Native Hip Hop

Posted Up: August 28th 2000

This starts off with an indirect diss, but goes into something that I really wanted to get across, and that's focusing on natives living everything about hip hop. I went and added some links to this thing too, so here's the article, somewhat tweeked.

A whole site dedicated to native hip-hop, and now finally, a column dedicated to it. Where should I begin though? Should I start with where it all began? Naw, that's been done enough times and is kinda beat to death. Let's go with where it is now.

This whole native hip hop scene isn't getting the respect it strives for. Of course, there's some emcees out to get recognition, but what about the rest of the hip hop scene? What about them taggers, DJ's, and breakers? They're out putting a lot of work into their craft. Finely tuning their skills to be the best they can be. Ever seen taggers at work? Most likely not, because a lot of the things done are fast, and at night. What about DJ's? Most likely you've seen them work, but what about those who scratch at crazy speeds, and mix at the same time? Find a dj that does that and not just mix, I'm sure you'll be wanting to know their next scheduled appearance to see what they bring to that show. Oh, and then there's the breakers. These folks do some pop locking, freezes, and whatever other moves are out there. Take these 4 elements: dj's, emcees, taggers, and breakers, and you got an event like Culture Shock that was once held down in Oklahoma every year.

To be honest, I'd have to say that to get the real effect of native hip hop, go to the culture shock event. Down in the South West of the states, DJ Abel, and others, put on various events at different times. I mean, if you're the dj battle champion for Culture Shock, I'm sure you can get in touch with others to put on something to show off native versatility in the field of hip hop. Then there's all these compilations dropping too. A couple from SOAR Records, an upcoming one from NightShield Entertainment, and oh yeah that other record company too. That 'other' company doesn't usually go out of it's way to put other natives in the mix. It's always limited to their own roster, and above that is the ceo fella putting his name higher up and bigger than who's being featured. To put others before yourself is showing class, but seems to be absent for him.

I've, briefly, seen breakers do something. It was pretty cool to watch, but haven't gotten to see some real talent. Those I've seen were doing the breaking thing for a hobby type of deal. Something to do, just to do. As for dj's, I haven't really seen much to keep my attention. I saw some mixers that didn't really show anything special, but at least they had something out there. As for taggers, oh man, I've seen some taggers. My cousin and his crew do some dirt all over their rez. Well them, and other factions. They got their gang scene, and a pretty big tagger scene too. When it comes to emcees, they're out there, and are the most recognized in hip hop. I'm sure most of the shows at conferences and various gatherings, they have an open mic type of deal, but not really anything else to see. Kinda sad, but hopefully that will change later on. There's also a difference between a performer and an actual 'emcee.' An emcee can battle, write, and perform with virtual ease, but a performer barely writes. A performer is basically an image to sell. Performers don't battle, and don't freestyle. An emcee doesn't like performers for that fact that performers ruin it for actual emcees. Emcees come with the skills and performers just have the image. Me, I'm more along the lines of an emcee and don't like certain performers.

Bookings for native hip hop are hard to come by. Pow-wows are just about the pow-wow scene, like: dancers, drummers, and maybe even stick game up here in the northwest. Tee-pee races were once prominent events, and during the Omak Stampede there's something called, "The Suicide Race". More than likely there's also a rodeo going on at the same time as a pow-wow. Well, you got those things accompanying that, but are there other elements to go along with it? Youth are looking for something to do too. Dances are something that gains some momentum for other areas, but why is it that by our own people, hip hop is an unseen culture variation? Why is it okay that when you add in pianos and other instruments to accompany a native flute, you got a work of art? You bring in some english words to a pow-wow song, you're not seen in as in the wrong? It's alright to step into the 'new' thing of movies and directing/writing movies. But, if you're young and want to rap, tag, break, or dj, and it's just wrong to do that? It's said that you need to stick to your traditional ways to be 'native?' Natives in this hip hop culture are not in the wrong. It's bringing in other people to look at what natives have been through and accomplished. It's getting these people who usually don't look to books, movies, or magazines to learn about natives. Now, natives are going into their element and flourishing in it. They start to see that they've been missing out on something. Here's this other 'minority' doing something that they never would have expected to be seen doing. It's like an unspoken matrimony was born.

Youth and hip hop mix pretty well. Native youth and hip hop are no exception. What most folks don't know, is that natives are also in the hip hop scene. Not just as some rappers/performers putting on a show that cost the event staff some sizable numbers, but are touching all bases. If you see a piece on the wall and there's a native type of tag on there, don't be surprised. If you see a piece on a wall, and later learn that the tagger responsible for it is native, that shouldn't be a shock. Some breaker who's gathering a crowd of onlookers turns out to have long hair and not be female wouldn't surprise me. A dj wearing some rez ?(insert clever word here)? clothing gear isn't going to make my hair stand on end. What would surprise me, is seeing them performing at an event put on by other natives. Nowhere that I've been to were natives asked to do there thing to show other natives skilled works outside of traditional artwork or music. Is this going to change? We'll have to wait and see on the outcome of that.

Posted on 04 Jun 2006 by Windreamer