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TORONTO - Perhaps Public Enemy icon Flavor Flav owns all the watches, clocks and other time measurement instruments in the world of hip-hop.
How else to explain the genre's traditional late concert starts that are more the rule than the exception as was the case Thursday night at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre which featured a triple threat of Sean Paul, Wyclef Jean and headliner Akon.
What was even sadder was Akon, who took to the stage 55 minutes behind schedule, appeared to be one-upped by the former Fugee on this evening.
But first to the Senegal-reared Akon, an artist who has collaborated with a ridiculous amount of people in recent memory and is still touring behind 2006's Konvicted.
Following a video intro, Akon descended from the rafters wearing a parachute strapped to a lighting rig before settling into Shake Down and We Taking Over which got the somewhat thinning crowd filling half the venue back on their feet.
Wearing a white t-shirt he would later remove to screams from females, Akon would take a great deal of time playing the crowd against each other when not going into detail about his love of women, especially strippers. This was especially evident during I Wanna Love You when he once again descended from above, only this time accompanied by a lady gracefully grinding on and swinging from a stripper's pole as Akon watched from a few feet away.
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While the performer had songs to make headlining status an easy argument, the set had few true highlights despite the rapper going into the crowd or scaling a ladder to sing Sorry, Blame It On Me from the platforms holding the spotlights. Other memorable moments were when he slowed things down with the softer Don't Matter and the party-starting Smack That.
Yet despite having the songs, when it came to passion, energy and sheer craziness, Wyclef Jean took the cake. Looking like he was a bit annoyed at the idea of playing just 35 minutes due to time constraints, the artist stole the show with a constant supply of high-octane dancehall grooves and an unpredictability that was hard to top.
After taking the stage with a Maple Leafs jersey on, Wyclef Jean began with the Latin nugget Guantanamera before hitting his manic stride with his Shakira collaboration Hips Don't Lie. Taking a "big girl" from the crowd to dance on stage, the artist quickly picked up the gal much to everyone's surprise.
As well, Jean, who performed snippets of Marley numbers like Redemption Song and No Woman, No Cry, also worked the crowd throughout, stealing a security jacket, trading his belt for a younger man's who he brought up with him on stage and then doing a freestyle rap on the situation in the Congo.
Realizing he only had 10 minutes left and stating that "I haven't even started yet," Wyclef Jean proceeded to play guitar, light the guitar on fire before slamming it to the ground and give a tease of Touch A Button, his forthcoming single from a new album due this fall.
Earlier in the night, Sean Paul managed to tear through his 50-minute set by performing hits Like Glue as well as the slower, island-tinged I'm Still In Love With You. He also dedicated Never Gonna Be The Same to soldiers and loved ones in harm's way.