Chris Sharpe heard “no” for 18 years. Network after network turned down his idea for a Jamaican Canadian curling comedy with its own original soundtrack. Then Bell Fibe TV1 said yes. Cool Sweepings is on screens now and its soundtrack is already streaming worldwide. ‘Cool Sweepings: The Album (Original TV Series Soundtrack)’ is the world’s first curling inspired album. It’s a 12-track blast of hip hop, rap, reggae, R&B and EDM from Black Film Space Manitoba, led by the swaggering “Cool Sweepings Anthem” featuring Winnipeg artist Lyberal.
Here’s the twist that makes it special. All four of the show’s lead actors are also recording artists, and they rap and sing on the album. Joshua Calder is SleepyZay, Darryan Edwards is Young Prince, Nathan Zayac is Knathan and Dillin Morgan is Dill The Giant.
“I often describe it as having four Will Smiths in one production,” says Sharpe, the series’ creator and producer and founder of Black Film Space Manitoba. “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.”
The series follows Chris, a Jamaican Canadian teenager from Winnipeg’s South End working several jobs while helping run his family’s struggling curling rink. When the bank moves to foreclose, his loyal and chaotic crew of Fillmore, Denny and DJ Nate convince him the rink is worth fighting for. With no money, no curling experience and a 60-day deadline, they enter a bonspiel with a $50,000 grand prize. What follows is a hilarious run of training disasters, failed fundraisers, viral fame and rivalries with elite curlers who see them as a joke. 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.
Every song on the album connects to a moment, emotion or chapter of the show. Lyberal leads the charge on the anthem, and SleepyZay, Dill The Giant and Knathan brave Prairie winters together on “Minus 40.” Young Prince delivers the lovable heartbreak of “Nobody Came To The Party,” and T’ai Pu chases glory on “Bonspiel Dreams” before teaming up with Celeb on the easygoing “Cool Sweepings Vibes.” Jay Evans holds it down on “Aisle 7,” and Yvng Chriis reps the real home of the show on “Fort Rouge On The Line.” DJ Maxwell Dillin stitches it all together with the intro and four interludes, and Sharpe himself, as C Sharpe, closes the record with the warm “Outro: One Love.”
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. The result runs a tight 30 minutes and plays like a mixtape, a movie and a love letter to Winnipeg all at once.
Getting here took nearly two decades of persistence.
“For 18 years, I carried a vision that many people couldn’t understand. A Jamaican-Canadian curling comedy television series with its own original soundtrack, bringing together Black culture, Canadian identity, sports, comedy, and music,” Sharpe says. “Year after year, we pitched the idea. Year after year, we heard the same word. No. No to the television series. No to the concept. No to the vision. But I never stopped believing.”
The drive behind it was personal.
“Growing up, I didn’t see many Black creators producing television shows and films that reflected people who looked like me, especially stories coming out of Manitoba. I wanted to change that,” he says. “That is one of the reasons I founded Black Film Space Manitoba. My vision was simple but ambitious: create opportunities for Black talent, tell Black-led stories from Manitoba, and build more than individual television shows or films. I wanted to create global hits. Stories that could grow into entertainment franchises and universes of their own.”
When the yes finally came, a whole province showed up. The City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Film & Music, Moonlite Labs and New Media Manitoba all got behind the project, along with partners including the Black Screen Office, CurlManitoba, Fort Rouge Curling Club, St. Vital Curling Club, Dynasty Curling and On Screen Manitoba.
“From the City of Winnipeg to Manitoba Film & Music, Moonlite Labs, New Media Manitoba, and the many artists, filmmakers, technicians, musicians, and supporters who contributed their time and talent, Cool Sweepings became bigger than any one person,” Sharpe says. “People like Devon Clunis, Monica Chertok, Patrick Cairns and Reginald Isume, along with many others, became part of a journey that had taken nearly two decades to reach this moment. It felt like the Manitoba community was helping carry an 18-year dream across the finish line.”
Then the show’s Winnipeg premiere screening at a Cineplex theatre sold out.
“After 18 years of rejection, we were standing in a theatre filled with people who had come to experience the world of Cool Sweepings,” he says. “Seeing that audience, hearing the laughter, and watching people celebrate a story we had fought so hard to tell was something I will never forget. For years, people had told us no. Now hundreds of people were saying yes.”
Cool Sweepings has already caught national attention. CTV News, City News, TSN, CTV’s Your Morning Winnipeg and CBC have all covered what City News called the “World’s first Black Curling comedy series.” For Sharpe, the series, the album, live curling events and merchandise are only the start.
“We are not simply producing a television show and releasing an album. We are building an entertainment universe,” he says. “I want Cool Sweepings to inspire other creators, especially young Black Canadians who may not see themselves represented in the film, television, or music industries. I want them to know that where you come from does not determine how far your dreams can go.”
“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.”
The fun moves off the screen and onto the ice this winter and spring. The Cool Sweepings Curling League kicks off November 8 at Fort Rouge Curling Club, and the Cool Sweepings Curling Bonspiel takes over the same rink April 16 to 18, 2027.
Eighteen years of no led to one yes, four actors who double as recording artists and a soundtrack the world can stream right now. “Never let someone else’s no become the end of your story,” Sharpe says. “Follow your dreams. They always know the way.”
‘Cool Sweepings: The Album’ Track Listing:
“Intro: The Cool Sweepings Movement” featuring DJ Maxwell Dillin
“Cool Sweepings Anthem” featuring Lyberal
“Minus 40 Interlude” featuring DJ Maxwell Dillin
“Minus 40” featuring SleepyZay, Knathan and Dill The Giant
“Nobody Came To The Party” featuring Young Prince
“Bonspiel Dreams Interlude” featuring DJ Maxwell Dillin
“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” featuring DJ Maxwell Dillin
“Fort Rouge On The Line” featuring Yvng Chriis
“Outro: One Love” featuring C Sharpe
Upcoming Events:
November 8 Winnipeg, MB @ Fort Rouge Curling Club (Cool Sweepings Curling League, alternating Sundays through March 14, 4 to 6 p.m.)
April 16 to 18, 2027 Winnipeg, MB @ Fort Rouge Curling Club (Cool Sweepings Curling Bonspiel, doors open daily at 9 a.m.)
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