By Sarah Petz

With a sound that is raw, honest and provocative, you wouldn’t expect that Pip Skid (a.k.a. Patrick Skene) grew up on the mean streets of the small prairie city of Brandon, Manitoba. Skene said growing up in Brandon was, like all small cities, challenging at times, but thinks that he and his other Brandon-raised friends DJ Hunnicutt and mcenroe ended up developing their music simply because of the lack of things to do.

“We also never had other rap groups to look up to in a close sense,” says Skene, “The only place we could see or hear rap was from rare little moments when it would get played on TV or the radio.” With only punk, jazz and metal bands around them, the group played any show they could get, even if it meant playing a 12-year-old’s birthday party.

“I do believe that coming from a place like Manitoba does effect your art. Our winters change your life which in turn influences the music,” says Skene. His latest album, Skid Row, is the first time he’s worked with DJ Kutdown on an entire project. Also collaborating with Magnum K.I., Skene is proud of the record they’ve produced. Continue Reading »

By Sabrina Carnevale
Winnipeg’s hip-hop community has been a tight-knit one since the 1990s. Even today, local hip-hop acts turn out to play live every other week and usually to a packed house. So when the Lytics, made up of brothers Alex “B-Flat” Sannie, Andrew “A-Nice” Sannie, Anthony “Ashy” Sannie as well as their cousin Mungala “Munga” Londe, came on the scene in 2003, these sweet-faced 20-somethings were the new kids on the block.
“You have so many artists [in Winnipeg] who are able to make music inexpensively and as frequent as they want and, as a result, there are tons of hip hop shows,” says eldest brother B-Flat, 29. “Whether we feel totally a part of it, I don’t know.”

The Lytics make music on their own terms—no one tells them they have to sound a certain way. In that respect, they don’t necessarily feel they fit into just one of Winnipeg’s musical niches.

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By Whitney Light

Photo by Steve St. Louis

Elliott Walsh has carried a notebook every day since 2004, but today he isn’t. The Winnipeg wordsmith’s new album as Nestor Wynrush, Trinnipeg !78, is done, released and so he’s taking a break from saving notes for lyrics. “The writing feels agonizing,” Walsh says. “What feels agonizing is getting out that feeling exactly. It’s not just in your brain. It’s weighing on your heart.” Continue Reading »