This is an excellent primer on Indigenous hip hop across Canada. The documentary moves from Regina to Winnipeg and the finally Toronto. Some of the key themes approached are:
Hip Hop artists working with Indigenous youth in both rural (reservation) and urban settings
The contrast of city live vs reservation life
The lasting impact of residential schools
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Indigenous relationship with the police
Mainstream breakthrough opportunities for Indigenous artists
My favorite line from the documentary comes when a drum circle is featured. The main drummer says:
“Take care of the drum, it will take care of you.” He also refers to the drum as an analogy for mother earth.
In 2014, a travelling art collective called Beat Nation was on display in art galleries across Canada. The exhibit was meant to display Indigenous Hip Hop through both music and art. The sounds of the exhibit were Pow-wow music (which I have discussed in a previous post), throat singing and drumming mixed by Indigenous DJ’s. The art at the exhibit was meant to display the mix between urban hip hop and traditional indigenous culture. There were snowshoes made of skateboards, low rider bikes decoraded in hide skin, and ipods made of felt. In one room, there was even a rapper freestyling in Cree.
One thing I found really interesting is this idea that kids living on reserves do come to the urban center, where hip hop exists. Hip hop is all about mixing, so it makes sense that indigenous yout would want to combine their own culture with that of urban hip hop.
The exhibit coincided with Idle No More and the protests that raged across the country over legislative changes proposed by the Harper Government which would diminush treaty rights. Hip Hop has always been protest music, and this art exhibits connection to Idle No More really shows how this connection can be made.
From the article:
Beat Nation: Hip Hop as Indigenous Culture has become something of an art sensation in Canada. Featuring more than two dozen artists using beats, graffiti, humor and politics to challenge stereotypes, the exhibit coincides with the growth of Idle No More, an indigenous political movement in Canada.
“The idea behind hip-hop is the idea of a mix,”saysMark Lanctot, a curator at the Montreal museum. He says the sonic soup that follows you throughout the exhibit represents the diversity of being indigenous today.
“Aboriginal culture isn’t a monolithic, single, static entity. It’s always changing, always takes from other cultures,” he says.
Click the image below to learn more:
Mays, Kyle T. “Decolonial Hip Hop: Indigenous Hip Hop and the Disruption of Settler Colonialism.” Cultural Studies, vol. 33, no. 3, 2019, pp. 460–479., doi:10.1080/09502386.2019.1584908.
In this article, Kyle T. Mays looks at Indigenous Hip Hop as a tool of decolonization in two places: Detroit and Palastine. Mays takes time to define Indigenous culture, colonization, decolonization and Hip Hip culture in both places. Hip Hop has the ability to spread the message about decolonization through artistic and political means.
As my final project will be looking at Indigenous Hip Hop as a means of decolonization, this article shed a lot of light on a region I did not know about, Detroit, and a region I did not think of as indigenous, Palestine. I can now see Palestine from the colonial point of view, and am interested in exploring the music of the region that is working to fight against imperial powers.
Mays, Kyle T. “Decolonial Hip Hop: Indigenous Hip Hop and the Disruption of Settler Colonialism.” Cultural Studies, vol. 33, no. 3, 2019, pp. 460–479., doi:10.1080/09502386.2019.1584908.
After reading the Zimmerman et al. article this week, I was inspired to do some poking around on Wikipedia to find out how the site was protecting Indigenous culture. I came a cross this project which works to protect information posted on Wikipedia as it relates to Indigenous culture in the Americas. I learned that most wikipedia pages representing Indigenous tribes need to follow certain criteria:
The meaning and origin of the name, alternative names, especially autonym
Population
Regions where they live (with a map, if possible): countries, provinces, etc.
A history section
Details about this people as of modern day, unless they are extinct
Society structure, including contemporary government or leadership
Economic development and subsistence
Culture
Language(s)
Traditional religion or spiritual beliefs, as well as any adopted religions
Famous or notable people
External links, in particular ones maintained by members of the particular group
Furthermore, these pages must be verified in order. In clicking through many of the pages, it is cear that you must be a verified contributer in order to edit or change any information.
They have many goals in their mission. I found this one to be of particular importance:
To increase awareness of the many indigenous language Wikipedias.
I appreciate that Wikipedia is doing its part to try to create a space for acurate information about indigenous culture and language.
“WikiProject Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Mar. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas.
I am on the hunt for podcasts featuring indigenous content, and I came across Metis in Space . This hilarious show is hosted by Molly Swain and Chelsea Vowel. Below is the description of the show, taken from the website:
WELCOME TO MÉTIS IN SPACE – THE PODCAST WHERE YOUR HOSTS, MOLLY AND CHELSEA, DRINK A BOTTLE OF (RED) WINE AND, FROM A TIPSY, DECOLONIAL PERSPECTIVE, REVIEW A SCI-FI MOVIE OR TELEVISION EPISODE FEATURING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, TROPES AND THEMES.
I listened to an live episode where they reviewed the VR film: The Hunt. They took time to critique the film and how it could potentially be seen as a “shortcut” for gaining indigenous persepective. These two hosts are hilarious, make amazing pop culture references and also have an incredible social commentary. I highly recomment checking them out!
