Haviah Mighty: the future of Canadian rap

Haviah Mighty

The future of Canadian rap

Haviah Mighty (Music Industry Arts (MIA) Alumni, 2013) admits she was shocked to be on stage at the 2021 Juno Awards surrounded by legends of the Canadian hip hop scene— including Kardinal Offishall, Maestro Fresh Wes and Michie Mee—as part of a 30 th anniversary tribute to rap at the Junos.

“It’s really an honour to be part of something like that,” says Haviah, who wrapped up the presentation with a 30-second message paying homage to those who have contributed to the genre in Canada and sharing her aspirations to follow in their footsteps. “It was hard to contain my excitement.”

With two albums, five EPs and a handful of singles under her belt, Haviah has opened for acclaimed artists like Nelly, A Tribe Called Red and Snoop Dogg. She won the prestigious Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class and the 2019 Polaris Prize for her debut album, 13 th Floor.

It sounds cliché but there is an X factor to a great performer and Haviah no doubt has it. It’s only the beginning for her.

Haviah’s remarkable early success comes as no surprise to Dan Brodbeck, the Grammy-nominated and Juno Awardwinning coordinator of Fanshawe’s MIA and Audio‐Post Production programs.

“The first time we saw Haviah perform at Share The Land, our annual charity event, we knew we were watching the real thing,” recalls Dan. “It sounds cliché but there is an X factor to a great performer and Haviah no doubt has it. It’s only the beginning for her.”

Haviah has maintained ties with the College, returning to lecture for the MIA program several times and performing at Fanshawe’s London Downtown Campus as part of Fanshawe Live during Juno Week in 2019.

Haviah is grateful for her time at Fanshawe because it gave her an ‘umbrella perspective’ of the industry—music theory, contracts, networking, creating other genres of music—that she has been able to draw on in her career. “(Fanshawe) is such a huge part of my journey.”

DID YOU KNOW?

In March, Fanshawe released a “Quaran‐tunes”playlist on Spotify to mark the one-year anniversary of the first pandemic lockdown. It’s a collection of more than 50 songs from 28 artists who are students or alumni of the College’s Music Industry Arts or Audio Post‐Production program.