David Hodges, hip-hop producer, youth worker, and Director of N'we Jinan, talks to RPM about the growth of the N'we Jinan project and Skicin GenerationVol.4, with music produced from four communities of the Wabanaki Confederacy, dropping August 12.
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Emcee Liaizon, Bronze Candidate and DJ Reflekshin have proven time and time again that their music is universally accessible and has the power to start the healing process regarding the social ills we all face through the medium of hip-hop. Whether opening for major acts such as Phife Dawg, Ana Tijoux and Pharoahe Monch or “spreading their medicine” throughout the U.S., Canada and Germany with their rigorous tour schedule, Shining Soul reaffirms hip-hop can be a conduit for positive change, internally and externally.
So after years on the road, Shining Soul is back at it with their new music video titled “The H.E.A.L.I.N.G”. Shot in Washington D.C by El-Shamesh Photography, “The H.E.A.L.I.N.G” is just a glimpse of their long awaited third full-length album Politics Aside.
“The H.E.A.L.I.N.G” promises to be a disclaimer for what's to come and a wake up call for all those sleeping on Arizona's favorite rap trio.
Watch: Shining Soul - "The H.E.A.L.I.N.G."
For more Shining Soul, visit: shiningsoul-music.blogspot.com and shiningsoulmusic.bandcamp.com
“We started getting our ideas out and it’s like we just started created this whirlwind of thoughts which slowly turned into action and looking at us today, that’s become our healing tool,” Travis Adrian Hebert aka Heebz the Earthchild (Cree/Métis) says of Mob Bounce’s beginnings.
“What I feel about my lyrical content is that it’s the spirit materializing a message through me. Part of my intent with that is that it connects with other people," said Craig Frank Edes aka The Northwest Kid (Hungarian/Scottish/Irish and Gitxsan). "Being aware its like you understand your surroundings and the energy around you and you have the opportunity to create life.”
Like many Indigenous youth, Travis and Craig grew up with a loss of their cultural identity, but discovered that hip-hop was the vehicle in which they were meant to share their experience and spread knowledge to others who have gone through similar experiences.
“I feel like our music is good for the youth and for the people who need healing in the sense that we bring terminology to that social awareness," says Craig. "Eventually there’s just layers and layers that will peel apart and it creates a lot of healing for the youth who had to experience a lot of the same things say me and Travis experienced in our communities."
For more Mob Bounce visit: facebook.com/mobbounce
Voltron is not just the title of City Natives' latest album, it's also an apt metaphor for the crew's collective power.
Energized by Indigenous camaraderie and lyrical skill, the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia-based quartet of MCs and producers—Beaatz, IllFundz, Gearl, and BnE—has consistently delivered some of the dopest hip-hop coming out of Indian Country.
Last year's Red City was one of 2014's finest releases, and this year the group returns with their latest effort, Voltron, the crew's third LP. Continuing to build on the strength of their established sonic palette—rugged rhymes paired with head-knocking production—the crew's consistency trumps all else; and they're becoming increasingly adept at interweaving the dextrous flows and intricate wordplay between each MC. Every track on Voltron bumps like a long lost classic posse cut unearthed from the dusty crates of hip-hop's bedrock foundations.
On "Ruler", the crew declares their supremacy as "natural born lyricists" committed to maintaining hip-hop's ethos of self-determination and self-made success. There's no denying their claim to a rightful place in hip-hop's pantheon of greatness—but as an Indigenous crew, they're harnessing a uniquely native set of superpowers that makes their collective form all the more compelling and dynamic in what it represents for the people.
And, not that we can take the credit, but all the way back in 2013, we hailed their imminent ascendance as "a young Native rap Voltron" poised for break out success. Looks like it's taken City Natives a couple years to grow into the title. But they've earned it.
Tour dates and album purchase info below.
STREAM: City Natives - "Ruler"
CITY NATIVES - TOUR DATES :: SUMMER 2015
June 24th - Kingsclear, NB @ Jedi June 26th - Halifax, NS @ Multicultural Festival June 30th - Elsipogtog, NB @ CC's Bar July 3rd - Eskasoni, NS @ Pow Wow July 12th - Antigonish, NS @ Evolve Festival July 19th - Fredericton, NB @ The Capital Complex July 31st - Fredericton, NB @ The Capital Complex August 1st - Listuguj, QC - @ Real Bar August 8th - Toronto, ON @ Planet Indigenous August 19th - Millbrook, NS @ Summer Games August 30th - Charlottetown, PEI @ Babas Lounge
City Natives' Voltron is available now on iTunes. Stream the full album on Spotify below:
Hochunk-Northern Cheyenne hip-hop artist Kunu Dittmer—aka Stryk-9—has been at the game for years, building and creating throughout the Northwest with his Indigenous crew, the Burial Ground Sound Collective.
