The music, arts and culture events across Toronto celebrate what summer sounds like and marks the genre’s historic milestone, anchored by a live concert experience Manifesto Presents: The Block Party on August 11
Tickets for Manifesto Presents: The Block Party go on sale to the public on Thursday, June 15 at 10 a.m. EST via Ticketmaster
The Manifesto festival of music, arts and culture delivers a historic week-long lineup of events August 7th-13 that celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop through an African diasporic lens, anchored by a blockbuster live concert experience powered by The Block on Friday, August 11th at RBC Echo Beach in Toronto. With a full lineup of performers across two stages, headliners for Manifesto Presents: The Block Party are rap star Aminé and Canadian rap icon Saukrates.
Aminé, a Los Angeles-based musician of Ethiopian and Eritrean descent, is known for his blockbuster multi-platinum hit single “Caroline”, noteworthy collaborations with Offset (Migos), Kehlani, and Young Thug, all the way to his recent critically-acclaimed May 2023 collaborative album Kaytraminé with Grammy-winner Kaytranada that features a who’s of multi-generational urban music legends including Pharrell Williams, Big Sean, Snoop Dogg, and Freddie Gibbs.
Toronto-based triple threat (rapper / producer / singer) performer Saukrates has a considerable catalogue of timeless rap singles dating back to the mid-90s that most diehard hip hop fans and serious music critics acknowledge as being some of the best rap music to come out of Canada. His influence spreads to many of the Canadian urban music megastars of yesterday and today, including Drake - who he worked with early in his career. Equally impressive are his production credits on albums by numerous hip hop icons including Nas and Redman.
Hosted by The Relentless Diaries podcast crew (Zoie, Tresor, Chris), the Manifesto concert stage will also feature a potent blend of live performances from notable Toronto urban music talents of today and tomorrow including Kuruza, SkiiFall, SadBoi, Liza, No Tourists, EB3N and Eleanor. CBC Music's Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe will host The Block Stage, showcasing Canada’s brightest historical and contemporary rap talents including Keysha Freshh, Phoenix Pagliacci, Temia, Vince the Messenger, and Clairmont the Second.
Tickets for Manifesto Presents: The Block Party are available Thursday, June 15 at 10 a.m. EST via Ticketmaster with special CBC Music, Manifesto and Live Nation presales starting tomorrow.
In addition to the CBC Music stage in Toronto, The Block, CBC Music's home for music of Black origin - hosted weekdays by Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe - is celebrating 50 years of hip hop by airing 50 stories over 50 days - focused on an artist, event or significant moment in hip hop history. Starting last week, these 50 stories air nationwide each night on The Block on CBC Music until August 11.
To close out this special evening of live music, on August 11th Manifesto’s official after-party starts at 10pm, featuring four local DJs and takes place at Nomad, an ultra modern social club pushing the boundaries of music & entertainment.
The full week of Manifesto festival programming begins its unique rollout on August 7th with part one of the Music Summit taking place on the Empress boat, in partnership with CIMA and Music Ontario, to capture the pre-existing Caribana energies in the air on this particular weekend. This year’s programming slate includes two highly informative panel discussions; one tied to the influence of Caribbean culture on Hip Hop, with the other providing indie artists with the right tools to succeed in today’s music marketplace. Day two of the summit on August 8th will offer up topical hands-on hip hop culture workshops.
The mission of Manifesto has always been to provide accessible high-quality arts programming and a platform for emerging artists to showcase their skills, and this year is no different. The festival celebration continues at Yonge and Dundas Square on August 12th with a free admission Block Party – in partnership with the Black Talent Initiative and Speedy Transport – where a full day of programming tied to hip hop culture’s five main “elements” will include live music performances, DJ’s spinning tracks to reflect the five decades of hip hop’s musical output, a breakdancing battle and curated dance performances, live graffiti, a hip hop photo exhibit, and numerous vendors on site tied to the culture.
Come celebrate Manifesto’s Hip Hop 50th Anniversary edition featuring a classic lineup that seamlessly blends African diaspora superstars with some of Canada’s finest homegrown world class talents! For more information visit www.mnfsto.ca.
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About Manifesto Community Projects
Founded in 2007, Manifesto is one of Canada’s premier contemporary youth arts and culture platforms, producing carefully curated programming in music, visual arts, dance and more for over 15 years – through concerts, art shows, block parties, workshops, summits, pop ups, and of course our flagship Manifesto Festival of Community & Culture.
Prioritizing the Black community, we put a focus on cultivating local arts, culture and community both on and off stage – by providing platforms for local artists to grow, enriching experiences and content for young people to share, and inspiring spaces for young creatives to connect with each other.
Started and run by young people, the festival, organization itself and our year-round activities have helped create countless volunteer, internship and employment opportunities – powering a multi-disciplinary talent and training incubator for future leaders. Building careers, fostering community connections and fuelling civic pride – all while contributing to the vitality of the city we love.
About Live Nation Entertainment:
Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Media & Sponsorship. For additional information, visit www.livenationentertainment.com.
About CBC Music
CBC Music is the leading curator of emerging and diverse Canadian music talent across platforms, playing the most Canadian artists and genres on radio, CBC Listen and cbcmusic.ca. CBC Music prioritizes Canadian artists in a wide variety of genres on over 200 playlists available on CBC Listen, and publishes daily national music coverage. CBC Music Live features live music recordings from across the country. Our music partnerships and events include The JUNOS, the Polaris Music Prize, Searchlight, and The Canadian Music Class Challenge.
The Block with host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe is Canada's home for music of Black origin. Listen weeknights at 7PM (7:30 NT) on CBC Music radio and CBC Listen.
Media contacts:
For Manifesto:
Dalton Higgins
For CBC:
Teaghan Hawke, CBC PR
