Eternal Love: Hip-Hop Artist and Cacique Mestizo

Mayan hip-hop artist David Ernesto Gutierrez-Guevara, aka Eternal Love, creates work inspired by politics, poverty, religion and social class. He’s worked with Diabolic, Hassan Salam and The Circle, Prince E. and Chino XL making a name for himself as a producer, collaborator and solo-artist.

RPM talked with him about education, connection, discovering his Indigenous identity and becoming the Mixed King.

RPM:  Let’s start with an introduction, Indigenous style.

Eternal Love:  Technically I’m Matagalpian, Granadino and Leones from Nicaragua, so that would be my nation. From what I know we’re a Maya nation, and I don’t have a traditional name, unfortunately. David, or Eternal Love, is good to go. That’s pretty much my heritage right there, other than the colonist mix and the Celtic mix in me.

RPM: How has your Mayan Indigenous culture influenced your music creation?

Eternal Love:   Honestly I didn’t start knowing much about it until the last year to two years. So it’s helped in the fact that for my new album I’m going back home. I’m trying to go to my roots and do an all Latin album based on the fact that I’m Indigenous from there, so the album is actually called Cacique Mestizo. Mestizo is the mix of Native with colonist and Cacique is the word for king in our native language. So, I’d be the mixed king essentially.

RPM: Mestizo and Métis are kind of like the same thing - that mixed blood is now a categorization of Indigenous culture.

Eternal Love:   Yes same kind o concept. But with us more central American Indigenous. And it’s not the French mix, we’re the Spanish mix, technically.

RPM: When you were growing up what were your main influences from Indigenous culture?

Eternal Love:   My mom was a traditional dancer - folklore dances - so I grew up seeing that. My family is also all musicians, back home they were a very well known band, so I grew up with all the different arts that we have in our country. I grew up very Afro-Caribbean as well. My love affair with music started with Reggae and more Afro beats as opposed to your traditional Rock or Hip-hop that you would hear now. It also started with the Latin side of stuff - salsa, meringue and bachata - all that, mixed with the Afro-Caribbean side and the more Afro beats.

RPM: I know now you working with Songweavers and a lot of the Indigenous community here in Vancouver, can you tell us what that’s been like?

Eternal Love:   It’s been awesome actually. It helps me. I wanted to know more about my roots and since I come from a meso-American culture, I figured getting into knowing the different cultures out here would help me discover more about mine, and the similarities we have. It was an awesome experience, meeting everybody and seeing all the different cultures, just from around this area in BC, all together as one. It’s really inspiring to see, and I hope the rest of the world can get to see stuff like that so we can actually connect more as a people, as opposed to just seeing that they’re separate nations.

RPM: There is a lot of political separation between our people here and a kind of constant rediscovery of our culture as well as the rest of the world discovering our culture.

Eternal Love:   That’s what I thought was so dope, it was all so awesome to see how the community embraces outsiders, non-Aboriginals. I thought that was really cool. I was very accepted and I just loved it, the people, everything. It was like being back home to me, honestly, minus al the Spanish.

RPM: What other work do you do other than music?

Eternal Love:   Music is the main thing right now. Just trying to promote the new album and get my name out. The Indigenous Holiday project that I’m working on right now actually is trying to unite Indigenous nations from around the world and bring an awareness of colonization and the effects, the negative effects it had on us. And the effects it still has today, which people seem to like think that it disappeared, or that we’re not still effected from what happened back then, which is definitely wrong. You can see the effect in reservations  - the loss of our own individualism, our own culture and our roots.

RPM: We use Hip-hop as catalyst for a new type of culture because of our cultural disconnect.

Eternal Love:   I like that.  Hip-hop is definitely a widespread culture that I guarantee anthropologists years from now are going go be like” whoa that was crazy subculture”. It unifies so many people around the world.

RPM: What other future music plans do you have?

