Local hip-hop artist made impact beyond stage

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This article was published 20/02/2024 (596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s music community is mourning Cayden Carfrae, a musician, artist, photographer and budding activist who performed under the stage name Caid Jones.

Carfrae, a 24-year-old Winnipegger, was in Thunder Bay earlier this month working with Indigenous youth on a music production project when he was critically injured during an early-morning altercation on Feb. 11 with a 35-year-old man, who has since been charged with aggravated assault, according to the Thunder Bay Police Service and later confirmed by family.

Last week, hundreds of posts memorializing Carfrae began circulating on social media, but Carfrae was kept on life support in Thunder Bay for several days so his organs — his heart, liver, pancreas and likely both kidneys — could be donated this past weekend, a decision consistent with Carfrae’s generous personality, his mother says.

“He was full of love,” Rachael Carfrae says.

Remembered by friends and collaborators as a caring soul with a passion for helping others through volunteerism and mentorship, Carfrae began writing poetry during his years at Glenlawn High School, where an English teacher encouraged him to create rap music for class credit.

“He came into my room one afternoon in high school, and he said, ‘Mom, can I show you something?’” recalls his mother. “Then he rapped for me, performing something he had written. I was blown away.”

Carfrae fell for hip hop at 10 years old after his father gave him a copy of The Eminem Show, a moment he later described as “love at first sound.” After that, Carfrae’s CD collection grew to include selections by Tupac, Dr. Dre, NWA and Rakim, deepening his worldview and expanding his understanding of what hip-hop could accomplish through social commentary. Through hip hop, he also began exploring his own Indigenous identity, finding community and connection.

Once he decided to seriously pursue music, his family gave him a keyboard and production software, and Carfrae’s creativity soared. “I’d go up to his room, and there were papers all over. He was always writing, always recording with his friends,” his mother says.

At 20 years old, Carfrae founded his own record label, PayAttention.

“My vision is to take care of my community, take care of my family and things like that as quickly as possible. The quicker I can get music to my people and my friends, the more impact that I can make with my music.”– Cayden Carfrae

“Once I found hip hop, there was a big sense of identity to it, and pride as well — I can do this, this is something I’m good at,” he told the Free Press in 2021 after releasing his first EP, No Distractions Please, which include the track Frozen, a searing piece dealing with Manitoba’s homicide rate and its disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities.

That EP, released with local label Birthday Cake, was praised by Exclaim! in a review by Chris Bryson. “Jones’ earnestness, in tandem with his ambitiously open heart and desire to help and bring about change, gives No Distractions Please a vital energy. He could turn heads with the speed and force of his flow alone, but he couples it with carefully considered lyrics that provide glimpses into his impassioned and honest life.”

As a solo artist, Carfrae opened for national and international acts including Brother Ali, DJ Shub, Swollen Members and Skratch Bastid. He played the Sakihiwe festival with Manitoban hip-hop acts like 3Peat and Mattmac, a close collaborator and friend. But despite his success as a performer, Carfrae, who identified as Irish and Cree, was determined to make an impact beyond the stage.

“I would rather be contributing to the positive stuff in the world, than contributing to the negative,” he told the Free Press about his approach to art. “I want to be able to have another person listen to me and find relation in it, not feel so alone, not feel like they’re the only person who feels that way.”

“My vision is to take care of my community, take care of my family and things like that as quickly as possible,” he said in a Manitoba Music profile, written in 2021. “The quicker I can get music to my people and my friends, the more impact that I can make with my music.”

Carfrae was a mentor with Graffiti Art Programming and Studio 393, working with youth to develop their artistic and leadership skills.

His mother says Carfrae was dedicated to doing small acts of kindness for strangers and those in need.

“He was always making care packages — toothpaste, deodorant and other toiletries — to hand out to the homeless,” she says, hoping those wanting to honour her son will follow his lead.

Carfrae also worked with the N’we Jinan Young Professional Artists program on Integrative Arts and Mobile Music Production initiatives, partnering with Indigenous youth across the country to create music and videos exploring themes of identity, language, love and self-acceptance.

“We’re really just trying to foster a sense of community in a sense of identity within the youth that we work with,” Carfrae told CBC after working with Kanien’kehá:ka students in Chateauguay, Que., on a song called They Fly.

“As an Indigenous person, seeing kids so prideful, so hopeful about their future inside of their culture, it gives me a lot of hope for our future generations knowing that some of our past generations had some of these things taken away,” Carfrae added.

“I think everyone knew Caid as a beacon in the music community. He was definitely one of the best people.”– Ethan Lyric

“He always tried his best to do things right and proper,” says Peatr Thomas, an Inninew artist who met Carfrae at Studio 393.

When approaching elders and those he respected for guidance or help, Thomas says Carfrae showed immense appreciation for their time and knowledge, giving medicine to acknowledge their contribution to his well-being. “Something that stood out to me about Cayden was he really did care.”

Ethan Lyric, 21, an Indigenous singer-songwriter in Winnipeg, views Carfrae as an inspiration.“Caid was one of the first people who reached out to me and say he saw promise in me,” says Lyric. “He always wanted to help everyone, especially in the Indigenous community, to succeed.”

Carfrae frequently called Lyric to alert him to upcoming arts grant deadlines, sometimes going so far as to fill out the application on Lyric’s behalf.

“I think everyone knew Caid as a beacon in the music community,” adds Lyric. “He was definitely one of the best people.”

Before his death, Carfrae’s family was able to spend several days with him in the ICU, where Rachael Carfrae says the medical staff were tremendously supportive and kind.

Carfrae’s family is in the process of co-ordinating a small celebration of life, and the Graffiti Gallery will also be honouring Carfrae with a public memorial event in the coming days.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help with funeral costs.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com