David Strickland’s Pioneering Life in Hip-Hop Production

Show notes

On the podcast this week, Canadian Musician Editor-in-Chief Mike Raine welcome David “Gordo” Strickland, one of the pioneers of hip-hop production and recording in Canada. He’s an Indigenous, Toronto-born and based award-winning engineer, mixer, producer and DJ. Known for being behind the boards on iconic hip-hop and R&B records for over two decades, his work has graced seminal tracks by the likes of Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, EPMD, Keith Murray, Redman and Method Man, to records by ground-breaking Toronto hip-hop acts, including Drake, k-os, Ghetto Concept, Jelleestone, Kardinal Offishall, Jully Black, and Choclair. David’s two most recent collaborative albums, Spirit Of Hip Hop (2020, Entertainment One) and Spirit Of Hip Hop: Elements (2022), highlights some of North America’s hip-hop progenitors and innovative Indigenous artists alike to share an embodiment of the teachings, art, traditions, and music of the community, aligned with his Indigenous heritage. In this chat, David tells Mike about how he got his start and built his engineering skills, being thrown into the fire as a newbie on an album by Saukrates, and working his way through the industry from there.

Hosts

Mike Raine

Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief for Canadian Musician, Professional Sound, and other magazines. He’s a fan of long conversations about music and the music industry.