Eternal Love:   Going back home to do the next album, get a tour going. I want to go Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, everywhere. I want to travel. So my plan basically is just to spread out as much as I can, starting with Latin America as the next move. Then hopefully Europe, Asia, Australia, keep going from there.

RPM: Space!

Eternal Love:   Ya! The universe. Other planets! If I can get beings on other plants listening I’m so there.

RPM: The technology is almost there man.

Eternal Love:   For sure.

RPM: Tell us about your crew.

Eternal Love:  Guardians of the Earth Third World Order, is kind of spread out all over the place. it’s a conscious Hip-hop movement that features a lot of talent from Vancouver and around the world. We’ve got talent out in Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, as well as the states, Canada, some in Europe as well, Spain, and it’s a movement to bring about change, positive change for the world and for the people. Education is the main basis. And positive vibes, just trying to keep everybody moving on up.

RPM: What’s the one thing an artist should never do on stage?

Eternal Love:   Don’t stop if you mess up. If you mess up a lot of times people will not know. So stopping the show is an no no, and apologizing for your mistakes is a no-no because more than likely nobody noticed.

RPM: Is there anything else you want to share with the world of Indigenous Music Culture.

Eternal Love:   A couple words is definitely just stay strong, ‘cause the system was meant to keep us down and to not let us rise up. So stay strong, do what you always do and keep doing it – always move with your heart forward. It’s your life and you are the one walking in your shoes.

Connect with Eternal Love on Facebook, Bandcamp and thirdworldorder.com. 

SPOTLIGHT: Tuscarora Blues Artist Pura Fe'

Pura Fe’ and the Pura Fe’ Trio are taking on the Blues world with a new LIVE double-CD and an ambitious international travel schedule that’ll be remembered in the annals of Blues music history.

Consisting of Cary Morin on lead guitar, Pete Knudsen on percussion and Pura Fe’ on vocals and slide guitar, the Pura Fe’ Trio is a collective that can roll with the best of the Blues music world and still bring you a pure Indigenous sound that will shake your spiritual core. On her fifth solo album project, Pura Fe’ shares with us a live performance from Spring of 2011 in the form of a double-CD album - A Blues Night in North Carolina.

Born in New York City and raised within a family of talented traditional Tuscarora singers Pure Fe’ has been groomed into musical mastery since a young age. Her mother, Nanice Lund, was a classically trained opera singer who toured with Duke Ellington and his Sacred Concert Series. With her traditional roots stemming from the Tuscarora Nation in North Carolina in addition to the history of integration between Indigenous peoples and the slave trade, Blues music has become a large part of who Pura Fe’ is to this day

As the founder of the world famous female drum group, Ulali, Pura Fe’ was afforded the chances to travel the world and be a part of a greater musical movement while playing to crowds around the globe. During this time of Ulali’s world travels, the group went on to work with people such as Robbie Robertson on the song Mahk Jchi which was featured on the Jay Leno show and also reached platinum status in Italy. She has performed in huge showcases such as the World Festival For Sacred Music for the Dalai Lama, was featured on the soundtrack for the Miramax film Smoke Signals and has opened for artists like Neil Young, Taj Mahal and George Duke to name a couple.

After pursuing a solo career, she learned to play the acoustic lap slide guitar, which is an instrument identified with a large part of the native music culture in North Carolina. Teaching herself to play songs on the slide guitar, she proceeded to record the album Follow Your Heart’s Desire on the Music Maker label. From there she has gone on to win a Nammy in 2006 and a L’Académie Charles Cros Award (France’s version of the Grammy) for “Best World Album”.

Now touring with her group the Pura Fe’ Trio, she brings to the musical universe her live performance album that features Justin Robinson of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the Deer Clan Singers, mixing Blues and traditional sounds along with her vocals to create this double-CD masterpiece. Released in February 2011, this album is sure to be part of music history for both the Indigenous music community and the Blues circuits worldwide.

Pura Fe’ says she is now splitting her time between sun dances, community work with women and families and canoeing the rivers of her traditional territories. Starting this September, she will be teaching at the University of Toronto and then will begin touring with her trio in the upcoming spring into the summer.

