Chali 2na at Bluesfest

I should start off by making it clear that there is nothing queer about hip-hop artist Chali 2na.

However, if you are a marijuana advocate who digs rap, Chali 2na is an act you must catch next time he’s in town. If not for his smooth, electronic-infused rhymes, then for the secondhand weed fumes.

After a bouncy opener, Chali 2na asked the Bluesfest crowd, “Do you want to get high?” As any bystander could smell, the crowd already was.

Chali 2na was a founding member of legendary hip-hop outfit Jurassic 5. I recall blasting “What’s Golden” from my mother’s Honda Civic while driving around Kanata during my high school years. After Jurassic 5 disbanded in 2007, Chali 2na hit it out alone, releasing Fish Outta Water in 2009.

So if you are the kind of queer who shrugs off stereotypes by disliking Gaga and listening to white rappers after Labour Day, check out this Chicago-born Islamic blazer.

Lock Shit Down

Algonquin College journalism grad. Podcaster @qqcpod.

Keep Reading

Mya Foxx with an up arrow behind her; PM with a down arrow behind her

‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 6, Episode 3 power ranking: Big Sister

Social strategy comes into play in a big way—but does it pay off?
Icesis Couture and Pythia behind podiums

‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 6, Episode 3 recap: Pick your drag poison

Season 6’s top 11 queens get to choose their own adventure: Snatch Game or design challenge?
The cover of Casanova 20; Davey Davis

Davey Davis’s new novel tenderly contends with the COVID-19 pandemic

“Casanova 20” follows the chasms—and—connections between generations of queer people
Two young men, one with dark hair and one with light hair, smile at each other. The men are shirtless and in dark bedding.

‘Heated Rivalry’ is the steamy hockey romance we deserve

The queer Canadian hockey drama packs heart and heat, setting it apart from other MLM adaptations