It may seem cliché to refer to a line from the 1999 Dead Prez track “Hip-Hop” – "It's bigger than hip-hop” – in describing Toronto's Manifesto Festival. But the classic hip-hop quotable is an apt descriptor for the annual community and culture event.
"There was an imbalance in how the media portrays hip-hop,” says festival founder and executive director Che Kothari. “[We were] looking to change the conversation." In general, Toronto, and Canada, tend to have somewhat of an inferiority complex when it comes to supporting its own, Kothari notes. "Our own stories are so rich and so important, but we aren't telling them. What we wanted to do is create a local star structure to tell local stories of local people. "
Spearheaded by Kothari and a team of passionate Toronto-based hip-hop heads, Manifesto was conceived in 2007 with a mission to leverage the power of the art form as a platform for social change. While the festival is known for its huge outdoor concert in Toronto’s downtown core, showcasing heavyweight hip-hop headliners – past artists have included the Roots, Rakim, k-os, Shad and Talib Kweli – Manifesto was created to be much more than that.
Featuring concert headliner Pharoahe Monch, this year’s programming for the three-day event (Sept. 21-23) also focuses on connecting the cultural dots between Canadians via panel discussions, keynote speakers and mentoring opportunities.
"There are a lot of young people who don't know who they are,” says Kothari. “We really wanted to look at ways to empower them. We're bringing together hip-hop communities [because] it's important to remember that there's more than one hip-hop community.”
For Kothari, the power of hip-hop, he notes, really hit home at age 11, when he attended a hip-hop concert at Canada's Wonderland. Watching names like the Fugees, Busta Rhymes and Cypress Hill in concert made Kothari realize the energy of the art form. And listening to hip-hop pioneers such as KRS-One and Public Enemy reinforced this line of thinking.
Considering “hip-hop” means "to know" and "to move," the genre, at its fundamental roots, is about knowledge, Kothari says. "I recognize hip-hop as a predominant culture of our time right now. There are so many art forms that have been tied to social change."
Ultimately, the volunteer-operated festival is a platform for positivity and bringing together artists with a shared voice.
“[We're] breaking down the silos and accelerating social evolution from a collective standpoint,” says Kothari.
"It's all connected. That's where our mandate really comes from, to empower young people through culture – self-knowledge, self-love, self-actualization – to see themselves as really important. It's about identity and providing youth culture with the tools to express themselves, be it dance, music, film and culinary arts. It's more than just the music."
It's bigger than hip-hop indeed.
The sixth annual Manifesto Festival takes place in Toronto from Sept. 21 to 23. Here's a video promoting last year's event and expressing the Manifesto mandate:
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