Now working on stage with her pedal looper, she is creating innovative sounds using percussion and traditional vocals, proving that new techniques can be employed into traditional styles and evolved into something that is both beautiful and inspiring.

In today’s climate of commercially marketed music, Pura Fe’ shows us that raw heart and soul can create the most amazing music. As an Indigenous woman in the arts, she proves herself to be of ultimate talent while maintaining her self-determined identity within both the Native and non-native music community.

To learn more about the Pura Fe’ Trio, check out her website Purefe.com

To purchase A Blues Night in North Carolina, visit her page on iTunes.

Sonia Eidse Shares Words From 'The Maples'

RPM.fm audio interview with Métis singer/songwriter Sonia Eidse out of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In this edition of our audio interviews, we sit down with Sonia Eidse to talk about her blooming career and what it's like coming up as a young artist in the bubbling musical community of Winnipeg. She also speaks on her musical upbringing as well as future plans as a musician here on Turtle Island.

Also check out Sonia's work on our On the Radar: Up & Coming Indigenous Artists article.

IsKwé Lets It Fall Into Place

Hip-hop and R&B Singer-songwriter IsKwé was born and raised in Winnipeg by her Cree/Dene mother and Irish father. Her music has taken her across Turtle Island and back. She spoke with RPM about her hometown, her work with youth, and how The Bodyguard changed her life.

RPM: So you’re from Winnipeg, but you’ve been locating to different places – L.A., Toronto, New York. What’s it like coming out of Winnipeg and going into the big metropolis centres like that?

IsKwé: For me it was a natural transition. I left Winnipeg 9 years ago now and I went from Winnipeg to Toronto, then to New York, then to L.A. for a few years, and I’ve now been living in New York for about a year. Something in me told me it was time to go and every time it did, things just fell into place. I feel lucky and I feel blessed that that’s how my path has been going. There have been bumps in the road obviously, just like anybody else, but for the most part it’s been pretty smooth sailing.

RPM: What’s it been like to go back to Winnipeg and see the growth patterns there?

IsKwé: It feels empowering when you sit back and reflect on where you’re coming from. I’m proud to be from Winnipeg, I love that city, I think the arts and culture there is incredible. It really develops people and nurtures the artist in people and then sends those people out in the world. Good, grounded people with an open minded. Those sorts of traits are prevalent in people that come from Winnipeg.

RPM: How has Indigenous culture inspired your music creation?

IsKwé: It’s kind of a tricky question for me. I don’t know how much it inspires me in terms of specifics - it’s more just that I feel a sense of pride and security in my roots and my culture. And I feel like that is what comes through in my music. That I feel confident in who I am, and therefore I feel confident in what I put out.

RPM: What drives you to be work in communities with youth?

IsKwé: Giving back to the community and working with the young people within our communities is actually one of my biggest motivations for going after a public career, aside from my love of music. When I first moved to Toronto from Winnipeg, I ran and facilitated the Youth Program at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto for a couple years and it was one of my favourtie jobs that I ever had. I did  a music program with them where one of the kids in that group wound up taking some of the songs that he had done and getting them nominated for a CAMA that year. I was so proud of him. To see his sense of accomplishment and his sense of pride in something that he had done just made me realize even more how important those sorts of opportunities for young people are. Everybody has dreams and people who are living their dreams - and I’m surely living mine – have the responsibility to go and say to our younger generation:  listen, you can do this too. In fact I encourage you to do it because you have the talent, you have the drive, and you have the ambition. You’re definitely good enough so go for it.

RPM: Mentorship and empowerment from other artists is really important.

IsKwé: Absolutely. I still talk to my first mentor and I still look up to everything that he does and everything he tells me. I’m not going to have an impact on every single youth that I meet, but maybe it will be one, maybe it will be two. All I can do is go and try and do my best and be as positive a role model as I can be, and offer that same encouragement and advice that I was given, that I was honored to be able to receive through somebody else.

