Ottawa rapper Khalid Omar, who performs under the name TwoTiime, was forced to evacuate his Calabasas condo as wildfires tore through the Los Angeles area this week, leaving the studio where he records in ruins.
The 23-year-old says he woke up Thursday to a nightmarish scene as the Kenneth fire began spreading through the West Hills, fanned by strong Santa Ana winds.
“It was looking like hell on earth, I’m not gonna lie to you,” he said Friday in a phone call.
“There was smoke all up in the air. The sky was red and brown. I thought it was judgment day.”
After an evacuation warning was issued, Omar says he fled his home and the thick smoke blanketing the area. He’s currently living in an Airbnb in downtown L.A.
The rapper says the studio he records at, a small space in the Palisades belonging to his sound engineer Jeffrey Wright, was razed Wednesday as flames ravaged the area.
“I’m super sad about that,” says Omar, who moved to L.A. last year after signing with ODA Records, owned by Chicago rapper Polo G.
“That’s the main studio I record at. That was like a safe haven for me.”
He said the space was an invaluable resource, especially since studio time in L.A. is costly.
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“Things are pretty stressful right now with the city burning down. I think everyone’s being affected by it.”
Omar is one of several Canadian artists working in L.A. who have been displaced by the wildfires, which began Tuesday.
Officials say the fast-moving inferno has killed at least 10 people, destroyed more than 10,000 structures and forced thousands to evacuate.
By Friday afternoon, the ferocious fire-stoking winds had calmed down, but the two largest blazes – the Palisades fire and Eaton fire were still largely uncontained.
New Brunswick-born television presenter Mary Kitchen says her family fled their Westwood home on Wednesday because the air quality in their neighbourhood was unbearable.
“It was just so smoggy,” she recalled Friday. “We’re just east of the Palisades and the smoke clouds hanging over the area really looked like a bomb had gone off. The sky was black and red.”
She described an eerie view of “carcasses of cars and parts and timber” as she drove out of the area with her spouse and three children.
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Kitchen said the Palisades is “a special community” that’s very tightknit.
“That community is completely gone now. The coffee shops, the churches, the schools are all now gone. It’s so sad.”
Her family has been staying at a hotel in Newport waiting for the situation to improve. She wasn’t sure what the state of their home was.
She said she’s had to put several work engagements on hold.
“All of the award shows are probably going to be affected and mostly canceled. I don’t think any of that is going to be happening for the next few months,” said Kitchen, who moved to L.A. in 2007.
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Kitchen said she’s disappointed to see social media users saying they have no sympathy for those who lost home to the wildfires because they live in affluent areas.
“It’s not just rich celebrities that are affected. I think the average working person’s lives are going to be completely changed from all the devastation,” she said.
Montreal-born actor Elias Toufexis, known for his role on “Star Trek: Discovery,” was forced to evacuate his Calabasas home with his family on Wednesday as spot fires ignited at the top of his street.
He stressed that many actors in L.A. are “just working people” living paycheque to paycheque.
Toufexis, who also does video game voiceover work, said things have been hectic since he moved to the city in 2019.
“A year after I moved here, COVID started. And then there was a Hollywood strike. And then there was a video game strike. And now there’s a giant fire.”
Among other Canadian entertainers impacted by the fires are Eugene Levy and Cobie Smulders, whose homes were reportedly lost, and soap star Cameron Mathison, who posted footage of the scorched remains of his home.
Canada-born music producer Greg Wells, who most recently worked on the “Wicked” soundtrack, shared an Instagram photo Thursday of the charred lot where his home used to stand.
Kitchen said she’s “absolutely” been considering a move back to Canada.
“I think a lot of people will leave. I’m just not sure what’s going to happen to our infrastructure. It’s just going to take so many years to rebuild here.”
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