Although Joseph LaPlante, aka Joey Stylez, is a Plains Cree Metis from Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan, his life has been very nomadic. “As soon as I was old enough I took to the road, and lived in many different cities: Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Windsor, Detroit…I have a saying that I don’t belong anywhere but I’m good everywhere.” His family brought him to these parts of the globe, as Joey’s wife, Carsen Gray, is from Haida Gwaii and has a strong connection to this place. Joey is happy to call HlGaagilda Skidegate his home now, and enjoys all the ways this land teaches his kids traditional values that aren’t so readily available in the big city.

Joey’s family has a long history of being in politics and business…but no musical genes! He took to music as a young teen, influenced by a friend who would rap and do hip-hop. He enjoyed poetry and used it to woo girls in his class. He went to a “good” school, a “white” school, where he was the only Indigenous person. He was surrounded by wealthy kids who had no idea what his reality was. It was a challenge, but it also allowed him to learn to navigate both worlds, which in turn opened up many doors for him.

Growing up in the city, Joey and his circle of friends wanted to be infamous in their neighborhood, and hip hop really fed that need. As Joey says, “[Hip-hop/rap] was like gladiator music, and we wanted to be the top dogs. I was drawn to the bad-ass side of this type of music. I could tell my stories through hip hop.” At the beginning, these stories mostly had to do with his street life and his peers. Joey spent a lot of time on the streets, and ran into some trouble with the law. “I battled with darkness, I thrived in this darkness, I understood it, I didn’t have to pretend to be anyone else…a lot of things I thought were cool stemmed from dark places. There was a lot of anger and misguided aggression in my music in those days.”

Having been pursuing music for over twenty years and being off the streets for seventeen of those years, he was able to start making a living with music about fifteen years ago. His music took him places and led him to start appreciating life and family. “In all those years, my identity evolved from: I’m not a rapper but a street guy that can rap a bit…then I’m not an artist, I’m a rapper…then I’m an artist, not just a rapper!” In this time, Joey accumulated a wealth of knowledge in fashion, marketing, acting, producing, mixing, etc. “I had a little talent but a lot of ambition and drive and self-belief and discipline, and I developed something that works for me.” As he says, “Your skill level doesn’t matter so much ‘cause you can learn everything you need to know if you have enough drive.”

That drive brought him to start Ble$$ed Street (previously Stressed Street), a music label that produces uplifting music with an understanding of where the struggle comes from. Joey’s label strives to use music to do good rather than for pure personal gain. “I want to level up the artists I work with. I’m always looking for new talent. Looking to lift people up and shed some light in the darkness.” Right now, Joey is collaborating with DJ Kemo (Vancouver) on an album called “Horse Thieves and Bootleggers.” He is also collaborating with local artist Will Russ aka Tycoon on a few songs, and on Haida Gwaii drummer Shawn Gardiner’s solo album.

When discussing the process of creating music for his personal music or collaborating with others, Joey mentioned, “Sometimes the music comes first or the hook or the concept…it depends on the particular project. For my own personal sound, I’m influenced by the music. It makes you feel a certain kind of way and I try to enhance the feeling it gives you. I have producers that send me beats, I also work with local artists playing live music…I like to try a variety of approaches. I love the whole process. I am mission oriented; I set goals, go through the steps and reach those goals. I love the journey. I started with small goals and I’m slowly moving towards bigger goals. My biggest goal at the moment is to play a sold out show at Madison Square Gardens (as a main artist or opening for someone).” Go for it Joey!

You can find Joey Stylez’s music everywhere on social media – look for “joeystylzeworld” on Twitter and Facebook, or check out Joey’s website at joeystylez.com

Ble$$ed Street Studios is open to mentoring, producing, and collaborating, with all equipment for music videos, photo shoots, live music, recordings, live stream concerts, and master music. blessedstreet.net

This coming season, join the Haida Gwaii Coffeehouse for The Studio Sessions. Funded by the Haida Gwaii Arts Council, a number of local emerging and seasoned performers have created short music videos of their work, recorded by Jay Myers at Alkemist Studios in Daajing Giids Queen Charlotte. These offerings will be released at the monthly Coffeehouse event. Until such a time as we can safely gather in person, the releases will happen online, on Ging Gang Hla tllG̲ad's YouTube Channel. The next event is scheduled for November 27^th, 2021. Each Studio Sessions release will also host an Open Mic. You can upload your fabulous submissions anytime to the Coffeehouse drop box folder (see below for web URL. NB: please submit at least 10 days before each online event you wish to join!). The deadline for Open Mic submissions for the next Coffeehouse is November 17, 2021. For more info visit, haidagwaiicoffeehouse.com or search for Haida Gwaii Coffeehouse on Facebook. The drop box folder is at dropbox.com/request/3VDTe5Xy7CBY13tUwm0o

Congrats to the Minstrel Cramps, who just went down to Vancouver in early September and recorded their first album with Orchid Studios! You can find this local bands’ music on bandcamp.com

Photos by Patrick Shannon & Blessed Street