From conception to publication, it took me ten years to create the African-Canadian anthem, AfriCanuck.
The chorus, “AfriCanuck, that’s wzup!,” was first conceived and performed in 2008 at a Toronto Catholic District School Board Black History Month celebration. It began as a simple call and response chant to hype up the crowd before my students took to the stage to perform a play. Fast forward to today, and the phrase is a regular part of student vocabulary at Scarborough’s St. Maria Goretti CES, said in passing to their peers and teachers in the hallway and during various other activities.
The original song was written to fill the large void of African Canadian content I felt as a musician and educator. Far too often, the norm for Black history month is instruction centered around Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and other figures of the American civil rights movement. While these icons deserve to be celebrated, there are so many Black Canadian heroes whose stories are not widely known. The “AfriCanuk” music video speaks to this need. It is framed around a student doing research on Black Canadian history, which leads him to seminal Black Toronto cultural hub, A Different Booklist. My goal with the video was to promote literacy by showcasing several books on
prominent Black Canadian figures, and I’m proud to say it worked. Goretti graduate, MC Delighta, (who was part of a student remix of “AfriCanuk”) told me that she wanted to borrow The Kids Book of Black History in Canada by Rosemary Sadlier after seeing it featured in the video.
Students are not meant to just sing along and watch the video, but are further engaged with follow up tasks. The song is accompanied with questions that have them go out to learn more about Black Canadian heroes, analyze literary devices, and compare the process of using digital media versus print publications for research. Many students have expressed that the song is rich with facts and naturally inspires them to learn more. Goretti graduate and remix writer MC Marley Winner commented that it was easier to write about a topic he liked.
Ultimately, we read to write and write to recite. The final task is for students to do their own research and create their own version of “AfriCanuk.” These student remixes have been presented in class, shared over the PA system, presented at assemblies in the gym, and in a full circle moment, shared at the same board-wide event where the chorus was first heard all those years ago. Taking part in these student remixes has helped improve students’ writing skills and boosted their confidence in public speaking. MC Da Boss, who wrote a great piece on Wayne Simmonds, echoes this growth in lines like, “It may seem hard but there is one main key to success, just keep refining your craft and you will reach your best.”
Lyrics
(Chorus) AfriCanuck yup that’s wzup [4x]
AfriCanadians ain’t just come
1st known recorded one Olivier Le Jeune
‘Fore European colonization begun
They hired Mathieu Da Costa to speak tongues
With Mi’kmaq give dap bridged the gap
Free Black paid for that’s a feather in his cap
Many others shackled subtracted to booty
Read Code Noir to savoir or ask Chloe Cooley
Hardly lowly ruly resistance was bubbling
Hardest Black ever Harriet Tubman
Carried gun man but not to hurt her kin
Or enslave to poison point for liberation
Really hear hymns for hidden coded secrets
Wade in the water from dogs off leashes
MikeAll’s speech and Royce Birth’s beat
Mean more soul fire than Marie Joseph Angelique-
(Chorus) AfriCanuck yup that’s wzup [4x]
Flow circulates like E. McCoy’s lubricating cup
1st Black Dr. Anderson Abbot made the cut
Need a cab pickup hail Thornton Blackburn
The City’s 1st taxi King St. track served
Real facts word no embellishment
Freedom Dawn with Josiah Henson’s settlement
Carrie Best penmanship write for liberation
Mary Ann Shad taught for integration
Viola Desmond not let in but brutally removed
Now pic sits in Nova Scotia’s Govt. House Ballroom
Yall behooved to build a hall for my dude William Hall
Inspiration to stay blazing if you hit the wall
Queen Victoria Crossed him off her award list
Do support like No 2 Construction forces
MikeAll ride riddim John Ware style with horses
Hoist voice like torches help we recite chorus-
(Chorus) AfriCanuck yup that’s wzup [4x]
Not just the past but must view the future
And aim youth to more than ball or tool shooters
It’s cool to move units not measured in metric
Arrest history like Maestro and Drake records
Raise expectations from basement to veranda
With labour Lincoln like Alexander
Do me have to flee in the streets running from beast
Can be Chief like Saunders and run the police
Need to realize that Black Lives Matter
Would Loku be dead if he was White with the hammer
I don’t know the answers just posing questions
To get collectives stepping in progresses direction
Know that me descend from Negus thrones
Please show that me ascend above negative drones
MikeAll sends these poems as a wake up
AfriCanuck yup that’s wzup!-
Questions for Discussion
Many “firsts” are name dropped in the lyrics.
List the names of all the “firsts” and why they were “first.”
2/ Pick your favourite line(s), copy it and explain why it is your favourite.
3/ Explain the word play, or double meaning, used to reveal facts about the following peoples’ lives:
- “…more soul fire than Marie Joseph
Angelique” - “Dr. Anderson Abbot made the cut”
- “Need a cab pickup hail Thornton
Blackburn”
4/ The video seems to promote books over digital technology. Explain how books can be better than digital technology. Explain how digital technology can be better than books. Which do you prefer and why?
Credits
This article was written by MikeAll and originally published in the February 2025 Issue of Catholic Teacher – Magazine of the Ontario English Catholic Teacher’s Association.
Read the full issue here – https://d217e6z1w9buyp.cloudfront.net/catholicteachers/CTMagazine/81a3968c-57c7-4ad3-9da8-0618cae5f5bf/CTFeb25onlineBHM_V.pdf