RPM: What are your thoughts about this whole labeling of Aboriginal music?

IsKwé: For myself as an individual, I’m an Aboriginal person and I’m an artist. I do music. I don’t consider myself to be an Aboriginal artist; I’m an artist who’s Aboriginal.

RPM: You were part of AMP Camp last year right?

IsKwé: I got to participate in the first year they did the program, and then last year, which was the fifth year. It’s an excellent, excellent program. It was “here’s the business, this is what you guys need to succeed” but in a way that I felt was translatable. Sometimes the business is extremely daunting - I look at it and I’m just like, argh, I don’t want to have to participate in this. I just want to write music and perform music. AMP Camp really offered an opportunity for me to be educated in that section of what we do as artists and musicians and not feel overwhelmed anymore. It broke it down in such a way that made sense. It made me feel empowered in setting myself up even further. I came back and said “ok, this is what I already know, this is what I learned here and this how can I apply that and make my career work for me even better”.

RPM: If you could work with any artist past or present, who would that be?

IsKwé: I would probably chop off my arm to work with Prince.

RPM: Wow.

IsKwé: He’s one of the most phenomenal folks ever. He’s so multi-talented, just amazing. He blows my mind. Love him. Love love love. He also has a business sense beyond anything that I could ever fathom.

RPM: What kind of advice would you have for young artists coming up?

IsKwé: First things first you have to believe in what you’re doing and you have to pay attention to your path. If you’re coming across road blocks instead of giving up, you have to just readjust your life, readjust around road blocks. Be open to the challenges I guess. This kind of career takes a really long time to start making any kind of moves that are substantial. That’s not a negative thing. You’re putting in work and developing yourself. Believe in what you do, love what you do and be willing and open.

RPM: There’s no set model for this life.

IsKwé: No. Absolutely not.

RPM: When you were growing g up what were you major musical influences?

IsKwé: I have about a billion. There was this one very monumental time of my life when I wanted to go after music and it was when The Bodyguard came out. The sound track with Whitney Houston I Will Always Love You and I Have Nothing and all these epic ballads where it’s just big voice and big music and you just wanna pound your chest and sing to the world type stuff - that got me. I was sold. But I grew up in a really musical house so I had access and opportunity to listen and find all kinds of music and inspiration from many different genres.

RPM: Is there anything else you would like to share with the world of Indigenous Music Culture?

IsKwé: I’m excited about this new album that I have coming out in September and I’m excited for this 10 city tour in Canada opening for M1 from Dead Prez. I’m always online, I’m always on Twitter, I’m always on Facebook, I try my best to interact with everyone, so, you know, everybody - come hang online, come chill out with me world wide web! We’ll get to know each other, we’ll bond.

RPM: The new Internet - Powwow styles.

IsKwé: Exactly.

Keep up with IsKwé on Twitter @isKwe and Facebook.

SPOTLIGHT: Jason Chamakese & Robert Gladue

Pelican Lake flute player Jason Chamakese and Waterhen Lake hand drummer Robert Gladue bring a healthy dose of cultural teachings and traditional sounds into the world of musical creation.

In this world of fast-paced Pop culture, we see a lot of egos dancing in the mirror and commercialized dialogues of product placement and material fascination. Then sometimes we get someone who comes through with a new look on the world of what we share through our music and imagery. Jason Chamakese and Robert Gladue bend the rules of what is popular and take us into a world of Native flute and hand drum sharing with us the values of cultural and traditional knowledge.

Growing up on the reservation in Saskatchewan, Jason was afforded the opportunity to learn Cree songs and stories from his parents.  A fluent Plains Cree speaker himself, he uses this cultural knowledge to share with his listeners the energies of his cultural teachings. Picking up a flute 13 years ago, he has made himself a name in the world of music, playing shows in major venues in Toronto, Winnipeg and even at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

Now joining forces with another Saskatchewan artist from the Waterhen Lake First Nation, Robert Gladue, they have created a balanced mix of vocals with Jason on the flute and Robert on a hand drum. Using story and song, they duo intends to influence youth looking to reclaim their culture and language through sharing and spreading their knowledge through traditional artistic expression.

