08/14/2026
Naskapi and Cree rapper Steve Einish, known as Kong, is bringing a message of resilience to the Aqpik Jam stage in Kuujjuaq, performing at Nunavik's largest music festival for the first time. The festival runs Tuesday to Friday.
Kong, 37, says he is speaking to young people. He lost his mother to cancer at 15, spent time in group homes and foster care, and was incarcerated at 20. Music became an outlet while he was in prison, where he wrote the first verse to his song Pathways, released in 2021. He told Nunatsiaq News he lost many opportunities because of his criminal record, and wants youth to rise up from whatever they are going through, because he has been there himself.
Before recording his own music, Kong spent years working as a manager and booking agent across Canada, and he runs Nomad Entertainment, a sound, lighting and events company serving Eeyou Istchee and surrounding Cree communities. When the pandemic shut down live events in 2020, he began to focus on his own craft.
Performing in Kuujjuaq also connects him to his family history. His mother was from Whapmagoostui and his father from Schefferville. His Naskapi family history is tied to Fort Chimo, now Kuujjuaq, where his ancestors lived before families were relocated. He says his grandfather was a child when he was separated from his family during the last move to Kawawachikamach, and did not remember his last name. The family that found him gave him theirs, Einish. "When I stepped off the plane, I felt like home," he said.
On stage Kong is joined by DJ Blaster, Sherwin Cumberbatch, who has worked in the industry for 30 years. The two have been performing together for two years. Kong hopes to release his first studio album in the fall, exploring resilience, struggle, death, poverty and the realities facing young people in Indigenous communities.
Story by Dominique Gené, Local Journalism Initiative, Nunatsiaq News.
