Remember when this New York rapper renamed the Coquihalla

This story was originally published on Mar. 5, 2023

A well-known New York rapper got a taste of how dangerous British Columbia highways can be, especially in the winter.

Tony Yayo, one of the original members of South Jamaica, Queens, hip hop group G-Unit, performed at Gotham Nightclub earlier this year, as part of his 22 city Canadian tour.

Ahead of his Okanagan show, Yayo performed in Chilliwack, requiring a commute down the Coquihalla.

“Imma keep it real with you. I swear to God, we could have died. … We went through the Rocky Mountains, and we are going through a storm… I know the promoter didn’t want to tell me this, but some of these roads we could have died on,” Yayo said in a YouTube interview with Vlad TV.

“We drove down Hell’s Highway … the 'Coquinagan' highway. On TV it’s called the Hell Highway. We drove up that, let me tell you, that was the scariest thing I had to deal with in life for a while.”

“We used to buildings and taxis ... but they got mountains, they got moose. … One false turn, it’s over for you.”

During the interview, with VLADTV, he also talked about the decriminalization of cocaine and fentanyl, saying the B.C. leg of his trip was ‘a little crazy.’

The full interview can be found online.