Dartmouth remembers rapper Pat Stay, one year after tragic killing

A man who had always seemed larger than life—both onstage and in the collective memory of those who knew and loved him—is now, fittingly, the size of a building. Over the Labour Day weekend, artists unveiled a 25-foot-high mural of late battle rapper Pat Stay in Dartmouth Cove, overlooking the Halifax Harbour. The painted tribute comes a year after the 36-year-old Dartmouth native’s tragic killing on Sept. 4, 2022. The unveiling was part of a weekend filled with celebrations of Stay’s life that included a barbecue, games, music from DJ IV and tributes from friends throughout the battle rap community—both in Halifax and around the world.

On Saturday, Sept. 2, Haligonians gathered for hours near Stay’s mural on the Dartmouth waterfront to remember and honour a friend, father of two and celebrated battler who not only earned global fame on King of the Dot, a Toronto-based battle rap competition that counted hip hop superstars Drake and Eminem as fans, but was proud to tell everyone he met where he was from: The Darkside.

Stay’s reputation didn’t just precede him globally—it also earned him respect at home. Enfield’s Luke Boyd, better known as MMVA and Juno Award-winning rapper Classified, told The Coast in March that he could share “stories for days” about Stay and the mark he left on those who knew him, calling Stay the “Sidney Crosby of battle rap.”

“They worked at it and became the best in the world from Nova Scotia,” Boyd told The Coast. “Literally, if you follow battle rap and you really watch it, to me, he was the best at what he did.”

News of Stay’s death rippled far beyond Nova Scotia, reaching the pages of CNN and the UK’s Sky News. It also sparked a growing chorus of friends, family and fans who have lobbied for a street in Dartmouth to be renamed in Stay’s honour. A change.org petition calling on Halifax mayor Mike Savage and regional council to rename a street after the self-styled “Sucka Free Boss” has garnered more than 6,700 e-signatures.

Longtime friend Cody Good, who first met Stay at Auburn Drive High School and spearheaded the online campaign to have his name memorialized, told The Coast that all the tributes that have poured in since Stay’s death “speak volumes to who Pat was” in Dartmouth and Halifax. He remembers Stay as “always willing to help talk out a problem or seek out who needs some help to get through an issue”—a legacy Boyd echoes as well.

“He was just a great guy to talk to,” Boyd told The Coast, “a good listener, but at the same time, good at giving feedback. [He was] one of those guys that just had good advice and would see things [from] a little bit wider [perspective] than most people normally see.”

Inquiry scheduled for man accused in Stay’s homicide

Stay was found stabbed outside of Halifax’s Yacht Club Social on Lower Water Street in the early morning hours on Sept. 4, 2022. Police arrested Adam Joseph Drake, 31, six days later and have charged him with first-degree murder. Drake also faces a first-degree murder charge in the 2016 killing of 22-year-old Tyler Keizer.

As SaltWire reported in December, a preliminary inquiry is scheduled for the week of Sept. 25-29, 2023. That will determine, based on any evidence, whether Drake would proceed to a jury trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $276,000 for Stay’s family since his death. A March benefit event raised an additional $200,000. Malyssa Burns, Stay’s partner, told The Coast that the money will help her to carry on the goals she and Stay shared for their family.

“It really warms my heart,” Burns added, “and my heart has needed a lot of warming.”

Mural completed by Halifax artists

Halifax artists Mike and Daniel Burt—otherwise known as Prince Fuze and Bun Hundred—completed the work on the black-and-white mural. Both are no strangers to Halifax’s cityscape; the former painted Defeat, the Statue of Liberty-esque mural on the north side of 1600 Grafton Street, while the latter is behind the gorgeous Living Space mural at 1580 Gottingen Street, among other works. The two also collaborated on The Sea in Her Blood, depicted on the wall of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

click to enlarge

Tim Krochak (@timbophoto) via Instagram

Muralists Mike and Daniel Burt work on a Pat Stay mural over the Labour Day long weekend.

Mike remembers Stay from years of running into each other at Halifax’s Hopscotch Festival. Speaking by phone with The Coast, he says it was DJ IV who reached out about getting involved with the mural—something Burt had wanted to do on his own for some time already.

“I’d been looking for the past year to try to get a spot in downtown Dartmouth,” he tells The Coast. “[Pat] was a great guy and a good father. The last time I saw him, I’d just had my son—and his son was already a couple years old. He was really giving me good advice about that. And I was a big fan as well.”

Burt says the weekend turnout was “incredible.”

“Everybody was happy; it was a good time. I hope they keep it going every year.”