Band’s popularity soars and fans benefit

For urban hip hop group Winnipeg’s Most, three wins out of four nominations during the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards on Nov. 5 was a huge validation of all their hard work.

Along with the Best New Artist award were the Best Duo/Group and the Best Rap/Hip Hop CD awards. A nomination for Single of the Year for ‘All That I Know’ fell short in favor of Shane Yellowbird’s “Barefoot On The Blacktop.”

Jon-C (Billy Pierson), Charlie Fettah (Tyler Rogers), and Brooklyn (James Prefontaine) make up the talented Winnipeg’s Most. While tagged as a hip hop act, they prefer not be labeled, hoping to branch out to other genres, insists Fettah.

Each was raised within Winnipeg, from the north end and Brooklands areas, and all are passionate about music, working to acquire the skills needed to progress as a group, Fettah explained.

“Winnipeg’s Most has been around for a year-and-a-half. It’s easier to take it seriously with a team, like a group behind you. The fact that we have so many artists and so many people involved that want to go to that same place with music makes it a lot easier.”

Tyler’s mother is part Aboriginal, Jon-C is First Nations from Sagkeeng, Man. and Brooklyn is Métis. Each member has their own reasons for why they chose to take their love for music to a level that not only helps them, but others as well.

Charlie Fettah realized his talent by winning a weekly emcee battle for five consecutive weeks on a local radio station. Jon- C began rapping following the death of a good friend.

Brooklyn “carries the area of where he comes from (Brooklands) on his back,” said Fettah. “I think he does it a lot for his fans then probably for himself…. his family and friends, I’m assuming, are a very big motivational part.”

The trio worked night and day to get their pre-album mix tape entitled Northside Connection released last June. Northside Connections and the self-titled Winnipeg’s Most debut album, which is now available on itunes, were both produced by Stomp and Jay Mak of Rezofficial Music.
The group worked hard to promote themselves, doing shows every weekend all over the country as a way of being accessible to the fans. They laid the groundwork by putting their music in the hands of fans so the only thing that surprised them was how quickly their popularity grew.

The group decided that their debut album would be self-titled as a way of introducing themselves with compilations of stories that express the experiences they have been through, noted Fettah.

Although Winnipeg’s Most initially thought they would be reaching out to an older audience, the group soon realized that they were reaching fans as young as eight years old.

“Our music isn’t for everybody, but it’s for everybody,” Fettah said. “We are very conscious that we have young fans, so when we do all ages shows we know where we are, keeping a safe environment. We want the parents to know that their kids can come to a show with or without them and make it home safe and have a good story to tell. It definitely keeps us on our toes, but we’re not going to change our music for anything. There’s no point in that.”

The group has been asked to speak with kids all over Winnipeg with Jon-C being invited, earlier in the year, to sit on a roundtable discussion at the Thunderbird House to discuss youth matters in the city.
Though the group may not always paint the prettiest picture in their songs, overall it’s a positive image and a positive message they are trying to send out, said Fettah.

Winnipeg’s Most is waiting to hear back from the organizers of the Juno Awards as they submitted their self-titled album for consideration. A new album is already in the making and each artist is working on solo/duo collaborations with other artists,
“We’re not going to stop. We’re not just going to ride the wave. We’re just going to pretend it never happened and just try and win six next year,” laughed Fettah. “The sky is the limit.”

Photo Captions:

From left to right – Charlie Fettah (Tyler Rogers), Brooklyn (James Prefontaine) and Jon-C (Billy Pierson) accept one of their Aboriginal Peoples Choice Awards on Nov. 5.

All photos: Bert Crowfoot