Jason's first CD project entitled: "Midnight at Clearwater, Native American Flute Songs, Volume 1", earned nominations at the 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards and Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards for Best Flute CD and his newest project: "Jason Chamakese, Native American Flute Songs, Volume 2" will be up for Best Flute CD in the 2011 Aboriginal People's Choice Awards. A collaborative album project with both Jason and Robert is also underway.

Big things on the way from the Cree duo bringing us some traditional musical medicine, stay on the lookout for these two at a venue near you.

For more on Jason Chamakese and his music, check out his Reverbnation Page and a downlo his song "Irresistible"

JB the First Lady Comes Full Circle

Nuxalk/Six Nations artist Jerilyn Webster, aka JB the First Lady, is “the cutest hip-hop emcee ever”. She’s also a co-founder of the First Ladies Crew – a group of 11 women all doing hip-hop – and the executive director of KAYA – Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association. RPM talked with JB about the labeling of Indigenous music, rapping for elders and the gig that set her on her musical path.

RPM: What were the musical influences that brought you to making music?

JB: Growing up in a single parent home we didn’t have a TV or anything and we moved a lot. All we had was AM clock radio and so I listened to oldies, like the 50’s and 60’s Motown era stuff. That’s when I first got into music. Then being in an urban setting, Lauren Hill is definitely the person who made me want to create music. Seeing her as a woman and not only rapping but singing and songwriting, and seeing how she was able to express herself in all of those forms, and speak so confidently. In the Native community, I remember exactly when I got y really inspired. It was at the Vancouver Friendship Centre and it was this really cool event called Tribal Wisdom.

Tribal Wisdom was invented by young people in the Native Youth movement that was happening at that time here in BC and the performers there were Skeena Reece, Kinnie Starr, Ostwelve and Manik1derful. We had moved almost every year across Canada to different cities, and in these others areas, I didn’t really acknowledge or have any awareness that I was first nations, Indigenous here to Canada. But when I came to Vancouver it was culture shock in the sense that people acknowledged - in a negative way - the colour of my skin and the culture that I came from. When I was at Tribal Wisdom, when I saw the pride, expression, how they felt about their current situation here in BC and about racism - and just being on stage and rocking the show and having so much crowd control I was just like “one day I want to do that and one day I want to inspire young people”. Ever since then I’ve supported all of those artists and they’ve inspired me to make my certain genre of music, to capture the moments and how I’m feeling in my environment. I owe a lot to those people.

RPM: You’ve done some shows throughout the province and throughout the country, what has that been like for you?

JB: For the last three years I’ve been able to do at least three shows a month all the way from community events to annual general meetings to club shows to youth conferences. I’m in different environments all the time. This one show up in Bella Bella BC at a women’s conference, it was all mostly women elders and, you know, it’s elders – you don’t want to try to make them rock too hard. But it was really interesting though because I got to connect with them. One of my songs called Dear Diary is about this one girl’s story that I worked with here in Vancouver and it’s about suicide. I did that song for them and some of the elders started to cry because they heard my story and they heard my message of this young girl. That was such a good experience for me because these stories of young Aboriginal women and the state of Aboriginal women here in BC and across Canada, are very negative at this moment. For me to be able to speak someone’s story makes me feel good, but also gets it out there, and we don’t get lots of coverage of that kind of thing.

Just recently in March I did a show at the Gathering of Voices youth conference in Prince Rupert. There was 1,500 youth and it was so so amazing. The young people just ate it up and they were excited to see myself and Rapsure Risen - a group from the Sto:lo nation - rocking that stage. 1,500 youth with their hands in the air - I felt like I had achieved exactly what I wanted when I first saw those artists at Tribal Wisdom.

RPM: What thoughts do you have on the labeling of Indigenous music?

