There are some stories that are passed around like bootlegged cassettes, fusing myth and music. In Toronto's hip hop world, legendary hip hop producer 9th Wonder tweeting that we were the worldwide capital of hip hop was just such a moment, and a victory for Manifesto, which had brought the American star to the city a few days earlier.

"Manifesto put Rich Kidd, Saukrates, Shaun Boothe -- lots of people together you wouldn't see on one stage," explains Wesley Williams aka Maestro Fresh Wes, whose Symphony in Effect (1989), remains the top selling Canadian hip hop album of all time. "It is a place for artists show their talent."

Manifesto isn't just a namesake, rather an attitude, combining a physical space with events, recording and office space, international festival and a magazine. Manifesto's hand is visible in many aspects of the Toronto hip-hop scene, including free workshops and talks, MCing and dance competitions, as well as numerous shows, all to grow the culture.

To understand the organization, it's best to trace it back to its roots, which are as Torontonian as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The organization began organically, as a series of meetings held at City Hall in 2007, to figure out what was missing from Toronto's hip hop scene. What began as a handful of people turned into hundreds of people in the arts leading the call for a physical space that would serve as a recording and brainstorming hub, and a festival to showcase hip-hop's diverse scene here.

Beyond the festival, Manifesto aims big, promoting social change through music. It nurtures young stars (supporting K'naan before he was a global phenom), and includes offering free arts management, business workshops, photography and music classes.

Growing up in Regent Park, Ismam Rashid, 20, wasn't taught photography at his own high school, Jarvis Collegiate, and it wasn't until he started taking snaps with New York photographer Jamel Shabazz, brought in to teach a free Manifesto course, that he realized he needed to have a sit-down with his parents.

"My parents are immigrants from Bangladesh. Their attitude was, 'you need to be a doctor, engineer or lawyer.  You need to have a career that's secure.'"

His photos, which portray a different side of Regent Park -- flowers painted on a wet pavement; a snazzy dresser and Morgan Freeman look-alike looking pensive against a pre-fab concrete tower -- showcase why the OCAD U student was chosen to exhibit at the 2008 Luminato festival as part of his Manifesto experience.

One of his teachers, Che Kothari, 27, Manifesto's executive director, is keen for the organization to nurture the next generation of talent, and to work with the private sector so the organization can be self-sustaining. They work with Red Bull, TD Bank, and PlayStation to fund the festival. It's a model for other cities too. The approach went worldwide in 2008, when they co-organized a festival called "Ignite the Americas: Youth Arts Policy Forum" to use youth culture as a way to tackle high crime rates and poverty. The idea was to figure out how to build local talent, and then provide the support and know-how to launch similar movements outside of Canada. Since then, Manifesto groups have begun in Bogota, Columbia; Kingston, Jamaica; and Bridgetown, Barbados.

Much of the expansion, explains Kothari, is what they don't provide. Each city is free to spotlight their own talents, creating their own Manifesto. So the Jamaican group focuses more on reggae, food, martial arts and literature rather than just than hip-hop.
"It's based on local realities," explains Kothari. "This isn't a cookie cutter approach." 

For those who have been part the evolution, the on-going expansion isn't surprising. "The community building is what drives Manifesto," explains Sol Guy, K'Naan's manager. "They support all these different disciplines in Toronto and find them a way of bringing them together. The spirit behind Manifesto is what helped K'naan get to where he's at."

Alexandra Shimo is an author and journalist based on the Ossington strip. Born in Toronto, she lived in several cities, including London, New York and Washington D.C. before coming home.