VanIsle’s favourite singer/rapper Oktiv6 has released another music video featuring Vancouver Island.
The new video, I’m Okay, is a catchy tune about “[l]oss, and moving forward, and remembering fondly those who had to leave us behind.” Although it has a bit of rap woven in, the ditty is a change of pace for Oktiv6 who is mostly known as a rapper.
As with his last video, Oktiv6’s new song features Island landmarks. Last time it was a travelogue of island towns from top to bottom, east to west. The new video was filmed at the Royston Trestle Bridge and Trent River Falls.
![YouTube video](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Lahyi75FNO8/hqdefault.jpg)
Oktiv6 is the stage name for Eric Ettinger, a married 42-year-old father living in Courtenay. Ettinger works as a support worker for special needs adults.
In a recent Facebook post, Ettinger reflected on his life since he started rapping as a penniless teen in the 90s.
He wrote: “Then I went to a fine arts school, and learned about performance, and annunciation, and blocking, and the Stanislavski method, and was told to stick to “legitimate art”, I kept rapping.”
“I would go on tour and run out of money, and have to get someone to send money so I wouldn’t be stranded in some butthole town, sometimes those butthole towns had their own Hicks that wanted to beat us. I kept rapping.”
“At that point I was living in the city, and mingling with the hip hop scene, which contained some pretty real cats, things got pretty crazy, I lost a few chums. I kept rapping.”
“Then I was a single parent, and student, and a pretty broken and sad individual, who had dealt with way too much pain in far too little time and I felt I had nothing and nobody, daily life seemed to be a pointless chore, I kept rapping.”
“Now I am a Father, and a husband, and I have a career that I love, I am 42 years old, and a lot of people probably wonder why I keep rapping…..well now you know.”
We’re glad you did Eric!
We can’t wait for your next song. Keep’em coming.