Maestro Slides Into Acting Role - Toronto Star

[The Line]

Maestro Slides Into Acting Role
From The Toronto Star
march 24, 2009

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 p***ed, man, but it's a blessing that people still check for me after all that time," Williams said yesterday 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.

More recently, Williams' p***ion 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 André, a menacing figure battling for control of the streets amidst morally ambiguous cops, a rival Vietnamese gang and bumbling low-level dealers.

The series is shot in east-end Toronto, but the story could take place anywhere, Williams said.

The Canadian Press