On his third studio album, Toronto rapper Wesley Williams, known as Maestro Fresh Wes, ridicules his Canadian ancestry in the title and antagonizes the entire national scene, in an attempt to approach the East Coast sound of the States and captivate audiences over the border.
In 1992, he moved to New York, enlists DITC's Showbiz and begins work on his new album. Production is mainly done by the Canadian MC, while Show provides four beats. The DITC rapper himself is a guest on the tape, along with underground MC Percee P. The disc is composed of a solid jazzy production that recalls the sound of Diggin' in the Crates Crew, thanks to a boom bap often realized by a pounding midtempo drum and good samples: this soundscape supports the regular, slow and honest rapping of the MC, which fails to create very strong tracks, but doesn't make blunders and completes a LP of 12 choices (+ 2 bonus) and 57 minutes overall. Among the side notes, Percee P rips his cut with an excellent performance. The album fails in its intent to break into the US market, and at the same time, Maestro loses the respect of his Canadian colleagues: despite the commercial flop, the record is clearly a good album, probably his finest.
Rating: 7.5/10.
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