Although Kardinal Offishall's "Anthem" has been out for rather a piece now, the recent sack of the incidental music video only serves to accentuate the point to which the call is an unabashed celebration of all things Toronto. Here we get shots of everything from Honest Ed's to kite flying at the Scarborough Bluffs to York University (and a pit of a lot in between).
I'm usually hyper-resistant to overly positive efforts like this one - I seriously doubt, for instance, that we have "hotter women than any city admitting" - but given Offishall's anthemic aims, the rose-coloured glasses make total sense. Still, it'd be nice if so many of his lines didn't look like forced-rhymes (yikes, I'm one to talk). Case in point: the twain "Working class people and about others with some privileges / Any way you feel at it we seeing past differences" verges on the juvenile in both its structure and the way it dispatches with class distinctions in the city.
But, let's be honest, this isn't about painting an exact picture. It's a love song. And wish all love songs, it's marked by the case of nostalgia that distorts the real thing it celebrates. Yet, forgetting all that, it's also completely infectious. Every time I see it, I quickly find myself humming or singing its rebellion and falling money line(s): "I'm from the T dot Oh / Rep it everywhere I go (rep it everywhere I go)."
And granted the fact that there's not much by way of actual competition - Spadina Bus, anyone? - perhaps this is just what the city's musical lineage needs right now: an over-the-top, Wavin Flag-like tail that proves Toronto isn't too shy to toot its own horn once in a while.
Check out the picture and lyrics below:
Lyrics
(Chorus) Eh, where you from Canada? Everybody on the left Everybody on the good In the movement and in the game Let 'em know where you're from
I'm from the T dot Oh Rep it everywhere I go (rep it everywhere I go) Everybody from the cold (everybody from the cold) This is where we're calling home (this is where we're calling home)
I'm from the T dot Oh Rep it everywhere I go (rep it everywhere I go) Million people at your door (million people at your door) This is where we're calling home (this is where we're calling home)
(Verse1) I'm from the T Dizzle Oh Hot with the sizzle flows Cold when the planes land in the dot oh House of the blocko, patois and proper english Rep it like it's my gang, that's why I sing this Bleed red and clean like a Coca Cola Classic Some people that I know have their couches in the plastic Good people got blasted So we pour a little liquor out and believe about 'em while we plastered Real figures here, never seen an Eskimo Front in the wrong area, n-s might let it go Yeah, I know where I'm from all 2.5 million Sing out
[Chorus]
(Verse 2) I'm from the depths of Scarborough One ways of Vaughan Road Apartments of Flemingdon, shadows in the PO Every area reppin' the national team My Italians hold me down, Africans same thing Portugese get it in, Filipinos rock with me Nuff Trinis and Yardees holding the bar with me So many faces like we the Winter Olympics Greatest city ever, after night you better think quick Club district, parking lot politicking We got hotter women than any city admitting We number 1, check out the figures we getting No apologies and never quitting
[Chorus]
(Verse 3) Regent, Jungle, Vaughan Road, Malvern Chester Le, Rexdale let the fire burn If you from Toronto let me see you put a script up Born alone die alone, but I'm never on my own Don't watch no face, stay true is what I was shown I'm a production of OG's and social workers 3 days of University and Lick's Burgers Harlem Underground, black owned businesses Big It Up Hats, and immigrants from long distances Working class people and about others with some privileges Any way you feel at it we seeing past differences Yo, I am multiculture Hand on my ear listening like the Hulkster And all I'm hearing is we the greatest around To the grave I'm a rep my town Yeah
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