Shane Kimber - Oyen’s Greatest Rapper

By Joan Janzen

Shane Kimber, aka OGR-Scintilla, is on a quest to become the Greatest Rapper in Canada. Shane farms in the Sedalia-Oyen area with his dad and uncle, which may explain why his fans have said OGR stands for Oyen’s Greatest Rapper.

OGR actually stands for Over Growth Renaissance, and the word scintilla means spark. Shane definitely is a bright spark in the music world, who began his journey a few years ago.

“In 2019 I found out about Tik Tok and just started posting random stuff, trying to be funny,” Shane said. Shane’s a funny guy by nature, who found a way to combine having fun with music. “One day it was really snowing and I thought it would be funny if I went outside without my shirt, wearing shorts and rapping. People loved it, so I leaned into it more and more.”

“It’s really important to use what I have at my disposal; I don’t need to make a big budget music video. That’s how I was able to succeed,” the young musician explained.

Shane is a one-man show. He’s a song writer, artist, producer, mix engineer and comedian; he does it all and loves it! Except for editing. “Video editing is something I don’t have a passion for. It’s not the most glamorous work and I’m thinking of hiring an editor. But I have this problem; I like to do things myself so I know it will be done the way I like it done.”

So is Shane a perfectionist? He admits he is, but has discovered that life experiences have a way of teaching valuable lessons. He was posting a lot of videos in 2020, which were doing OK, but not getting big views. Then he said, “I posted a video I thought was pretty bad and overnight it gets half a million views! That night I finished writing all the words, because I only had a short version of the song. The next day I filmed a video at the dugout and did “Timmies Run”. I did the whole thing in less than 24 hours and it exploded!” That’s when Shane realized something doesn’t have to be perfect to be popular.

Shane has been writing songs since he was a kid. “I’ve written songs every single day since I was 13 years old. If you write songs every single day, eventually that’s how your brain works,” he said. “I have thousands of voice memo’s in my phone because I write everything down and sort through it later. I just love song writing. I just didn’t quit, and eventually I just got good at it.”

Shane started taking guitar lessons at the age of 12 while attending school at Youngstown, and started recording using a low quality microphone. He attended college at Camrose getting a degree in Kinesiology. While there he was exposed to more hip-hop and rap, started learning about production, took a few music lessons, and acquired more gear and experience.

“For three years while I was at college, I was able to take vocal lessons from one of their music professors, and learned music theory,” he said. “A small amount of knowledge can go a long way.”

Shane loves being involved in lots of different activities ... from school, to the arts, comedy, sports and drama. “I like trying lots of different stuff; my challenge is committing to one thing,” he said. He loves problem solving. “I prefer to have something where I have to figure it out.”

Shane’s music is a reflection of his personality ... it’s spontaneously unique, and uniquely Canadian. But he says he has hundreds of non-Canadian songs that he hopes to release by the end of the year.

Meanwhile he’s also busy working on the family farm. “We are just wrapping up calving season here, and got a good handle on seeding now,” he said. So his dad and uncle said Shane can get back to doing music stuff now.

“I’m really lucky I have the farm here and a family that supports me. I’m not really making super big bucks, so being able to live here on the farm gives me the freedom to do what I want. The city can feel suffocating for me. I can reinvest some of the money I make into making better videos and content,” he explained. “I’m living in my grandma’s house. She passed away in 2019. I have my studio in my house, and it gets the job done.”

Although he’s been online for some time, he definitely wants to do more live shows in the future. “I just want to keep making music, because that’s what makes me happy,” he concluded.

As for youngsters out there who love music as much as Shane does, he offers this advice: “If you do something that is uniquely you, and people like it, you’ll be the only person that can provide it. And it’ll be fun!”

Here’s a small taste of Shane’s uniquely Canadian lyrics ...

Sometimes winter makes me want to move,

I can’t wait till the middle of June,

Ten months stuck hiding in a room,

Summer couldn’t come too soon.

Sometimes all I think about is you,

But I’m stuck with my parka and boots.

Friggin winter makes me want to move,

Summer couldn’t come too soon.