Native Hip Hop 2005

Posted Up: March 14th 2005

Some people seem to look at this hip hop stuff as a fad still? Some tried to use it, and did, for their own gains and when that time was over, moved onto the next segment for exploiting their own hidden agendas (just my opinion). I've noticed that folks were very slow to start adding hip hop (or rap) categories into award shows when it came to natives doing their thing.

Now though, it's like people have recognized that natives do in fact get down in terms of the hip hop culture as a whole. The argument is ALWAYS there about hip hop being its own culture in its own right and secluding ourselves into Native Hip Hop shouldn't be a viable option. My take is this, we doing what we doing for our own reasons and if you are doing this hip hop stuff and are native just do what you do. Don't argue about being involved in Native Hip Hop or just plain ole Hip Hop. It's more about what you got to bring to the table not how you want to be labeled when you step up.

But, the reason I'm writing this is because the hip hop scene for natives has grown tremendously these past 5 years or so. Folks been doing it for longer than that no doubt, but in this "New Millenium" natives just bust out the frame and went into their own, whether accepted or not, in hip hop. It's going good still, but from what I've seen is that folks still don't really give native hip hop its just dues. Yeah, folks have had up websites doing their take on things and then moved onto rock and metal music after covering all the folks w/ names out there in native hip hop. Not only that, but things seemed to be limited to just a mention and some generic interview questions.

Sorry, this is a poke @ Rednations.com if you didn't know. I could question Dine' Underground, but they always were cross covering these genres of native music since they started. Not only that, but they are still shining and grinding for natives not only in music but in politics as well. Standing on your own two feet is hard to do, I know, because taking a stance always means taking a chance. Rednations.com just went out and got out premade questions to every native hip hop act or artist w/ a name, besides Litefoot, and that quickly drew visitors to the site. That even included a piece on myself, but things were delayed for me when I couldn't generate any pics for them to post. During that time of hip hop exploitation they got a tag (graffiti piece) for their graphics used everywhere and even got a dance troupe that seemed to incorporate b-boying. The graff is still a part of their promotion, but the dance troupe never seemed to surface on anything from what I remember? Now though, it's more about models and metal than anything else. The news mentions that were once predominant for natives visitors have taken a back seat to more coverage of what model showed up at what metal show. I hope this isn't looked at as a jab at natives in metal, but I don't know metal or rock music all that much and won't insinuate they're genres of music to take lightly at all. Also, the models are good peoples I'm sure, but my point is that things went elsewhere after coverage on hip hop went a li'l slow.

Anyways, folks covered natives in hip hop for their quick mention of, look at these young ones doing good, then went right on to their own deals. They didn't do follow ups or seem to go in depth w/ anything else other than, 'oh, you got some shows and cds? How cool.' Nothing more than that from what I've seen. Do some research and find out where things started for these folk. Where did they first hear rap, or see b-boys, or pick up the 1's and 2's for mixing and scratching? How did things change after hip hop came into their lives? Naw, it's more of a skim on how things are going and that's that. If people were really interested in natives doing hip hop then they would try and get down like that. Again, just my opinion.

I like that native hip hop has ventured out and flourished on its own. It's good to see tagged up shirts making sales alongside the quick humorous native twists on popular brands and slogans styled shirts. It's healthy competition for independents to do their own thing alongside established native record companies in terms of sales and promotion. Folks even got magazines published to try and promote natives in hpi hop. Whatever happened to murder/def magazine? Not a shot at ya guy just a question. Keep doing your mag. Regardless of what people thought, people went out on a limb and covered natives in hip hop, and instead of sidestepping it after that, kept on w/ the coverage. To those on their hound dog hustle out there, keep it up.

People thought they could bite something and move on after they had their small fill on people's accomplishments and struggles in hip hop. Naw, hip hop has survived corporate infultration, and natives have survived years of attempted genocide. Native hip hop? I think those two terms are going to survive anything that comes and goes trying to bring it down or water it down.

Posted on 04 Jun 2006 by Windreamer