“About: Métis In Space.” Métis In Space, www.metisinspace.com/about.
Gord Downie’s work to spread the story of Chanie Wenjack has been an spread across Canadian School’s and acted as an important piece of the puzzle in terms of understanding the horror of residential schools. The Downie Wenjack Fund is a non profit organization that works to spread this story, The Secret Path, and to bring light to many other indigenous topics. One of the things the organization does that I would like to highlight is their Artist Ambassador Program. The organization works to bring in Indigenous, and non Indigenous artists into schools across Canada to help open a discussion about reconciliation. I think that this initiative does an incredible job of both opening the discussion of residential schools, and also amplifying the voices of Indigenous artists. The website provides information about all of these Artist Abassadors, I look forward to diving in to learn more.
In his TED talk from 2019, Albert Wiggan counters the commonly held western belief, that Indigenous Knowledge is simply traditional or ecological science. Instead, he claims we should beging to look at it as science. It is founded on the same emperical principals as western science. Furthermore, Indigenous knowledge should be integrated into all mainstream industries.
For my third post, I am drawn back to the question of how to amplify Indigenous voices, especially for the youth. I have heard a lot about the hip hop group Snotty Nose Rez Kidz. Growing up on the Kitamaat Village reservation in northwest BC, they fuse indgenous culture with a modern hip hop sound. They have acheived immense success, most recently winning Hip Hop Album of the Year at the first ever International Indigenous Music Awards.
They counter indenous stereotypes by embracing them and taking ownership of them:
Though they’ve heard of kids being sent home from school for wearing a T-shirt with their band’s name on it and had a (now former) manager who insisted they change it to something more palatable, the Rez Kids say it’s important to embrace negative language that has been directed toward Indigenous people in Canada and claim it as a point of pride.
“When we interact with these slurs, we are confronting them, deconstructing them and regurgitating them to create our own impressions that exemplify us as the strong, creative, and intelligent Savages we know ourselves to be,” they wrote in liner notes to their album, The Average Savage.
Not only do they amplify indigenous culture, they produce fantastic hip hop, using impressive flow to communicate ideas. Some of my favourite lines so far:
“Smudging before judging.”- Screaming Indian
“She not pochahontis, more like Buffy Saint Marie,” (refering to his wife)-Boujee Natives
As I continue to encounter new modern Indigenous music, I look forward to learning more about this genre which is terribly under appreciated.
CBC Article:
Click below to read more about their recent award for Best Hip Hop Album at the first ever International Indigenous Music award:
Friend, David. “Snotty Nose Rez Kids Lead First-Ever International Indigenous Hip Hop Awards Nominees | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 26 Jan. 2021, www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/indigenous-hip-hop-award-1.5888427.
Kurjata, Andrew. “How Haisla Hip-Hop Duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids Took on Stereotypes and Won Fans in 2017 | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 1 Jan. 2018, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/snotty-nose-rez-kids-2017-1.4468282.
An ongoing discussion in the class has surrounded the question, How can we reconcile first peoples theories of learning with larger technological goals in education? I found an interesting article about Holo-Demonstrations. This involves the use of Holograms to speak at rallies, making it easier for the image of a speaker to be seen over large spaces (multiple holograms can be projected.)
The demonstration in this green peace article was a campaign speaking to Chase Bank, encouraging them to defund oil projects which interfere with indigenous land all over North America. Justin Morris, the leader of this demonstration, had this to say about using technology to spread the groups message:
This day in age, all the technology and distractions that we have in the world, the traditional tactics . . . kind of falls flat in people ears. Because of this, extraction of fossil fuels and the damage it does to Indigenous communities has been ignored for far too long. That is why we set out to amplify the voices of Indigenous peoples who are demanding that large corporate banks like JPMorgan Chase defund big oil projects. [Using this technology] was an effective and efficient way of reaching and expressing our message to the world.
While there are many ways in which first peoples theories of learning are contradicted by technology (place and placelessness for example), it cannot be ignored that there are opportunities to reconcile these contradictions through innovation. I think this is especially the case with Oral Storytelling.
Click the image below to learn more about Holo-Demonstrations and how they can be used to amplify indigenous voices around the world.
Weeks, Megan, and Megan Weeks. “Technology in Activism: Amplifying Indigenous Injustice.” Greenpeace USA, www.greenpeace.org/usa/stories/technology-in-activism-amplifying-indigenous-injustice/.
Haluci- Nation, formaly known as a Tribe Called Red, is a DJ Duo based in Toronto that blends electronic music with traditional indigenous music and culture. They replace the airhorn heard in much of todays electronic music with druming and vocal chanting. The group has become a staple on the live music scene here in Canada, having won many national music awards.
They have been using their music to promote indigenous culture and language, but also to be critical of colonial Canada. In one track, they even sample Romeo Saganash’s passionate speach in the house of commons, when he exclaimed that Prime Minister Trudeau Should tell the truth to indigenous people, that he “doesn’t give a F*** about their rights.” They have even more recently released a track called Land Back in which they support the Wet’suwet’en First Nations opposition to the Coastal Pipeline in BC.
