Women Empowered
Haviah Mighty: The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword
BY SELINA McCALLUM
She is slender and small, but on stage, she has a presence that captures your undivided attention. Her words reel you in, but her passion and fierceness are what gets you hooked.
Haviah Mighty, Toronto-born but based in Brampton, is a rapper on the come up. She started releasing music in 2009 at the age of 16, but the world didn’t hear her until three years ago.
In 2016, Mighty was asked to participate in an International Women’s Day Cypher, an informal gathering of rappers, beatboxers, or breakdancers in a circle, to show their skills and collaborate with each other. The video was published on WRLDUNDGND youtube account and has over 100 thousand views.
When Mighty realized that the world was finally listening, she didn’t want to let them down. It changed her mindset to a business mindset.
“I started looking at how I could brand myself on Instagram. I set a lot of goals of what I wanted to happen in the next two years,” said Mighty. There is no stopping Mighty when she puts her mind to it.
She started with a project as she felt she didn’t want people to only know her from the cypher alone. Mighty applied for grants and received a grant to work on an album.
Mighty’s album, 13th Floor, came out on May 10th. She had a listening party and invited the booking agent that she wanted to work with. It only took one performance and he was sold.
13th Floor features 13 songs that have shown Mighty’s strength and vulnerability. The album is co-executive produced by A Tribe Called Red’s 2oolman and features collaborations with Sean Leon, Clairmont The Second and Haviah’s sister Omega Mighty.
The album is called 13th Floor because of the reputation it has for being unlucky and feared. It also stands for the number of tracks on the album and has a song deconstructing the 13th Amendment.
In the first song on the album, In Women Color, Mighty raps about her pigment and gender. She challenges the doubters who think she is too dark or too female to make it in rap.
“I feel like my writing is starting to become more and more out of my experience, but in ways strategic and relatable so my experience can still be felt by others,” said Mighty. “I choose to write about experiences that people can relate to, it just depends on who those people are.”
In the song, In Women Color, Mighty raps, “They used to say I’m too loud, but that’s cool now. Love my skin, always been proud, guess that’s in now. They used to say I’m too black, with that crude rap.”
Mighty speaks on the stereotypes that float around being a rapper.
“There are a lot of associations that come with people that make rap music that is not positive,” said Mighty.
Just as there are many negative associations that come with being a rapper, there are labels the come with being a black person. In the song, Smoke, which features successful rapper from Toronto Clairmont the Second, he raps on what it is like to be a black man.
“I mean, we are young blacks. Every day it feels like dodging and finding ways to live. Like, the government hates me, my hood hates me. I can’t leave my crib,” he raps.
Mighty hopes that in the upcoming years she will not just be making an impact with her music but doing other things in the community as well like holding workshops for youth.
“I’m going to want to get my feet wet and do other things that can help people in other ways,” said Mighty.
For now, Mighty is laser-focused on working on her music and doing shows. She is always looking for ways to become better, often asking producers and musicians what more she can do to a song even if it is already completed.
“I don’t want to have a decent idea and that’s the end. Decent isn’t good anymore,” said Mighty. “I’m continuing to push myself beyond the realm that I know I can hit. So, I know the next project is going to be even harder because 13th Floor I pushed myself more than any project I’ve ever done.”
Mighty has been able to perform songs from her album 13th Floor in the UK and in states across America. She realizes that music can be a universal language.
“It doesn’t matter where you are. I’ve done In Women Color, which is a racial song, in all these different places, in front of a majority white crowd and people seem to feel. Not only do they feel it, but some people will come up to me and tell me that they felt it, and they weren’t women of color” said Mighty. “I’m realizing that the further out I go, the music can remain the same,”
Haviah thanks her family as being a supportive and encouraging foundation for her since she was very young. She realizes that if the support isn’t at home, it can be hard to find it elsewhere.
“I have a mom and dad that value me, but not everybody has that. Where are those hubs in society that we can recognize our worth, and it doesn’t have to be in our home,” Mighty thinks.
At the beginning of Mighty’s music journey, she wasn’t sure if anyone was listening, but now she knows she is affecting at least one person.
“Now I know that the time and energy I put into my music, I know for sure that one person is going to be affected positively, and that’s good enough for me,” said Mighty.
Haviah Mighty will be performing in Toronto at the NXNE Festival Village on June 15th at 6:30 p.m. and in Brampton on Friday, June 28th at 6:00 p.m. at the Garden Square.