Toronto
kebo
08.00

"There is a fine line between being proud and hypocrisy"

After being in Toronto for 4 days last week, that statement rings loudly. For sum reason, the Americans, as it was put too often, seem to be made out to be all bad. Fortunately me and my *hushbox road dawg represented to the fullest...

What time period are sum of the Canadians living in? Iâm not Canadian bashing, but damm. Folks, wake up...The Americans aren't big bad and evil...at least not all of us.

The exchange rate, wonderful for us. Not so good for the Canadians...not! Upon our arrival, the exchange rate was1.39, day 2, it was 1.49. Lets look at it this way fer u non- mathematicians. On Friday had you exchanged 200 American dollars, you wud have had $279 some odd ching ching in Canadian. On sat had u exchanged 200, fer Canadian money u wud have had $298 Canadian ching ching .So as it really appears, this is not so bad for the economy there because it just means that Americans will spend more of their Canadian exchange, seems so simple. In addition to that, it also means that more Canadians are staying at home because their currency is really low as far as exchange rates are concerned thru out the rest of the world, at least that's what one proud Canadian who was passing himself off as a man in the know said. By the way, the man in the know, his business cards were printed on a perforated card stock, at last time I checked, that was not so tragically hip.

Eat off the street...The cleanest city I've ever been to. How in the hell do the Torontans keep their city so clean? Damm near spotless...Geeshh

Speaking of the streets...The CANADIAN HOTDOGS that the vendors sell on the streets are the BOMB.... Lawd have mercy! Say it with a Jamaican accent

Diversity...Just imagine that a representative of every nationality/race/or whatever politically correct werds ya wanna use, were thrown into a city and told to have babies. Nice thought. Well, it's more than a thought in Toronto; Iâm still blown away after seeing this. When I was there for Caribana, it was the most amazing display of cultures, folks are just beautiful. O, don't worry; the Americans looking at them in amazement do not offend them. We are talking about a country that doesn't force u to choose to be black or white...Mulatto is actually considered a race there.

Interracial fascination...Jungle fever is alive and well. Yepper! BUT, it's more from American black men going to Toronto to get their groove on with the lighter shade of white Canadian women, no size of woman excluded. As far as Canadian brothers, they date whom the hell ever. With 80% of the black population being Caribbean, yes 80%, it makes for some really interesting baby making...

Hush box hoods:

Yonge Street...Nuttin but a party baby! King St... You have tons of stuff to choose from. Queen St....This is the funky section of town. Think Melrose Ave. in LA. or The Village in NYC. Richmond & 5th.

Hot spots...

If ya can find Easy on 5th...check it out...

Indian Motorcycle Club & Cafe'... Kewl as a November Montreal night. Think of the coolness of Indian Motorcycles and ur on track...yes they own the spot...3 levels of hipness...

Musical range... You'll hear everything from salsa to reggae of course, to those boy groups. The crowd makes this spot, not the music. Canadians 2 Persians, Asians 2 Rastas, French 2 Americans...Tres'' chic!

Fyi...This place gets pretty packed. Be careful when drinking from ur glass bottle of Evian, because some1 might accidentally bump into while you're taking a sip, and you'll wind up with a chipped tooth as I did. Fo'real! It's fixed now though. Sorry, the Brad Pitt "Fight Club" look doesn't work me.

Society...Even though a Canadian living stateside told us not to go, we went anyway Like wow. The roof -top of this joint was out of control. In every aspect, it was laid out. So much, that the club was shut down the night we were there because of sum spliff smoking ãDetroit Playasä wearing gators & Coogie sweaters. Ya see, the spliffs could be smelled all around. The cops let the fellas enjoy until back up got there. As we exited the club, there were tons of cops in riot gear waiting outside. If was a scary scene, and of course upon telling the same story to a Canadian hunnie the next day, she blamed it on the Americans. We just can't win...lmccao...= laughing my caramel colored ass off.

The biggest party of all was Caribana. I can't even explain it, so I want try, well. The parade started at 10 am and lasted until 8pm. If you've never been to Caribana, Carnival in Rio, or one of the better Mardi Gras, you'll have nothing to compare it to.

Place to stay...The Royal York if u can get in, otherwise. The Delta Chelsea will do just fine.

Places to shop

Yorkville...Just take the best stuff that Neimans offers, and create a street lined with boutiques that carry the stuff. The dopest men's selection of clothing that I have ever seen, other than Maxfields LA, is in a store on Bloor St. called Giorgio Couture...111Bloor St. Donât be confused, no Armani here, weâre talking Valentino Couture & Yoji special. Iâm still drooling. Not to be to terribly outdone is the specialty/mini dept. store, called Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor St. West...Like Wow ! If ya go to the aforementioned, check out Zara.

Club Monaco...The Canadian gap basically. In case ya didn't know, Ralph Lauren purchased the chain last year. Also, another tourist and local Gap type favorite joint is Roots...It reminded me more of Benneton, and Aldo