David Strickland – One of the realest Motherf#@ker’s you will ever know!

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

I won’t lie; I was a little nervous writing this feature.

It probably has something to do with the fact that I was writing about one of the most successful Indigenous audio engineers in North America. Our Classic Man is a Grammy Award Winner, a Juno Award Winner, and has multiple platinum selling records under his belt.

He has worked with the likes of: Method Man, The Clipse, Glenn Lewis, Sade, as well as Toronto favourites: Saukrates, Ghetto Concept, Jellestone, Kardinal Official, Choclair, K-OS, Choclair, and of course the one and only Drake.

This Scarborough-born Mi’kmaw and Northern Cree Producer/Engineer has worked quietly behind the scenes with some of the most celebrated artists in hip-hop and R&B over the past 25 years. Known to many as North Eagle, our Classic Man continues to be a catalyst for Toronto’s evolving music scene.

He is a legend, and a tenacious advocate for the indigenous community. He provides insight surrounding spiritual transcendence using storytelling, and his extensive knowledge elevates him to levels that many will never be able to comprehend. I am proud to introduce our Classic Man, the one, the only David Strickland.

“What I want to talk about with you is the evolution of your genius,” I began. When he spoke, the deepness of his voice shocked me.

“Well,” he chuckled, “To start off, I am doing four or five albums right now, despite this pandemic.”

“I took to hip-hop really young. It was almost like it was in my DNA. My life didn’t begin in the hood, but it progressed there. I went from a protected world, to the hood, which is quite the transition. It was in Grade seven and eight when “Walk this Way” came out. It was a time in my life when I changed.

I was an athlete for most of my life. I was a super star hockey player. People expected me to be in the NHL. In my mind I was going to be in the NHL. I had established in my mind that I was a star.

Then, I hit a fork in the road.

I discovered turntables, and when I did, I thought I could never do this, but then I started to get into music.”

David stopped playing sports, because after his home life shift, he didn’t have the support. He tells me that the switch wasn’t conscious. He now had to navigate through the waters of being the only indigenous man (who looked white) amongst black people, but somehow, he never had problems.

“I had to learn how to act when I was in the industry. I always had to fight.”

At the age of 18, or 19 he met: Gadget, Jelleestone Saukrates, and Kardinal, and the tender age of 19, or 20 he found out that he was a good engineer

“I had to work hard to get good at it. A lot of engineering is communication. It took time.”

Have I mentioned yet that by the time David was 21 he had five children. Imagine that, entering the music industry at such a young age, and being a father of five. There were some major shifts that happened in his life, and he opened up to me about them.

“One of my friends was killed, and it made me reassess my life. I thought to myself, maybe there is more out there for me to discover. So I decided to cross over to the states. Here is where I had a chance to work with: Teddy Riley, Babyface, and Method Man.

It was also when I met Erik Sermon. He was a huge part of my shift. He gave me a space to be creative, and I didn’t have to pay. It really helped me out. I ended up joining Def Squad, and the rest is history.”

Then the Drake stuff happened, and we all know how that turned out.

“You went home and found yourself!”
Erik Sermon

Then came the spiritual shift.

In more recent years, Strickland has been on a spiritual journey, investigating and exploring the Indigenous side of his family’s lineage—Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Beothuk lines with strong Cree and French roots that he traced back to colonist Samuel De Champlain

“Learning who I really was changed my life. When I started learning who I was, I discovered that I am one of the realest Motherf#@ker’s you will ever know.

I slowly started peeling back the layers. I decided I needed to do something.
What ended up happening? The art came. The album came. I choose to open my heart.

I lost a lot of important people in my life. There was so much death. People were cheering for me, and then they are gone. It hurt. I was sitting there by myself like, what the hell happened!

My uncle passed recently, my other uncle passed, and my aunt passed. They had to assimilate their whole life. I got to write about assimilation. My people were forced to be shamed. How different their life could have been. There is so much beauty within our culture.”

As he learned more about his background, he started expressing himself through visual arts, combining Indigenous tradition with hip-hop elements. His drawings and paintings have been featured in galleries across the country, including the famed McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

“Apple most recently started an Indigenous Sound Room. It is all my artwork.
I am not trying to help people; I am just making a difference. This room exemplifies where I am right now.”

Throughout his career, David Strickland has persevered. He is at the point now that he wants to share his experiences, his story, and he is doing this on his forthcoming album “The Spirit of Hip Hop. On it, he connects to his roots, featuring Indigenous rappers like: Joey Stylez, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Drezus and Supaman as well as some of the Toronto and New York rap luminaries he’s worked with, including Saukrates, EPMD and Def Squad. The Spirit of Hip Hop drops on November 19th, 2020.

What an incredible experience his life must have been. The lesson here, do what you love, learn who you are, and live your life to the fullest.