Max Merrifield reflects on Sudbury's opioid crisis through hip-hop, new music

Max Merrifield, also known as Silvertongue, said his new hip-hop EP explores a range of feelings as he watches the city grapple with an opioid crisis. 

He especially wanted to reflect on loss, after one of his friends died.

"A few people I've known throughout my life...one major one who I've known from an early age....this person found themselves caught up in the opioid crisis quite early on," Merrifield told CBC's Morning North.

"Unfortunately, this guy didn't make it through it and we lost him recently."

Merrifield said that one song in particular, Different Tracks, is his way of coming to terms with his friend's death. 

"I started working on this song about a year ago and then this person passed away and I thought, you know what, I gotta get this song out. It's time to put it out," he said. 

"So here it is, I just hope anyone who maybe going through that, or has someone going through that might hear it...even though it does kind of end on an ominous note, I think there's hope in there."

Merrifield said he's fortunate to have escaped the crisis. He said his creative outlets allowed him to deal with "day to day stresses of life."

"That's kind of what the song is about, how our lives take these different paths," he said.
 
"You can't always explain it, but also it is to a degree based on our choices. And that's sort of one aspect of what the song's about."

Merrifield says it's important to get his message out now.
 
"We're witnessing a pretty major opioid crisis in our community," he said.
 
"I think there's a role for music to meditate on it and how it affects us, our friendships and how we might move forward. Music is a very healing thing and that's certainly what I'm using it for with this song."