JB: As Aboriginal people we’re already so in so many boxes - status, non-status, on reserve, off reserve, Metis, Inuit - so it kind of gets really fuzzy when there’s labeling like that of Aboriginal music as well. But at least we’re acknowledged as Aboriginal people because there’s some Indigenous people - like in Japan, the Ainu people - who no one acknowledges as Indigenous people. So some kinds of labeling is good and some kinds of labeling is bad. It’s a double edge sword in a sense.

RPM: What kind of advice do you have for upcoming artists?

JB: Invest in yourself. Surround yourself with people who value you. Value your performance fee, value your music. And how you value your music is by registering your songs with SOCAN and putting a bar code your album. Look at your music as projects - you have your writing, your recording session, the production of your cd, the promotion of your cd, and then booking your shows. Those are all mini projects within themselves, and once you can  break those down, it won’t seem so overwhelming. Believe in yourself and know that sometimes you’re not going to believe in yourself and that’s just part of the process.

RPM: Anything else you’d like to share with the world of Indigenous music culture?

JB:  Just be yourself and don’t try t be someone that you’re not. There are so many pressures to be a certain way, or a certain look. Who like really taught me about that is Hellnback, from Team Rezoffical. He was like “I’m a chubby Indian guy and I got a Much Music and a Juno nomination” – and he was just being himself and sharing his experience and what he knows. That brought a lot confidence to me - I just want to be as authentic as possible. I just try to practice that every day, in my life and in my music.

JB recently released her second album Get Ready Get Steady. Here's the video for the title track:

Catch up with JB at jbthefirstlady.com and on Twitter @Jbthefirstlady.

SPOTLIGHT: Savannah Rae Boyko

At 16 years old, Savannah Rae Boyko from Fisher River Cree Nation, has a list of accomplishments and original style under her name that will keep her in the game and running along side the best.

At first glance, her styling may take you to the 20's, then at first hearing you think: "Right...20-something Pop Star". Cue the buzzer because you'd be double-wrong. Savannah Rae Boyko is a teenaged Cree girl from Friendly Manitoba's Fisher River Cree Nation. Currently working on her debut EP with Chris Burke-Gaffney of CBG Artist Development (who also produced artists like Chantal Kreviazuk and Eagle & Hawk to name a couple), Savannah has a bright future ahead of her and the right people on her side.

Savannah's musical style has radio written all over it, and with her history of singing since she was a child watching Disney cartoons, she has the chops needed to hit the airwaves. Her music is fun and professional, bringing to the table a clean and energetic flavour filled with accents of summer and youth.

According to her bio, she was barely a teenager in 2006 when she was selected to sing on K-Tel's Mini Pop Kids 3 and Mini Pop Kids 4 in 2007. Since then she has placed in the top 12 on YTV's The Next Star and was a featured contestant on CMT's Karaoke Star Jr. The stage has been a no stranger to Savannah at all with her starring in the lead role of Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie at Downtown Disney Florida and also in the chorus for Strike! The Musical for Manitoba Theatre For Young People. Performing for Prime Ministers and Legislators is also no problem for Savannah.

Given the name "Little Fawn", Savannah stays in touch with her roots and recognizes the struggles of her people even when performing after government apologies to Residential School Survivors at Manitoba's Legislature. Savannah's grandmother was a survivor of residential schools, and her modest upbringing are a reminder to the close proximity of a darker time in Canada's history for Indigenous people.

Now to be on stage, television and in the studio, Savannah brings a light to her family and people of the Fisher River Cree Nation and heads out of the gate with a great start in the music industry.

Savannah's Website Savannah's Reverbnation Page 

Winnipeg Jules: Reflections on Leaving Peg City

Guest contributor Julie Lafreniere reflects on leaving her hometown and the rise of Indigenous hip-hop in Winnipeg.

It’s no secret that I am in love with Winnipeg.

