Nick Krewen

Special To the Star

“Stay driven.”

For 20 years, that message has been the underlying theme of Toronto hip-hop veteran Duane “D.O.” Gibson’s presentations at over 1000 schools across Canada.

 Offering four programs that focus on the topics of anti-bullying, self-confidence, leadership, peer pressure, literature and Black history, to name a few, Gibson estimates he’s delivered more than 2500 of his empowering speeches and workshops to hundreds of thousands of students – the majority of them in Southern Ontario – since 2001.

“It’s been a long journey,” admits Gibson, a Guinness World Record holder who also hosts the upcoming virtual Northern Power Summit on February 20 and has launched a chronicle of Black Canadian history at blackcanadian365.com.

“But it’s been a rewarding one.”

The rewards have come from running into students years later that remember him, signifying the fact Gibson made a lasting impact despite only sharing a few hours of their time.

“I do get messages from time-to-time saying, ‘Yo, your words have always stuck with me.’  That’s one of the coolest things about it,” he notes. “One of my favourites occurred at a university campus a year ago. My friend is a football coach for Waterloo – he wanted me to come in and speak to the football team –  and one of the players approach me afterwards and said, ‘Yeah, I remember when you came to my school. I think I was in Grade Three.’”

Working with students as young as those enrolled in junior kindergarten, Gibson says the main takeaway of his presentations is to encourage the pursuit of one’s dreams no matter the circumstance.

“I bring it back to what my name ‘D.O.’ stands for – which is ‘Defy the Odds,’” says Gibson. “The central message when I start my presentation – it doesn’t matter if I’m talking about bullying or Black history or leadership — I tell kids what defying the odds means to me, because I have a dream – and I think that’s something that can resonate, whether your five years old or 15 years old…or 45..

“I tell them my dream was to be a rapper, and people said I couldn’t do it. Or I wanted to get through high school and I went through the challenges of being bullied. 

“Black History is full of examples of persevering, staying driven and defying the odds when people say, ‘you can’t do this,’ but  you do it anyway and see it through to the end.”

Rap music is the vessel Gibson uses to communicate with the kids – he even spontaneously writes a rap song with his class – and explains why hip-hop speaks to them so directly.

“Hip-hop is the voice of a generation and it’s amazing that it’s continued to be that still,” Gibson says. “I’m amazed when kids tell me that Eminem continues to be one of their favourites, even after 20 years. 

“That speaks to the point of… to be a rapper, you really have to be real and genuine, because if you aren’t, people are going to find out. 

“When I was a kid, Vanilla Ice lied about his upbringing and suddenly his career was over. For our teenagers and our youth, authenticity is the most important thing these days. Because with social media, although you can create this image of façade, people can see through that. It’s really important to be real.”

Gibson also says, that due to the prevalence of the short attention span propagated by such social media platforms as Tik-Tok, Instagram and Twitter – the briefer the rap, the greater the impact. 

“I know by rapping for one minute – not three-and-a-half – I have their attention. I want to give them those bite-sized pieces of knowledge.

“Like, when I talk about Lincoln Alexander, I know that very rarely will a kid pick up Lincoln Alexander’s autobiography and read it from start to finish.

“I don’t even know if they’ll go to a Wikipedia page and read it. But if I can give a one-minute rap and say, ‘This is Lincoln Alexander – the first Black member of parliament in Canada’ – they will remember that he’s the first Black MP in Canada. 

“Maybe they’ll even remember that he’s Lt. Gov General – and that’s what we want to do  – give kids just a bit of knowledge. Then, if they want to go deeper, they can.”

 Gibson says that students identify with him because growing up in Sarnia, and later Sault Ste. Marie, he faced similar bullying and bigotry to what many of them experience today . 

“I try to really empathize with students,” he explains. “I tell them how I defy the odds and how one of my biggest challenges was not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. In the ‘90s, when I grew up, it wasn’t called ‘bullying.’ I called it, ‘going through a rough time.’ 

“Being the only person of colour there – and there were other things that went into it – but at the end of the day, I didn’t want to go to school. When I went, I felt like I wasn’t there.

“I wasn’t doing well. My grades were down. If something hadn’t changed at that point, my life would have gone down a different trajectory.”

Gibson’s trajectory turned out to be rap.

“What worked for me was hip-hop – it was music. It was going to my room, putting on my headphones and listening to L.L. Cool J. – ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ – or Ice T. or Nas – that was my outlet.

“Hearing that music was kind of understanding what was going on in Black North America, because I wasn’t getting that connection otherwise. In the mid-90s, there was no Internet.

“Writing my raps and performing them was such a huge outlet for me. It gave me an acceptance. I was a quiet and shy kid, but when I started rapping, that’s when everybody  paid attention. I realized that that was the way I was going to express myself.”

Gibson raises awareness of such important Black Canadians as Willie O’Ree – the first Black NHL player and such organizations as the Coloured Hockey League – or Nova Scotian entrepreneur and civil rights activist Viola Desmond, whose picture adorns our $10 bill.

“It’s not even just Black history,” Gibson explains. “They’re just really interesting stories.”

It’s with this premise in mind that he launched blackcanadian365.com.

“I wanted to create this resource where if you want to learn more, you can come to this place,” Gibson says. “Especially when the Black Lives Matter protests occurred last summer, there was so many white people who asked, ‘how can I learn more?’

“At this site, you can learn some facts about Black Canadian History.”

Gibson is also organizing the fifth year of the Northern Power Summit – held virtually in 2021 because of the you-know-what – with the next segment, Black 365, aimed toward spotlighting Black music industry executives.

Speakers include Canadian hip-hop pioneer and motivational orator Maestro Fresh Wes, Vancouver educator Ndidi Cascade, Juno-winning singer Dru and Grammy winner Wanz among others, with the proceedings kicking off at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“We’re giving artists some of the tools to access the music industry,” says Gibson. “I’m amazed at the number of artists who have millions of streams on Spotify but have no connection to the mainstream. I want to give them that access.”

Now, about that Guinness World Record that Gibson established for performing the longest freestyle at 8 hours and 45 minutes back in 2003…

“I couldn’t say non-sensical words and I couldn’t repeat myself,” Gibson recalls. “I had to record the event with two devices, and sent the videotape to London, England for verification.

“It took another year before I got the official Guinness certificate, which I have framed in my office.”

Gibson says with the release of the memorable Eminem motion picture 8 Mile in 2002, suddenly “battle rapping” became an overnight sensation.

“I wasn’t a battle rapper,” Gibson says. “Making fun of people just wasn’t me. So I looked for another route, and the Guinness plaque set me apart, although nobody in Canada was interested in my story. I had to pitch it to XXL Magazine in the States and it got me some spots on MTV Radio Live.”

To Gibson, freestyle is the essence of hip-hop.

“You’ve got to be able to rap at the drop of a dime – to me, that’s what hip-hop’s all about.”