The snow is finally gone, and the weather is warming up slowly; kind of like the musical heat that comes out of the East. Walking around Dundas and Oak Street I notice how everyone has somewhere to be or something to do, the typical hustle and bustle as I record people walking on my camera trying to be invisible while I thought about what it would be like if there was a recording studio in the area… maybe beside the music school would be nice.
As we continue, this week we have wrapped up 2 interviews and will be completing a third one as well, with all 3 participants coming from different age groups and backgrounds. Our first interview was with Will - the DJ instructor at the Regent Park Community Centre. One of his responses to our question was that he sees art as a form of expression in this neighborhood, “an outlet to get them off the street […] cause the devil works through idle hands right”. I was impressed with how Will had opened himself up to the interview as at first I was anxious he wouldn’t feel comfortable speaking on camera – kinda like me.
Our second interview was with DJ Ananas over zoom who is an American based DJ and also mentioned the power that music can have with bringing people together. We talked about how growing up it was common to see community concert events and how it was a way residents would get to know each other, creating a sense of safety and belonging. I don’t expect us to heavily use this interview due to him not having recent experiences with the neighborhood but many of his answers can help contextualize our theme.
I’ve often seen what DJ Illicit was speaking about and it reminded me of the experiences we had spoken about early in the class about Mustafa the Poet and his musical journey being one of reflection and navigating neighborhood crime. His group known as HALAL Gang was a group of youth that wanted to break out in the music industry, but ultimately not all made it out. S.A.F.E. was a member of the based in RnB and HipHop that has been poised to go big. Working with OVO members, Khalid, Playboi Carti and more he is an artist that is on track to go from community housing to the international stage. In a older video, there are kids that come up to a Toronto based producer and ask him to listen to their SoundCloud, hoping to become artists one day and work with him. One points out that his favourite artist is S.A.F.E from Regent, quite the shoutout given that the video was taken in the UK a few years ago.
On the flip side of this, Smoke Dawg ultimately died during a daytime shooting, and I remember that he was seen as one that could make something for himself in music. He based his music in Trap and HipHop mainly with work featuring Giggs and Skepta, production with Murda, while also having toured for artists like Drake around the world. He sings about his gang experience and Regent Park, with even one album featuring Regent Park as the cover. In an interview he mentions how music is how they talk and explain what they have gone through and how his hood shaped him to be the artist that he is.
Something new I’ve learned this week was just how wide the impact of musicians like Alessia, Justin, Abel, and Aubrey have on this next generation of musical talent when it comes to trying to go international and represent where you came from with pride. This was always known but this project really materialized that feeling. Artists like Mustafa are some examples of those that can make it out, while DJ’s like DJ Illicit show how a community can help foster new talent and skills for the youth creating belonging.
For me, something that has been challenging is getting footage and b-roll that aligns with our topic. Getting footage of local buildings is complicated due to needing permission, and so far due to dull weather on the days I have been out walking, getting footage of local residents walking has been minimal but I’m hoping this week that will change. Looking at where we are now, it feels like things are moving by quickly as the semester comes to a close, but I am confident that through our delegations and how we have curated our interview questions that we will be able to make the most out of our interviews. Our next steps are to finalize our last few interviews, wrap up any b-roll footage that is left and potentially record any voiceovers that would be needed. Additionally, we will be starting to edit and cut together our final project and are communicating with DJ Ron thanks to Adonis from FOCUS to hopefully include him in our project as he has a wealth of local music history and knowledge while also hoping to get footage of DJ’s working from previous events they may have done in the area.
The team members of Scratch’s & Mixes are David Scrivener, Lisa Truong, Hana Golightly & Neil Patel.