Photo by Tom Jenz
Ray Nitti
Ray Nitti
For years, I drove past, walked, explored, and was fascinated by the complex of vacant buildings that comprised what had once been Briggs & Stratton. For several generations, Briggs & Stratton employed up to 11,000 workers at the factory that covered an entire city block on 32nd and Center in the central city. But by the mid-1980s, Briggs & Stratton had moved elsewhere. Thirty plus years is a long time for these ghosts of prosperity to lie dormant, rats and bats and birds the residents. But now there is hope for revitalization.
Que El-Amin, principal at Scott Crawford, Inc. and a few young Black entrepreneurs instituted a business idea for these old buildings. It’s called The Community Within the Corridor, a $60 million renovation of what had been Briggs & Stratton. Over 380,000 square feet is being developed by Scott Crawford and Roers Companies and will create 197 affordable apartment units; 25,000 square feet of recreational space; and 35,000-plus square feet of commercial retail space. The construction has begun.
Milwaukee musician and activist Ray Boynes, also known as the rap artist Ray Nitti, is in charge of developing the creative space within the vast new complex. It’s called the Creative Corridor, the goal to connect local artists and creatives to resources that will give them access to local and national markets.
Ray Boynes and I talked on site in a vacant room surrounded by walls of graffiti created by local Black artists. His enthusiasm for the project is contagious.
We are sitting inside the gigantic facility that was once was Briggs & Stratton. Construction work is going on around us. You and your partners are creating something new and exciting. What will this project be called?
The overall complex of buildings is called the Community Within the Corridor, the corridor being 32nd Street and Center. This is located in the heart of what is referred to as “the ghetto” or “the hood.” As for me, I’m in charge of developing the Creative Corridor section, about 8,000 square feet. I intend to help transform the lives of creative Milwaukee people who will be living and working here and also those creatives living on the outside. I’m the creative liaison who’s designing the space. I have some credibility because in the music world I am known as Ray Nitti, the Rap artist who has enjoyed national success. My personal business is called Sharp Creatives, but the Creative Corridor will be non-profit.
Ray, you’re only 37, but you’ve had an interesting journey to get to this point in your career. You grew up in the Virgin Islands, right?
Correct. I was born and raised in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands until I was 13. We moved to Milwaukee in 1998. My mom worked in early childhood development, and she also cleaned offices. Sadly, me and my sister grew up in an abusive household. My dad did the abusing. One night, I had witnessed a horrible incident that caused her to pack us up, and we moved to Milwaukee where my sister was living.
As I recall, you were angry when you arrived here in Milwaukee. Didn’t you need some guidance?
I wasn’t any more angry than a young person going through a struggle, but I was confused. You know, it’s easy to use the term “anger” when it pertains to Black kids, juvenile delinquents, but with white kids, it’s portrayed as a struggle, the white kid needs therapy.
Was there an adjustment being in Milwaukee schools compared to St. Thomas schools?
Absolutely. A kid might ask me, “Did your house have a banana roof?” (laughing) We were living off Mill Road, the inner city. I didn’t move over to Center Street until I flunked out of college. Anyway, I went to Riverside High School, the only school that any kid should go to who lives in Milwaukee. Riverside is the best high school ever. It was diverse. I was introduced to a bunch of different cultures, ethnic groups. Gave me a variety of experiences.
What did you do after high school?
I thought I might be a major league baseball player. I was All-Conference Player of the Year, but I just didn’t get the looks from major colleges. Typically major schools aren't looking in the Milwaukee Public Schools for talent. I ended up at Concordia University on an academic scholarship. But I was one of the only Black people at the school. I didn’t like the environment. I was bored as hell. I flunked out.
Were you a rap artist in college? Were you Ray Nitti back then?
I was attempting to make rap music. I spent my financial aid on studio time because I loved being creative. I started working at Time Warner, good paying job, good leadership. I wanted to perform. They allowed me to go overseas to perform for the troops for a month, and they still hired me when I got back. But I just wanted to be making music. By then, I had my performing name, Ray Nitti. Eventually, I got fired from Time Warner. DJ Tony Neal told me I should make a record for women. DJ Tony Neal is the founder of the Core DJ Coalition. That’s when I wrote and recorded the hit song BOW. That song made people dance, made them happy.
