Hip Hop Venues In Toronto

So lately I have been getting a few emails from rap artist who live in Toronto.

They are finding it hard to locate venues in Toronto where they can perform, and wanted to know if I can help them out by providing them with a Venue list.

Now, Toronto is an amazing city with amazing talent especially when it comes to their independent/underground rappers. What I like about rappers from Toronto is that for the most part they respect the traditional hip hop sound and culture. Toronto rappers are not much into creating hip hop tracks glorifying cars, money, jewelry, and hoes; this is what I have noticed. There are a few that do it, but the majority of them don’t.

So when you visit Toronto you can find a slew of their rapper performing what we call real hip hop, and this is what will contribute to pushing that raw hip hop sound forward. With that being said i have decided to answer back all the emails with a list of Toronto hip hop venues. Keep in mind that these venues host strictly rap music or have hip hop nights once a month, and I hope that more venues open it’s doors to our music and culture in the near future.

I had my interns search the net for the best venues in Toronto that hosts hip hop shows and hip hop performances. They have also added the venues they’ve seen rap performances at. The list is below.

Drake Underground
www.thedrakehotel.com
1150 Queen St. West
Capacity: 200
Styles: singer-songwriter, lounge, indie, sometimes hip hop.

El Mocambo

www.elmocambo.com

462 Spadina Ave.
Capacity: two floors- 200 down, 350 up
Styles: rock, indie-rock, hip-hop

The Mod Club

www.themodclub.com

722 College St. West
Capacity: about 500
Styles: indie-rock, Brit pop, rock, soul/R&B, DJ, hip hop (Sometimes)

This club does have hip hop acts sometimes, but mostly hip hop acts with bands and sometimes dj’s. This is more of an intimate spot…they have hosted comedy, spoken work, and occasional rap performances.

Sound Academy

Home

11 Polson St.
Capacity: about 3000 for shows
Styles: DJ, hip hop, dance, rock, pop, metal

Gladstone Hotel

http://www.gladstonehotel.com/

1214 Queen St W.

Styles: indie, pop, jazz, hip hop

Wrongbar

http://wrongbar.com/wb

1279 Queen St W.

Posted By: Jay Brown