Phem Phat

Props go out to Ebonnie Rowe and her team for putting on another Honey Jam in Toronto this past weekend. In case you are not aware Honey Jam has been an event that has been going on over the past 11 years in Toronto as a showcase for female artists to do their thing. Plenty of artists have come through the showcase in the early parts of their career, some of whom I've written about in the past.

You may or may not know that Nelly Furtado made her breakthrough stage appearance at Honey Jam back in 1997 when she was a part of the trip-hop outfit Nelstar.

A bit off topic, but I always thought the hoopla surrounding Furtado's 'new sound' was a bit weird. Anyone who is familiar with her sonic roots knows that she's always worked and collaborated with hip-hop artists from the beginning despite the fact that the sound wasn't so visible on her early solo albums. That being said it would have been pretty hard to miss the b-girl vibe she projected in her videos despite the fact her music wouldn't be classified as hip-hop.

Back to the topic at hand and other alumni include Jully Black, (who is only beginning to get a sliver of the shine she should have been getting years ago), Divine Brown, Tara Chase, Eternia, Jemeni (who co-hosted on the weekend), the list goes on.

Anyway there were some great performances at the show. Names to watch out for included reggae artist Boogie, Ayah, Jennie Laws and many more. In a show that had two intermissions there are too many too list, but all the artists represented, especially at the freestyle session at the end. Check most of them out right here.