Putting rap on the local map
Some historical hip-hop hotspots for Ron Nelson, the “godfather” of the Toronto scene
APACHE STUDIOS AND BEAT FACTORY RECORDS (1)
Nelson operated one of the first hip-hop recording studios, called Apache, in the basement of his home. Artists would record three songs and send the tape to “every single record label that you could think of in the States,” he says. Meanwhile, Ivan Berry founded Beat Factory Records in Pickering. Nelson persuaded him to relocate to a second studio in Nelson’s home. Canadian hip-hop duo Dream Warriors recorded 1991’s And Now the
Legacy Begins there. It sold 800,000 copies.
VICTORIA PARK SECONDARY (2)
In high school, Nelson built a radio station in the school cafeteria. He set up a sound system, with speakers linked by a 400-foot-long wire to a console in a theatre arts studio. “There was no Bluetooth or wireless. But it worked.” He scheduled “wannabe DJs” to play music in the morning, at lunch and after school. It helped him get into Ryerson’s RTA media program.
CONCERT HALL (3)
In the late ’80s, Nelson created “Monster Jams,” concerts to promote Canadian artists. He would rent venues such as the Concert Hall or the Spectrum on Danforth, book 10 crews or artists and hire an MC. Then he’d “promote it to the streets.” He calls it the first exposure on stage for many artists, though only a few were signed in those early days, including Dream Warriors, Michie Mee and Maestro. “It was a slap in the face.”
JORGENSON HALL (4)
Nelson was hired by CKLN in 1983 on his first day at Ryerson, at age 20. He was fired almost as quickly after playing funk and rap. The station’s program directors favoured punk and New Wave. Nelson says he was “playing too much black music.” Within a couple of months he returned, with the Fantastic Voyage Program. He left in 2011.
PARTY CENTRE (5)
Nelson held many events at the centre, now a condo building. The late Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G., performed there with the Sunshine sound crew. So did Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock of “It Takes Two” fame. “That place had its own urban history,” says Nelson. The two-storey building could hold 1,000 people.