Featuring: Dizzy, Haviah Mighty & Jayy Grams – NXNE 2019 Feature
Royal Mountain Records, an independent record label from Toronto, is one of the most groundbreaking indie labels in all of Canada, as well as within the independent music industry. They have signed and built the many careers of each acts, such as Mac Demarco, U.S. Girls, Alvvays, & PUP. The label has partnered up with Exclaim Magazine and NXNE to host a free, all-ages, day party to establish their mental health initiative. The donations from that event would be going to the Royal Mountain Mental Health fund, and it was something that is quite important, within the concept of mental health.
Certain artists that performed at the event were fresh Canadian talent like Toronto’s own Haviah Mighty, and Oshawa, ON’s indie rock band Dizzy. But Baltimore, MD-rapper and Cinematic Records signee Jayy Grams is the one that set it off first with his performance on stage. The Baltimore rapper came to perform a variety of tracks, like 5 AM, Pig’s Theory, a rendition of C.R.E.A.M. by Wu-Tang Clan, and he freestyled to the beat of Pusha T’s Nostalgia. Although he’s quite young for his age, he kept the vibe of old school hip hop alive and made sure that the lyrics were flowing well. His energy and wordplay were up to a ten when he performed. While rocking a gold grill, he managed to maintain his cool and look fly for the crowd, and he managed to spit some nice lyrics to the crowd as well.
After Jayy’s set, Toronto’s own Haviah Mighty came and performed a variety of tracks off her latest, debut album, 13th Floor. Known as being 1/3rd of the female rap collective The Sorority, Haviah proved to the crowd that she can also perform well on her own, and she did with tracks like Wave, For Free, and Fugazi. She brought lots of energy and creativity toward her set, with the way she incorporates singing and rapping, as well as having a rapid flow with unique wordplay, from each song to song. She even brought her sister, Omega Mighty, to perform one of her cuts on the album, called Wishy Washy. She did a variety of things that made her set unique; from rapping laying down to coming to the crowd to perform her set, while dancing and having fun with the crowd, she was the best part of the entire event, due to her strong, positive, energy. Whether on an R&B or a Grime beat, this Toronto spitter can rap quite uniquely.
Finally, Oshawa, ON-based indie rock band and Royal Mountain Records signee, Dizzy performed quite well, with the variety of tracks they played. Katie Munshaw, the female lead singer of Dizzy, as well as three of the brothers of the band (Alex Spencer, Mackenzie Spencer, & Charlie Spencer), held their own with Katie’s soft, soothing vocals backed by the brothers’ in-sync delivery and production, from song to song. The way Munshaw executes her pitches makes it quite unique throughout each song, and she also dances a bit; while dancing, she managed to sway the crowd with tracks like Swim, Stars & Moons, and In Time. Everyone in the crowd seemed relaxed and happy with her soothing vocals and well-delivered atmosphere. Overall, this event was very unique from the opening acts to the headliner and it was something that everyone should enjoy. NXNE will still continue on until June 16th, 2019. You can keep up with the schedule at https://www.nxne.com/schedule
