Beat Nation is a website that serves as a hub for several young, indigenous artists from across North America. The work of the artists featured on the site is extremely diverse – from music to graffiti, to video and photography to graphic design, poetry and multimedia. What unifies these artists’ works, if that can be said, is hip hop culture. The site’s producers, and many of the artists themselves, express a deep connection to hip hop culture, especially in terms of its origins within an oral, disenfranchised segment of the population, and the themes of resistance, survival and hope that are common in hip hop related works.
The works featured on the site certainly deviate from purely traditional forms of aboriginal art, primarily in their appropriation of materials, images, style – and most of all technology – that have non-Native origins. However, as Glenn Alteen, the produce of Beat Nation argues, “these artists are not turning away from the traditions as much as searching for new ways into them.” Indeed, as you peruse the various artists (categorized into music, visual/multimedia, prose/poetry), a strong sense of pride in Indigenous culture and tradition is quite evident, as is the struggle to establish a sense of contemporary Indigenous voice and identity.
As with the First Peoples’ Arts Map, Beat Nation provides a unique opportunity for Aboriginal artists from across the country and continent to connect with others with common artistic goals and to showcase their work to a large audience. The popularity of hip hop outside of Indigenous circles makes this particular movement and body of work even more appealing to those who might not otherwise take an interest in Indigenous issues.