An Edmonton rapper asked a stranger to lend him his red convertible for a video. The answer was yes

After a lunch meeting with colleagues at the Sugar Bowl restaurant in south-central Edmonton in June of this year, Adam Kaminski returned to his parked car to find a note tucked under a windshield wiper.

“First thing that popped into my head was somebody hit my car,” Kaminski said. “So I was a little upset at first.”

But when he opened the note, he found it was a beautifully written request from Edmonton rapper Ntwali Kayijaho, who wanted to use Kaminski’s red 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible in a music video. 

Kaminski showed the letter to his wife and kids at home; his daughter convinced him to accept the request.

“My daughter thought it was super cool and said, ‘You’ve got to do this,'” he said.

A couple of days after he had left the note, Kayijaho was at work when he received a text from Kaminski agreeing to lend his car to be in the music video for the rapper’s song Message to the Youth. 

The 26-year-old was born in Rwanda and moved to Edmonton in 2000 with his family.

He got into rap music after watching rappers like 50 Cent and Tupac Shakur. He said he’s also inspired by artists like J-Cole and Kendrick Lamar.

Kayijaho started performing at 16, and has since been on stage at the Fringe Festival and at local venues like the Starlite Room. In January 2020, he opened for Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA at Winterruption YEG, a winter music festival. 

He had been trying to get a vintage car for his third music video since the spring of 2022. But it wasn’t easy: when he spotted one he liked, he’d lose it in traffic after the lights changed.

When he finally saw Kaminski’s car, Kayijaho — a believer in the Bible verse John 16:24, “Ask, and you shall receive” — decided to take a chance by writing the note.

Kayijaho said he was cautiously optimistic about it all working out.

“I wasn’t sure it was going to happen yet, so my excitement was also mixed with fear and worry, like what if it falls through?” he said.

After a couple of months trying to co-ordinate their schedules, the two met on a sunny September day to make it happen. 

The result is a two-minute, 36-second music video posted to YouTube on Oct. 23. It looks like a ’90s retro film, with shots of Kayijaho in the red droptop driving down familiar streets of central Edmonton.

Kayijaho had never driven a vintage car before and described the whole experience as “a really good moment” for him.

“It was very cool,” he said.

Kaminski had bought the car from a co-worker’s mother. He said he had been looking to buy a red convertible and when he saw the 5.4-metre-long machine, he knew right away he had to have it. 

“It’s just old and big and loud and awesome. That’s my kind of thing,” he said.

When there is no snow on the ground, Kaminski uses the car as his main mode of getting places, much like that summer afternoon when Kayijaho had spotted it.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.