The Cool Sweepings album is streaming worldwide now, a 12 track soundtrack to the Winnipeg curling comedy now airing on Bell Fibe TV1. The record runs a tight 30 minutes across hip hop, rap, reggae, R and B and EDM, and every song connects to a moment, an emotion or a chapter of the series itself.
The series follows Chris, a Jamaican Canadian teenager from Winnipeg’s South End who works several jobs while helping run his family’s struggling curling rink. When the bank moves to foreclose, Chris and his crew of Fillmore, Denny and DJ Nate enter a bonspiel with a 50,000 dollar grand prize, with no money, no curling experience and a 60 day deadline. Former curling prodigy Kyra reluctantly agrees to coach them, while Chris’s father Kevon balances cultural pride, money worries and the legacy of the rink he built for his community.
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The Cool Sweepings Album Tracklist In Full
The full sequence, as published with the release coverage at That Eric Alper, runs: Intro: The Cool Sweepings Movement featuring DJ Maxwell Dillin; Cool Sweepings Anthem featuring Lyberal; Minus 40 Interlude; Minus 40 featuring SleepyZay, Knathan and Dill The Giant; Nobody Came To The Party featuring Young Prince; Bonspiel Dreams Interlude; Bonspiel Dreams featuring T’ai Pu; Aisle 7 featuring Jay Evans; Cool Sweepings Vibes featuring T’ai Pu and Celeb; Fort Rouge On The Line Interlude; Fort Rouge On The Line featuring Yvng Chriis; and Outro: One Love featuring C Sharpe. DJ Maxwell Dillin stitches the record together with the intro and three interludes, so the album plays like a mixtape, a film and a love letter to Winnipeg at once.
Creator Chris Sharpe produced the album alongside Peter McGimpsey, Serj Bhatti and Gracia Balingene. On the anthem, Sharpe wrote the lyrics and produced, McGimpsey built the beat and Bhatti engineered. Lyberal, a Winnipeg artist, leads the charge on that opening statement, while Yvng Chriis reps the show’s real home on Fort Rouge On The Line and T’ai Pu chases glory on Bonspiel Dreams.
Four Actors, Four Recording Artists
The twist at the centre of the project is the cast. All four lead actors are also recording artists, and they rap and sing on the album under their artist names: Joshua Calder performs as SleepyZay, Darryan Edwards as Young Prince, Nathan Zayac as Knathan and Dillin Morgan as Dill The Giant. SleepyZay, Dill The Giant and Knathan brave Prairie winters together on Minus 40, and Young Prince delivers the lovable heartbreak of Nobody Came To The Party.
“I often describe it as having four Will Smiths in one production. Will Smith showed the world how an actor could also be a successful recording artist and create music connected to the films he starred in. With Cool Sweepings, we have four young artists bringing that same crossover energy to one television series and soundtrack.”
Sharpe, the series creator and producer and the founder of Black Film Space Manitoba, built the show so the music is not decoration. The soundtrack is billed as the world’s first curling inspired album, and City News has called the series the world’s first Black curling comedy series. National coverage has followed from CTV News, City News, TSN, CTV’s Your Morning Winnipeg and CBC.
An 18 Year Road To One Yes
Getting here took nearly two decades. Sharpe pitched the idea for 18 years and heard the same answer from network after network before Bell Fibe TV1 said yes. When the yes finally came, a whole province showed up behind it: the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Film and Music, Moonlite Labs and New Media Manitoba, along with partners including the Black Screen Office, CurlManitoba, Fort Rouge Curling Club, St. Vital Curling Club, Dynasty Curling and On Screen Manitoba. The show’s Winnipeg premiere screening at a Cineplex theatre then sold out.
“You can be from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and still dream of creating something the entire world can experience. You can hear no for 18 years and still get your yes.”
That long road gives the album its weight. This is not a novelty record rushed out beside a show; it is the musical half of a franchise Sharpe has been building since long before the cameras rolled, made by the same young artists who carry the story on screen.
From The Screen To The Ice
The world of the show now extends onto real ice. The Cool Sweepings Curling League kicked off on November 8 at Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg, running on alternating Sundays through March 14 from 4 to 6 p.m., and the Cool Sweepings Curling Bonspiel takes over the same rink from April 16 to 18, 2027, with doors open daily at 9 a.m. For a Canadian hip hop story rooted in Winnipeg, the through line is rare: a television series, a streaming album and a community league all carrying the same name, all built from one idea that refused to go away.