Stryk-9's new single, "In The Spirit", is a heartfelt portrait of empowerment and Indigenous struggle that comes drumming through your speakers with the spirit of Crazy Horse. Opening with a throwback soul sample that flips a traditional hand drum song and vocal over a head-knocking hip-hop beat, Stryk-9 spits raw verses about bringing his creativity into action for clan, fam, and all relations.
But as he asks in the track's closing lines, what can we do in the face of "world wars and global warming", when we're "living the story of creation / the destruction of the system that's corrupting the spirit of women and men / is it the beginning or the end?"
Politically charged, but decidedly personal in its ambition to bring truth to the light for the benefit of all Indigenous Peoples, this is a revolutionary warrior's anthem for the conscious, proud, and free.
Catch Stryk-9 and the Burial Ground Sound Collective, alongside Almas Fronterizas and Katrina Benally (Diné), at "Uprising at the Abbey"—an all ages, hip-hop showcase organized as part of the One Flaming Arrow Festival's closing night—Sunday, June 14 in Portland, Oregon. Full event info here.
DOWNLOAD: Stryk-9's - "In The Spirit"
Watch Stryk-9's "In The Spirit"
It's been a minute for Young Kidd.
The Winnipeg-based hip-hop artist was making moves and building his fan base a few years back, but then everything changed.
In 2013, Franklin (Young Kidd) Fontaine was sentenced to three years in prison for shooting off a prohibited firearm in a Winnipeg sports bar back in May 2009. It not only curtailed his freedom, it forced him to reconsider where his life was headed.
As a father to a young girl, Young Kidd took the time to reflect on his own choices and, having recently gotten out, he's returned with an introspective hip-hop track charting the course of his recent years.
Flipping his handle on SoundCloud to YK The Mayor, Young Kidd spins a tale about family, incarceration, love and loss, and his determination to get right.
"When you locked up, all you got is time", he speaks at the track's close, "It's just a matter of what you do with that time."
STREAM: Young Kidd - "In My Dreams"
For the past several years, Minneapolis-based, hip-hop artist Tall Paul has been dropping tracks as part of his #AheadoftheGame series/mixtape, where he releases a new song each week the Minnesota Vikings play, prior to the game.
Last year he compiled those tracks into the Ahead of the Present mixtape, a nice collection of hip-hop jams and thoughtful lyrics.
Now the sunny and soulful, Bahwee-produced joint, "Walk Rite", gets a fresh visual treatment—just in time for #ThrowbackThursday—courtesy of Jake Handegard at Morningside Films and co-directed by Tall Paul. Check the clip and download the track below.
Watch Tall Paul - "Walk Rite"
DOWNLOAD: Tall Paul - "Walk Rite"
Joey Stylez has been quietly transforming his style with each album in his catalogue.
"Pride of Lions", the lead single from his new EP, offers up his latest incarnation: an adept blend of club-oriented 'Aboriginal trap' music, swagger-filled hip-hop, and a slick pop hook, courtesy of Dragonette's Martina Sorbara.
Get into it below.
STREAM: Joey Stylez - "Pride Of Lions (feat. Dragonette)"
Look out for Joey Stylez' latest EP, Grey Magic, due out later this summer.
JOEY STYLEZ - SUMMER 2015 TOUR DATES July 16 @ Le Belmont, MONTREAL, QC July 17 @ CC's Entertainment Centre, ELSIPOGTOG FIRST NATION, NB July 23 @ Blnd Tgr, TORONTO, ON July 24 @ Ritual, OTTAWA, ON July 25 @ The Arena, OBEDIJWAN, QC July 31 @ Newfies Pub, THUNDERBAY, ON Aug. 1 @ Assiginack Curling Club, WIKWEMIKONG, ON
Watch Joey Stylez & Carsen Gray - "Love Trap"
Aztec/Apache/Cherokee hip-hop artist, Wake Self, has been holding it down for a minute, and we'll be the first to admit that we've been sleeping on this incredibly talented MC.
But that's all done now. We're officially on board.
Following a dope freestyle flip of Drake's "0 to 100" instrumental a few months back, the Albuquerque-based MC jumps back into action with his latest joint, "Different", a dynamic posse cut featuring Bay Area MC Equipto, Miles Bonny, and Oakland’s Crown City Rocker Raashan Ahmad.
