M4 P4: International Hip Hop Awards

This year was the inaugural International Indigenous Hip Hop Awards. Due to COVID, the awards show was hosted online. The MC’s for the show were Lil Mike and Funny Bone of the Oklahoma based Hip Hop group Mike Bone. The show featured 14 music awards, and several culture based awards like most innovative clothing brand of the year. While the show was International, most of the artists featured were from North America.

What I liked most about watching this was learning about how many people there are making Indigenous music right now. In my research for the final project, I have been zoning in on several key artists, and various research papers on the topic. But watching this celebration of the Indigenous Hip Hop Culture made me realize how big this thing really is. A lot of the artists could be seen accepting awards from their homes, which were decorated in Indigenous artwork that seems to have  a Hip Hop remix vibe to it. This was a really cool part of the ceremony, to get a sense of how this is not just about DJing and MCing, but about culture at large.

There were a couple of key points of the ceremony I would like to point out and direct you towards. At 29:13, City Natives of the Maritime’s dropped an absolutely vicious freestyle, completely criticizing our government, especially Justin Trudeau. They accuse him of flip flopping and not addressing issues of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Issues.

Another was when Young D of Snotty Nose Rez Kids accepted the award for the best Hip Hop Album of the year with Born Deadly. In his speech he said:

It is so important to tell our stories the way we want it to be told, because we are natural storytellers, what better way to tell it than through music. 

I think that this award show is an amazing way to amplify the voices of indigenous Hip Hop artists who might not receive the recognition they deserve. I look forward to tuning in next year, hopefully when artists will be able to meet in person to celebrate their achievements.