The frigid winters where at least one person you know gets frostbite, combined with the likely chance of being stabbed every time you walk through downtown at night, mixed with the business-minded mayor who ignores marginalized sectors of his city’s population, might lead you to believe that Winnipeg is a poor choice, among Canada’s expanding urban centres, in which to live.

You, however, would be incorrect.

You would also be turning a blind-eye to Winnipeg’s rapidly growing and ever-diversifying underground music scene.

Back in the good old days I had a radio show. My “radio name” was Winnipeg Jules and I was constantly asked, “What happens if you move away from Winnipeg?” I’d scoff and proclaim, “Don’t be silly. I’m never leaving Winnipeg.” Fast forward one year. Now I’m living in Ottawa.

Living away from Winnipeg, where I’ve lived my entire life, has meant that certain adjustments have to be made. In Winnipeg, I knew all of the great live music venues and could usually get in without waiting in line. Here in Ottawa, I’m lucky if I can find my way home. Sober.

Being brand-spankin’ new to a city is exciting and I’m eager to discover the music scene here in the nation’s capital. But back in my hometown, Winnipeg’s music Indigenous music culture has been blowing up.

Winnipeg began making national noise in 2010, when a writer from MacLean’s attended a rap show in the West end and wrote a colorful piece about Winnipeg’s Most and Lorenzo, two of the Indigenous hip-hop performers that night. Then Native Communications Inc. launched StreetzFM, Canada’s only radio station playing hip-hop 24/7, the only station that is Indigenous-operated and the only one whose on-air personalities are all Native youth. The talent pool runs deep in Winnipeg.

And the Indigenous talent pool runs even deeper.

But what makes the Native music scene in Winnipeg unique from that in, Toronto, or say Vancouver?

First, Winnipeg has remained ‘off the grid’ from mainstream Canadian music for years, so the recent Indigenous noise being made in Manitoba is being amplified and making people take notice.

Second, you just can’t ignore the fact that there are TONS of Indians in Winnipeg. One day my sister and I were in Edmonton at the West Edmonton Mall and we started counting all of the Indians we saw. We counted four. And that was including ourselves. In Ottawa, I have yet to see an Aboriginal person (other than my coworkers), and I’ve been here for three weeks.

But in Winnipeg, there are Indians on every corner.

You can buy bannock in restaurants, most people can jig, and you can probably hear powwow music coming from every second car on Portage Avenue during rush hour. And with so many Indigenous artists in one urban setting, some of us were bound to get noticed.

But many of Winnipeg’s rappers who are currently getting radio play grew up without having any urban Indigenous musicians to look up to. Even though Native people were making hip-hop music, Much Music and radio stations were uncomfortable playing it. Rap and hip-hop was still considered an African-American phenomenon.

Today, all of that has changed. Young Native kids now have tons of Indigenous musicians to look up to—and hip-hop is the music that speaks to them.

Just as hip-hop was a culture born at society’s margins, now our own young Native people are identifying with it, indigenizing and transforming it. Hip-hop allows for expressions of anger, frustration, and emotions that aren’t otherwise being heard in healthy ways. I mean, how many times have you heard rappers say that if it wasn’t for making music, they’d be dead or in jail?

Once young people took hold of the culture and made it their own, Indigenous hip-hop in Winnipeg took off. And it is flourishing.

Native artists don’t make cultural distinctions about who to work with. If someone is good at making beats, that’s all that matters. If someone is the best at mastering tracks, then they’re the one for the job.

Although Winnipeg is a physically segregated city, the music scene is the one place where no lines are drawn based on the colour of your skin. That’s what makes it so refreshing.

Hip-hop is fast becoming the genre among young Indigenous people in Winnipeg.  It is not only crossing colour lines, but also incorporating other genres of music. Wab Kinew, an MC and former member of Slangblossom and the Dead Indians, now raps over powwow music and occasionally incorporates rhymes in Ojibway. Up-and-comer Lorenzo is also making a name for himself by rapping over soulful acoustic music, while Boogey the Beat moonlights as a DJ with the Juno award-winning funk rock group, Burnt Project 1.

