RaytheNihilist, an award-nominated Indigenous hip-hop artist, has an upcoming performance scheduled at The York Country Cabaret in Cranbrook on Saturday, Feb. 22, part of a larger initiative he is working on, called Winds of Change.
With this new project RaytheNihilist — real name Raistlin (Ray) Morning Owl — seeks to cultivate a welcoming, all-ages environment for people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, to participate in cultural revitalization and music.
Originally born in Toronto, Ray's family moved to Lethbridge, but he spent the majority of his life in Saskatoon, where he currently resides, though he also spent a year living in Cranbrook. His music career has taken him on numerous western Canadian tours, and he has been working with the youth for a very long time.
"I’ve gone out often to a few communities that I’ve been invited to over the past six, seven, eight years," Ray said. "More northern Saskatchewan and things of that nature, but working with those youth was something that was always super rewarding for me and so over the past little bit, I felt there was something, like a little piece missing and I wanted to circle back to the youth and just create an impact for communities as well."
While he said Winds of Change is a relatively new concept, the idea of helping youth for him has always been something he's tried to hold close.
"It’s just something that I’m more now planting my feet in and trying to use and in a way that adds to my artistic dignity as well," he said.
Ray is Blackfoot, a representative of the Kainai Nation. He works to integrate Indigenous language revitalization and traditional themes into modern hip-hop music.
"Blackfoot is actually one of the fastest dying Indigenous languages, so for me, incorporating that into my music and into my performances is a huge part," he said. "And it’s not about inspiring people to learn Blackfoot, it’s about hopefully inspiring them to learn any language, and opening conversation, simple words, what they mean and what they can represent."
He said he also integrates themes that are "sometimes tough to talk about," such as the experiences and injustices faced by Indigenous men, including the starlight tours.
He is collaborating on this event with Kimberley's Sam McCurdie, who among many other things, helped organize the Moose Hide events in Kimberley for the past three years. Moose Hide is a grassroots movement that works to stand up against gender-based violence.
The two met when Ray was living in the area and stumbled into the Cupacabra Collective, the vintage store located on Wallinger Avenue in Kimberley.
"His family was super great, really supportive people and just really awesome, as a lot of the community is — really inviting," Ray said. "Sammy is just super in touch with a lot of the area, with the schools, with the youth centres — just a very active community member, so I figured it would be something that he would be super interested in helping with."
At the Winds of Change event on Feb. 22, Ray said the main thing people can expect is "community."
"That’s really what we’re trying to do with this event is bring people together, whether you like hip hop, whether you don’t like hip hop — whatever it is to appreciate art and also help your community," he explained.
"But they can really expect, if you don’t listen to hip hop, I think a lot of people will be surprised by the lively energy. We try to create a very engaged performance and keep the crowd energetic and keep them involved. A lot of fun and it’s going to be a really great time, and it’s really great for us as it creates these safe and healthy spaces for people to have fun and for the youth to be able to take part in that."
The event will benefit Operation Street Angel, a program designed to "assist persons facing adversity by providing continued support, outreach and community inclusion as well as guidance and awareness of the services available to them," according to their website.
Ray said that through his own experience living, not just through the cold prairie winters of Saskatoon, but what he experienced living in Cranbrook and the community outreach work he did there, he knows just how important organizations like Operation Street Angel are.
"It’s the same thing as here too, we see freezing deaths, on freezing deaths, on freezing deaths," he said. "On average there’s at least 18 to 19 people that pass away in Saskatchewan from freezing and that’s not to talk about the unspoken cases as well. I know how important of a need that is and I just really wanted to impact something that’s really going to benefit the community. That’s something that we’re trying to do in each community is just identify what needs we can really help with, before we take that step."
They're still waiting to hear back for some updates, but Ray is actively working on setting up workshops, as he does in Saskataoon, with youth at local high schools and youth centres. In Saskatoon, they've rented out an art and studio space, where they do full-fledged workshops with young people, showing them how to make beats, work on song writing, rehearsal and then taking that to a legitimate studio to record.
"It's something like that is what I’m really eager to get into, but it’s all a matter of the community’s response," he said.
The event will also feature Cranbrook's hip-hop artist Strange 2ruth, who Ray has collaborated with in the past. Tickets are $10 in advance or $20 at the door. They are online tickets available on Eventbrite, but there are also physical tickets available for those who prefer those. You can pick them up in Kimberley at Chupacabra Collective or in Cranbrook by contacting Strange 2ruth.
RaytheNihilist has also been busy recording new music. In November he released "Lose My Grip", the first single from his debut studio album. That track featured Travis Thompson and Natasha Fisher, two prominent Indigenous artists Ray has been a fan of for years. Then he plans to drop "World on Fire" on Feb. 21, just ahead of the Cranbrook performance. That track features Vancouver artist Junk.
"It’s really, really powerful this next one," he said. "It touches on the global epidemic and the impact that addiction has had on myself and Indigenous communities and kind of just globally, how that ripples into everywhere. I’m really excited to touch on a subject that is a little controversial, but it’s a conversation that a lot of people need to have, regardless of how scared we are to have it."
Between his own music and the Winds of Change project, RaytheNihilist has a lot on the go.
"I’m in the studio working on a couple different projects and we’re working on bringing the Winds of Change across Turtle Island, across so-called Canada, and just figure out what that looks like and what we can offer people and offer communities. I’m just excited to see it grow and I’m appreciative [platforms like this] and also my team for helping me out with everything."