Wake Self's voice is instantly recognizable and his flow is undeniable, plus he's thoughtful, clever, and intelligent. Over a head-nodding beat produced by MaulSkull, Wake Self and his comrades spit some serious bars about keeping it true to self, embracing your uniqueness, and the need to actively uncage your imagination.
If knowledge of self is one of hip-hop's foundational elements, it's also an essential part of the struggle for decolonization and self-liberation.
So let these talented MCs take you on a trip to the forefront of the Indigenous hip-hop movement. They're chasing a dream bigger than fame and money, and that's the path to self-love and acceptance—a more powerful form of wealth than any material gain could give.
Like the chorus tells it: "you might be different / but that don't make no difference / just do what you gotta do".
True.
DOWNLOAD: Wake Self - "Different" feat. Equipto, Miles Bonny, and Raashan Ahmad
Wake Self's latest album, Good Things Happen to Those Who Wake, is available now at wakeself.com. His new album, Malala, is set to be released this summer.
Following the release of his acclaimed album Indian Summer last year, Plains Cree hip-hop artist Drezus has been dropping singles on SoundCloud that provide deeper context on the album's inspiration.
Recently, he posted "The Sequel", a heartfelt and personal account of his parents' experiences with residential schools—and his own attempts to reckon with the intergenerational legacy of colonialism. Drezus explains:
I decided to put this up for download after I reunited with my Dad recently and we spoke about his experiences with Residential School. His parents were forced to go as well, creating problems for all generations ahead, including mine. I didn't know my Dad growing up but recently made peace with the man and felt this tells an important story of just one of many families affected by the system.
The Rezofficial alumnus uses his time on the mic wisely, not just to account for the loss of his father's presence, but to call out the collective confusion of "the new world order" and call on his people "to take back all that we own".
Impassioned and honest, without being corny, "The Sequel" reminds us that we're all still trying to recuperate, and that "instead of killing our own / we should focus on our fam and protecting our home".
Tapwe, brother. Keep bringing that fire.
DOWNLOAD: Drezus - "The Sequel"
Hot off the melancholic longing of "Welcome to the Struggle", Heebz the Earthchild and the Northwest Kid are back with round two, "Animal Spirit", a haunting dose of Indigenous hip-hop medicine.
Over a hypnotic backing beat filled with echoing chimes, bells, and distorted animal sounds, the track channels the carefully-crafted lyrics of the two MCs, in traded sing-rapped verses brimming with flow and fire.
"Animal Spirit" takes struggle music and blends it with the force of ancestral presence and resurgent return. Mob Bounce critiques the failings of western rapacious capitalism and colonialism, while calling out to west coast secret societies, protected knowledge, and prayers of thanks to the Creator.
Mob Bounce sees through the smoke and mirrors of colonized being with eagle-eyed clarity. Get lifted on the music and listen with your spirit.
STREAM: Mob Bounce - "Animal Spirit"
Samian has long held it down for his people and for hip-hop music, where he uses creative flows and socially relevant lyrics to paint vivid portraits of the world around him through Indigenous eyes.
After exhausting himself with a relentless schedule of touring and performing in support of his previous album Face à La Musique, Samian took an extended hiatus to pursue other projects. But he missed the music.
Enfant de la terre ("Child of the Earth") shows his return to form. Lyrically, Samian is at the top of his game, and the album benefits from its more personal, spiritual and reflective moments, that provide an introspective counter-balance to the warrior stance of his battle-ready anthems.
The album is inspired by Samian's love of the land and the Algonquin culture he represents and, to quote a recent review by Voir magazine, Enfant de la terre is a powerful "echo of the values it defends".
Widely heralded as Quebec's first Algonquin rapper, Samian raps in a mix of his Indigenous language and French, and he has built a loyal francophone following in Quebec. But he acknowledges that the rising Indigenous music scene is still largely unrecognized: "We are few in Quebec—only 90,000 of 8 million people. There are plenty of Aboriginal artists, but few are known to the public. We need to walk together".
Enfant de la terre is a step in the right direction. The album is available now.
STREAM: Samian - "Enfant de la terre"
Revolutions Per Minute is a global new music platform, record label, and boutique agency for Indigenous music culture. RPM’s mission is to build a visionary community of Indigenous artists and to introduce Indigenous music to new audiences across Turtle Island and around the world. Our main site, RPM.fm, has featured the work of more than 500 Indigenous artists and shared their music across our social networks of more than 275,000 followers.
RPM Records is the first of its kind: a label for contemporary, cross-genre Indigenous music, run by Indigenous people. Selected by The FADER as one of “5 New Canadian Record Labels The Entire World Should Know”, RPM Records artists include Ziibiwan, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Exquisite Ghost, and Mob Bounce.
