Tristan Grant, better known as Wolf Castle, the Pabineau First Nation rapper and 2021 East Coast Music Award nominee for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Artists and Best Indigenous Artist, has announced the release of a new EP coming August 6. The news comes with his latest single, “Welfman,” which spells out just how far the rising star has come.
On the single, Wolf Castle turns back the name-calling of his childhood to proudly adopt the title of “Welfman” as his own, just the same way any Scotsman will tell you about the invention of copper wire. It’s Grant’s way of announcing his arrival, despite the circumstances, have pulled himself up by his own bootstraps; his own version of “started from the bottom.”
“‘Welf Man’ is a de-colonial, working-class banger all about being dope, stylish and intelligent,” says Grant. “Doesn’t matter if I came from a rough spot, all of us are strong, thrifty and know how to do things because we had to find any way to keep going and move forward no matter what.”
Of course, there’s a lot of wordplay at work here, with Grant flexing on some homonyms to bring you some choice acronyms.
“‘Welf’ was an insult when I was in school, short for ‘welfare’ used to make fun of people who were poor. My family’s had their struggles and so have a lot of other people where I’m from, so I wanted to make a song that said it was okay to be from that, and to do what you had to do to get by. It was my way of saying ‘screw you’ to those people. The insult ironically also sounds like ‘wealth’ and I also wanted to abbreviate it to ‘W.E.L.F’ standing for ‘Working Everyday Living Famous’.”
“Welfman” followed his previously released single, “Gunna,” both of which will appear on the final installment of his Da Vinci Chronicles EP series. Concluding with Da Vinci’s Inquest, Wolf Castle allows himself a moment of retrospection, inspired by artists like Mac Miller, Drake, DaBaby, Jay-Z, Tupac and Biggie Smalls. At the same time he taps the local talents of his circle of Mi’kmaq artists: Raphael de la Rez andShift from tha 902, along with engineers and beatmakers Talon the Rez Kid Wonder & DLN, showcasing some fresh young indigenous culture.
Wolf Castle’s new EP, Da Vinci’s Inquest is scheduled to be released on August 6 via Forward Music Group.