Sean Paul, Akon, Kardinal Thrills Canadian Fans

WINNIPEG - Hip-hop fans got their money's worth at MTS Centre last night, where four of the genre's heaviest hitters strutted their stuff for some 6,500 adoring fans.
Even better? They saved a whack of cash on plane tickets, since the multi-cultural lineup meant all four performers came from different points on the globe.

But as with air travel, these hip-hop shows can be a tricky business, especially when it comes to staying on schedule. Which is why there's precious little in this review about de facto headliner Akon, since the Senegalese-born rapper didn't make it on stage until past our deadline.

Instead, we'll focus on those acts we did see, starting with Canada's "hip-hop ambassador," Kardinal Offishall.

The Toronto resident was saddled with the unenviable task of serving as warm-up act to the next two warm-up acts, but he made the most of things, whipping the crowd into a frenzy alongside two hype-men, and delivering truncated versions of hits like Go Home With You and The Tide Is High.

That last track (from Offishall's forthcoming album Not 4 Sale, his first for Akon's record label Konvict Music) boasts a vocal sample by Caribbean beauty Rihanna, who's also collaborated with the second act on the roster -- Jamaican dancehall sensation Sean Paul.

The fruit of their labour -- the uber-aggressive Break It Off -- came early in Paul's set.

For the next 50 minutes, Paul swapped heftier numbers like Gimme the Light and Like Glue, with slower, island-tinged tunes like Never Gonna Be the Same and I'm Still In Love With You -- which we're pretty sure he dedicated to the troops; did we mention he talks really, really fast? -- before closing with two of his best-known tracks, the dancehall anthems Get Busy and Temperature.

Up next was Haitian-born Fugees founder Wyclef Jean, who's since carved out an impressive solo career by fusing musical elements from all over the map.

His set last night -- way too short at a mere 35 minutes -- served as a powerful primer, allowing the charismatic trailblazer to skip between tracks from his Creole-flavoured solo debut The Carnival (Guantanamera, We Trying to Stay Alive) to snippets of old Fugees songs (Ready Or Not, Fugee-La) to a reworking of Bob Marley's No Woman, No Cry, to Hips Don't Lie, his landmark duet with Colombian cutie Shakira.

He also found time to mix it up with the crowd (literally) and to serenade one lucky female fan with a fiery electric guitar solo, part of which was executed with the instrument placed in the swooning girl's lap.

As for Akon? Well, the five minutes we managed to catch (remember, deadlines were pretty tight), and judging from his last local appearance -- opening for Gwen Stefani in June 2007 -- he's already got this arena-show thing all sewn up.

Maybe next time, he'll remember to pack a wristwatch.

By DAVID SCHMEICHEL

The Reggae News Agency

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