BOW, RAP SONG
Aye aye aye aye aye
Now move ya body girl
Aye aye aye aye aye
I like her, I wanna wife her, I wanna take her home and
Pull an all nighter her body like
Bow! bow! bow! bow! bow! bow! bow! now move ya body girl
I started touring, performing, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Atlanta, Houston, all over. At 26, I was able to sustain a life made from music. I had my highs and lows. By the time I was in my 30s, things slowed down. I started thinking, what do I do now? I was thankful for everything that the record BOW afforded me, but what legacy do I want to leave behind? Milwaukee loved me, but Milwaukee has not always been supportive of its homegrown creative music scene. I wanted creative people to stop thinking they had to leave our city to make a success. I decided to be a change agent, trying to create a platform for artists to succeed. That’s when we started Sharp Creatives to connect artists to opportunities. In 2016, I was able to link up with my brothers, Que El-Amin and Mikal Wesley on The Community Within the Corridor development. Rehabbing the old Briggs & Stratton complex.
The Community Within the Corridor will be expensive, I think around $60 million. Who put up the money for this project?
Bunch of different investors. We have TIFFs, grants, tax credits, and loans. The goal now is to build a big space through this neighborhood creative corridor. We’d love to help develop future Kanye Wests, Michael Jordans, Oprah Winfreys, Debbie Allens and do it all here in Milwaukee. And then these successful artists would reinvest back into Milwaukee so we can change the inner city into a thriving community. I look forward to putting my all into this project. I will invite anybody to go on the long ride with us. This transformation will not happen tomorrow, but the work has begun.
Just some background thoughts. For a while, I’ve been writing about what is happening with inner city Black residents, street leaders, politicians. Almost all people I talk to are great people, community and family oriented, and they don’t like the reputation that the inner city is noted for because the media mainly focuses on the crimes. But too often there is poverty and hopelessness, lack of good education and people living on welfare.
I’ve noticed in the last several years, the infrastructure has been declining. I just came up 27th street. From Wells on up to State, almost all the buildings and stores are vacant or dying. What I like about what you’re doing here is focusing on the infrastructure, rehabbing an entire neighborhood, the goal of providing jobs, businesses, housing, stores, entertainment and hope.
I know what you mean. Also, one of things within this community plan is our wellness corridor. We will have Black therapists and clinicians, meditation, yoga. Think about this. Trauma is almost normalized in the Black community. Too often, a crime happens and people just accept that as a way of life. Or they get used to hearing gunshots. Or seeing reckless driving. They think this stuff is normal, but it shouldn’t be normal.
In Mequon, you hear of domestic violence on the news, and the neighbors say, “We never have anything happening like this.” I say, what would a world be like if that was the reality here on 32nd and Center. We want to create a new reality, not just at this physical development but planting a bigger seed that grows and spreads throughout our community, shifts the culture, shifts the mindset so we get to the point where we can also say, “that never happens here.”
Do you have a goal when you can open the creative corridor?
The fall of 2022. We will have a lot of inherited Corridor members though the free membership program, and we will be recruiting new members. We will have young people and families that live on campus, and they will get free memberships. If you are 19 or younger and a resident, you get a free membership. We will be recruiting creative businesses. Corporations are important because our creative people can do work for them. We want to connect with Millercoors, Harley Davidson, and Johnson Controls with our talent pool. We can do a film score, a voiceover, a podcast, graphic artwork, TV commercial, website design. I think we are now in a world where creativity is leading everything. We want to build partnerships.
Nitti led me outside into a gauze of golden construction dust. He retrieved a couple hard hats and protective glasses, and we walked behind a chain link fence and across gravel and dirt, behind a forklift and entered the building that would become the Creative Corridor, 8,000 square feet of open room still in the planning stage. Workers and machines were busy in the rubble, a new city growing out of decay. The walls were tall, the ceiling high. He was enthused, his vision already formed.
Over there, we will have a dance studio operated by the choreographer Jade Charon. There will be a media space operated by PWR FWD Media. We will have a theater, classrooms, four podcast rooms, four pre-production studio rooms, and two main recording studios. We’ll have a shared collaborative working space, a conference room, smaller offices, a laundromat, and a grocer/hot food vendor because we are in a food desert. We will also have a daycare facility. We need all this support to retain and nurture our talent and transform community.
Will some of your creatives be living in the larger complex, The Community Within the Corridor? The TCWC?
Yes, we hope to attract a lot of creative talent that want to move their families over here, and they will bring new energy and ideas.
