Originally from Fredericton, NB, now based in Ottawa, ON, Brockway Biggs (formerly Pimp Tea) has unveiled a music video for his single, “Gift & Deed”. The video tells the story of his friend Bobbie, who spent 7 years on dialysis awaiting a kidney.
The release day for the “Gift & Deed” video coincided with Green Shirt Day and Canada Post’s release of a new organ donation stamp, both of which aim to raise awareness for organ donations. As well, April is organ donation awareness month and awareness week runs from Apr 24-30th.
“90 per cent of Canadians say they support organ donation, yet only 32 per cent have registered their decision.“
Registration status can be looked up at provincial registries found here: OrganTissueDonation.ca
There are members of the Canadian hip-hop community who are struggling with organ failures like Hellnback (of WarParty & Rezofficial) and Know-it beats. Biggs has teamed up with them & others to offer 8 prizes this month, including a sweatshirt, 3 shirts, 5 CDs, and 5 digital albums. Click here for details.
Check out the video for “Gift & Deed” below, and find out more about Brockway Biggs via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
I’m a rapper named Brockway Biggs. I used to go by Pimp Tea. I live in Ottawa but came up in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Atlantic Canada is where I first established myself musically. From 1999-to 2010, I played around 150-200 shows including festivals & several tours. I was fortunate to win an East Coast Music Award in 2005 and receive several other nominations.
I wrote for several publications in the early days, like HipHopCanada.com. My marketing & promotion company provided support for many independent Canadian rappers & musicians (Classified, Skratch Bastid, Jorun, Eternia, etc) while releasing annual compilations.
I loved music and networking, but unfortunately, I suffered a bad concussion in 2011 and disappeared from the scene.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
I released a video for “Gift & Deed”, which tells the story of my friend Bobbie who spent 7 years on dialysis awaiting a kidney. The song & video is meant to raise awareness about organ donation and not pressure anyone.
I was pretty surprised to learn that 90 percent of Canadians say they support organ donation, yet only 32 percent have registered their decision. Registration status can be checked at https://organtissuedonation.ca
The song took a long time to complete. I got the beat in 2009 from Moves of Hip Club Groove. I had a song half done for my 4th album, but after my concussion in 2011, almost everything about my life got put on the shelf.
My friend Bobbie was dealing with her kidney issues at the time and so we became closer friends after my concussion, as we better understood the struggle of health issues. I started a brand new song with the beat in 2012 in the hopes of helping her find a kidney. But my concussion struggles made it challenging to finish. It took many re-writes and input from several people. I’m happy it’s finally out there, even if it did take a decade.
When it comes to the global pandemic, how are you keeping yourself out in the public eye while not being able to perform?
The music industry’s shift to social media in the past decade definitely makes it easier to keep connected. However, there’s nothing better than performing live and connecting with real people. I think the pandemic has allowed and perhaps forced many artists to improve their social media games, which should help fuel their careers as things open back up.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so if you were able to work with ONE fellow Canadian artist, alive or dead, who would you choose?
I would pick my late great uncle Don Messer. He was a fiddling legend in his day, so it would be amazing to chat and collaborate.
DJ Wundrkut, who passed away in 2021, sampled some of Don Messer’s music and provided me with a beat that would have been on my 4th album if not for the concussion. I’m hoping I’m able to do something with that in the future.
What’s your goal for 2022?
I have a lot of catchy hooks that I’m hoping to record, so I can shop them to beatmakers and artists. I also have a few beats kicking around that would have been on my 4th album that I’m hoping to work with.
But I’m most excited about some kid’s music I’ve been working on. Two songs are done. I hope to complete music videos and create a social media presence. Watch out for Mr. Super Dude. Back in my performing days, some of my more popular songs were fun ones like Super Dude and Shake Ya Caboose. I often heard I would make a good performer for kids and I’m pretty excited about what I’ve created so far.
Connect with Brockway Biggs:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram