INDIGENOUS RAPPER GETS BIG-TIME HELP
Debut features Wu-tang's Cappadonna, System of a Down's Tankian
Jesse Elechko has something to say.
The Indigenous MC from Edmonton who raps under the name Headline enlisted major artists such as a System of a Down's Serj Tankian and Wu-tang Clan's Cappadonna to help him broadcast those thoughts on his debut album, Savage.
Elechko grew up in Edmonton's west-end, moving often and racked by uncertainty. He says music became his outlet, giving him the stability he craved, while allowing him to express the hardships he experienced as an Indigenous man.
“I felt like I needed a bigger voice. I felt like I had a lot of stuff that was on my mind that I wanted to say and sometimes didn't feel it was properly expressed through the world,” said Elechko, 24, who had previously released a handful of mixtapes and EPS under his Headline moniker.
The album, which dropped on June 16, tackles topics such as racial injustice and generational trauma, as evident in its evocative title, Savage.
“`Savage' is a derogatory term for Indigenous people, so just by using the title `Savage' enlightens a lot of other people to the history and roots of the word,” said Elechko, whose ancestry hails from Frog Lake First Nation as well as Ukraine and Ireland.
Spiritual duality is a theme Elechko weaves throughout Savage, a conscious decision to highlight brutal truths while also finding space to pay ode to the joys of cannabis. Despite the album's sometimes dour subject matter, Elechko promotes a positive outlook of “shining through the darkness” and using himself as an example of overcoming obstacles.
Since he was five years old Elechko had rock-star aspirations. It eventually led him to hip-hop, where he first rapped on stage during a junior high school rap battle, placing second. Inspired by the experience, he taught himself to produce music by watching Youtube tutorials and created a basement studio where he finetuned his ear.
Elechko's appreciation for the sample-heavy early-'90s era of hip-hop helped land him production work for the likes of major industry rappers Cappadonna, Canibus and Young Buck.
The lyrical dexterity of those rappers coupled with an awareness of the world was something Elechko wanted to bring back to hip-hop under his Headline guise.
“It feels unreal,” he said looking back on the last two years. “Sometimes feels like I'm living in a dream.”
Kanye West's name is mentioned on Savage, appropriately enough as Elechko juggles his career as an Edmonton-based rapper/producer with other media ventures all related to his music and his own label, Jesse James Records.
In addition to roping in features from the likes of Tankian, Kurupt, Jarren Benton, and Krizz Kaliko, Savage also features the local talents of drum band Chubby Cree and Métis rapper Spiritbear.
“We haven't had a lot of examples of those who've pushed through boundaries,” said Elechko about being one of the few Indigenous rappers to garner attention beyond the underground scene. “I'm a guiding light in the darkness. We have the power to overcome and sometimes didn't feel it was properly expressed through the world, that power is inside of us, no matter who you are. I'm the driving force to show people it's possible.”
Elechko's tour in support of Savage will take him and some of the artists he's mentoring across Canada and U.S., with dates to be announced this month. An EP of artists from his Jesse James Records roster is in the works along with a documentary. Expect that to drop in March.
We haven't had a lot of examples of those who've pushed through boundaries. I'm a guiding light in the darkness. We have the power to overcome.