MAKING MUSIC OUT OF ANGER
Rapper tackles George Floyd death
Nine months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Ottawa rapper Luigi (City) Fidelia is releasing a powerful new song that was written in the aftermath of the incident.
Drugs and Loaded Weapons not only seethes at the anti-Black racism that cost Floyd his life, but also draws on Fidelia's own experience with the police in Ottawa.
“I was really angry,” Fidelia said of his reaction to the Floyd video. “I was frustrated at the way the cops on the scene were very nonchalant. It was disgusting to watch how they treated a Black life. It really felt like we had no worth: The way the cop had his knee on George's neck and the other cops (were) ignoring the fact that he said he can't breathe.”
The song touches on Fidelia's experience in the line, “Every time I see the red and blue, I feel some tension,” a stress he recognized only after talking to a white friend who barely notices when police are in the vicinity.
“That blew my mind,” he said. “I was like, `Wow, there is a difference.' I'm an individual who is Black and has dreads, and even if I'm doing everything right, I always feel this tension in my body when police are around. Not all cops are bad, but if the bad apples are driving by me, they might think I have drugs and loaded weapons in my car, and that tension flares up in my body.”
The song is Fidelia's first track to be released in more than a year, and the first he recorded, mixed and mastered in the Real House of Ensemble. He and a partner opened the ByWard Market-area studio last year, a year or so after Fidelia moved back to Ottawa.
“I went to Toronto to challenge myself, to really expand my knowledge and skills in the music industry,” he said. “But the goal was always to help the infrastructure in Ottawa. So with all the knowledge I gained over those years, I've increased my network, and now that I'm back in Ottawa, I brought it back to share with the artists in the city.”
Fidelia, 30, came back to discover that a new generation of hip-hop talent had arrived on the scene, artists young enough to consider him one of Ottawa's OGs. Working with them has rekindled his passion for making music.
“I've been super inspired by being around a lot of artists in the city. The studio space has been very therapeutic, just being in there every day, seeing the smile on people's faces,” he said. “It's really got me back into wanting to compete in the music side of things. Anytime someone in Ottawa does well, it inspires other Ottawa artists, so that's what I'm looking to do.”
Fidelia plans to re-release his first full-length album, Painkiller, which originally came out in the fall of 2019, with a big tour planned for 2020. Because of COVID -19, the touring was scrapped, but Fidelia still wants to promote the album. “I felt it was an on-point album because it has a lot of quality sounds and stories, so it's going to be released in a bigger way,” he said.
Meanwhile, he has added another duty to his list of responsibilities: Fidelia is the new program director of CHUO-FM, the community/campus radio station at the University of Ottawa. It's a position he believes will support his vision for the city's hip-hop communities.
“This is the first time in my life I'm taking a job for money, but I think CHUO is the best platform for me to help build this infrastructure that I want to build in the city,”
Fidelia said. “What I want to do in a couple of years is set things up so that Ottawa artists don't have to leave. They don't have to live in another city. They have to be able to have access to enough music-industry resources here. I think CHUO has that same vision, so I'm working with them to make it come to life.”
Still, at the end of the day, Fidelia gives thanks to George Floyd for drawing widespread attention to the consequences of systemic, anti-Black racism and police brutality. He's come to think of Floyd as an angel who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“I feel like he fought the bigger battle for a lot of us,” he said. “Every day, I thank him for being a very powerful individual and for standing up for us. I don't think these changes would have been made without the battle that he fought. He's like an angel in our lives.”
Releasing the new song now, during Black History Month, underscores the significance of Floyd's death.
“It's a reminder that these things still happen,” Fidelia said. “It's my way of saying, `Let's not forget the stuff that happened last summer.'”
I'm an individual who is Black and has dreads, and even if I'm doing everything right, I always feel this tension in my body when police are around.