Ethan Peters pulls together an impressive mix of voices for his latest album, Anticipated.
Matt Carter
Beat maker and producer Ethan Peters has always felt a strong connection to hip hop music. The lifestyle, the culture and the many similarities between Indigenous and Black experiences are things that have always resonated with the Elsipogtog First Nation musician. These cultural parallels are part of why he believes hip hop and rap music have become such a powerful means of expression for many Indigenous musicians.
“The ideas and stories contained in rap music have a lot of relatability within our reserves,” said Peters. “You hear a lot of talk about doing drugs, and partying, and life in the projects on almost every hit rap record. If you take a stroll through a reserve, and talk to a fair bit of the residents, you’ll see a lot of parallels with those topics. That is a huge key factor.”
Peters’ latest album, Anticipated, brings together several guests including Wolf Castle, Drives the Common Man, Talon the Rez Kid Wonder, Fortunato and Navi WDGT to create a 21 song collection that speaks volumes about hip hop’s presence in New Brunswick and more specifically, the number of diverse Indigenous voices it supports.
Anticipated is primarily driven by Peters’ production, full of southern hip hop influence with everything from crunk, mumble and trap weighing in with admirable strength. The album’s sonic colour is made more rich by the mix of voices and vocal deliveries featured throughout the record, each playing off Peters’ beats with complex rhythmical dexterity.
Peters sees the project as a way of showcasing Indigenous talent and supporting his community, backed by the belief that we all share an interest in stories from home.
“Hip hop has always been an outlet for getting stories out there,” he said. “I think that is something that’s always going to be of interest to people, especially when it’s an artist close to home telling the story. You automatically just want to support them, whether you like their music or not.”
Anticipated was officially released on February 12, 2021.
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