TORONTO - It's been 20 years since Maestro Fresh Wes commanded the entire country to "Let Your Backbone Slide."
The rapper, a.k.a. Wes Williams, is marking the anniversary of his album, "Symphony in Effect," with a birthday bash in his hometown of Vancouver on Thursday, an event that doubles as his fourth annual charity fundraiser.
"A lot of time has passed, man, but it's a blessing that people still check for me after all that time," Williams said Monday during a visit to Toronto, noting that he unleashed his hook-laden single just as the hip-hop scene began burgeoning into a full-on movement.
"I came out in 1989 when (rap) was the cusp of something new. MuchMusic was (young), everyone involved in it were fans, you get what I'm saying? It wasn't just me alone, MuchMusic happened, (there was the Much series) `RapCity' at the time, you know what I'm saying? Things were going through a transition where this genre of music was slowly but surely evolving into the mainstream. And I was the guy, one of the guys, the local cats."
Today, "Let Your Backbone Slide" remains one of the country's bestselling hip-hop singles of all-time. But despite charting unprecedented territory for Canadian rappers, Williams says the genre has not evolved as far as he thought it would in the last 20 years. It's not for lack of talent, he says.
"There's always been a scene but there's never been an industry and that's one of the problems," said Williams, now 40.
"We live so close to America and it doesn't matter if Kardinal (Offishall) has an album out now or Maestro has an album out right now when you have U.S. artists with major marketing dollars right behind, you know?"
"The only place in Canada where they really embrace their artists is Quebec, man."
More recently, Williams' passion has been acting. Over the years, roles have included stints on the TV teen drama "Instant Star," and the 2007 film "Poor Boy's Game," along with bit parts in the 2005 John Singleton film, "Four Brothers," and 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin."'
But Williams says he's landed his best role yet in the new cable series, "The Line," airing Mondays on The Movie Network and Movie Central.
In it, he plays the violent and unpredictable drug supplier Andre, a menacing figure battling for control of the streets amidst morally ambiguous cops, a rival Vietnamese gang and bumbling low-level dealers.
"I've got the opportunity to do some things as an actor I've never done before," Williams says of the project.
"I go through like six emotions in one scene, (something) you don't see on conventional television. I've never had a character that has so many layers. (Andre) can start off smiling and he's confused and then he's angry and then he starts crying and then he enrages again."
The series is shot in east-end Toronto, but the story could take place anywhere, said Williams, crediting co-creators George Walker and Dani Romain with carving out rich multi-dimensional personalities.
At its heart are two cops (played by Ron White and Daniel Kash) and a mid-level drug dealer (played by Toronto's Cle Bennett) trying to turn his life around. The broad ensemble cast includes Sharon Lawrence, of "NYPD Blue" fame, Linda Hamilton ("The Terminator") and Ed Asner ("Lou Grant").
"The Line" has drawn frequent comparisons to the U.S. series "The Wire," in which street-level cops and dealers battle it out in urban Baltimore. But Williams dismisses any connections beyond the cops-and-dealers plot, describing the Canadian series as broader in its emotional range, particularly for its humour.
"You'll never see actors on the `The Wire' with so much emotional range in one scene," he says. "I've never seen this before on any television series."
William's fundraising party -- dubbed the Maestro Media Benefit Birthday Bash -- takes place Thursday at Caprice Night Club in Vancouver. This year, part of the proceeds go to the Pathfinder Youth Centre.
