opportunities to go out and see rappers live around here. I don't know if it's because the market just isn't big enough, or if it's because Canada has a notorious reputation for being hard as hell on rappers trying to cross the border, but a lot of big names seem to not even bother. And even when they do try you never really know if the show is going to happen. For example, that disaster with the Young Money Tour back in August when the show was cancelled about an hour before show time.

You know what else irks me? We live in a pretty culturally diverse city of well over 500 000 people and it's pretty hard to find one good hip-hop night at a club on a weekend. We have two top 40 radio stations and not one dedicated Urban station. Instead we get something like two hours (don’t quote me on that number) of programming devoted to hip-hop a week. What I'm saying is, it sucks. And I'm not just complaining because I don’t get to see big names in American hip-hop, that lack of support has to have some negative effect on Canadian acts as well (Wheelchair Jimmy excluded). So let's hope that this Friday's Jay-Z show goes off without a hitch so I can get my fix for the year.

To tie this post up I'm throwing an old Kid Sister track out there to put me and whoever else is reading this in a better mood. Make sure you buy her album on November 17th (Or you know, whenever it actually comes out).

Kid Sister - Family Reunion (Feat. David Banner)