Hip-hop is mainstream and, with the number of Indigenous artists making hip-hop music, soon Native musicians will find themselves as part of Canada’s mainstream music scene. But is this a place they want to be? Is this even their ultimate goal?

Winnipeg has been known as the murder capital of Canada, the arson capital, and it is notorious for being the most racist city in Canada, but none of these negative stereotypes are reflected in the Indigenous music coming from the streets. So you have to ask: where does all this negativity come from if it’s not coming from the big, bad, scary Native rappers? (hint hint: City Hall).

Winnipeg’s Indigenous hip-hop scene is successful and it is flourishing because the artists making noise come from the same place the fan base does and they speak directly to issues that kids are familiar with.

So, based on this theory, I guess Ottawa’s music scene will be a bunch of bureaucrats making music about jaywalking… and… public transit wait times…?

Wow, I can hardly wait to get into this scene!

5 Songs to Represent Winnipeg in All Its Grimy Glory

1. P-Nut featuring Kenny G - "Bad Taste" [VIDEO] 2. Winnipeg's Most - "All That I Know" [VIDEO] 3. Wab Kinew - "Heroes" [VIDEO] 4. Young Kidd - "Hometown" [VIDEO] 5. Pip Skid - "Tens of Dollars" [VIDEO]

Julie Lafreniere is an award-winning writer, communications professional, hip-hop head, masters student, yogi and mamabear who's dad is an Indian and mom is a cowboy. Follow her @WinnipegJules.

Beaatz, MC/Producer from Tobique First Nation

RPM.fm exclusive audio interview with 19-yr-old Mi'kmaq MC/Producer Beaatz from Tobique First Nation out New Brunswick, Canada.

In this interview, Beaatz talks about being a Hiphop MC and producer of Mi'kmaq and Maliseet descent and coming up out of New Brunswick, a place that so far has been unknown in the Hiphop music scene. Alongside sharing some of this future music plans, Beaatz shares some of his up and coming artist picks with us making Hiphop music from the New Brunswick area of Turtle Island. We caught up with Beaatz via Skype and got some great words and sounds from him. Be sure to check out his music out on YouTube and Myspace.

Interview: Beaatz

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Got a question for Beaatz? Or maybe you know an Indigenous music artist you think we should interview?

If so, hit us up and Suggest An Artist on our Get Involved page.

Honor the Treaties: Pine Ridge Poster Project Takes Over Seattle and New York

Acclaimed photographer, Aaron Huey, has partnered with visual artist Ernesto Yerena, and "the most prolific street artist working in America", Shepard Fairey, on an incredible new street art project to raise awareness about the long history of broken treaties between Indigenous Peoples and the United States of America. The project is titled simply: Honor the Treaties.

Following Huey's incredible photographic campaign and TED talk last fall, America's Native Prisoners of War, which documented the Lakota people and the Pine Ridge Reservation in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Huey launched the Pine Ridge Billboard Project to bring to light the Lakota's "real history of broken treaties, of prisoner of war camps, and massacres" by taking the story of the Lakota and other tribes fighting for treaty rights straight to the public in the form of street posters, subway advertising, and billboards.

Forgoing the art gallery exhibition of his photographs or royalties from the sale of his prints to mainstream media publications, Huey has opted to "illuminate a hidden history and empower a community" by making his images available to the public to take the streets and poster their cities' walls, alleys, buildings, and corners with screenprinted posters produced in collaboration between Huey, Yerena, and Fairey.

The Honor the Treaties project website offers three simple directives: download, share, and educate.

After printing the beautifully-illustrated posters of Huey's photographs, the public is encouraged to post and paste them in their communities, submit photographs to the project's Tumblr, and continue the discussion about treaty rights and Indigenous Struggles on the project's Facebook page.

SEATTLE AND NEW YORK

Since February, Huey and his crew have been spreading the word online and enlisting the public's participation—and the results have been incredible.

The project is now fully up and running and the posters have begun to appear all over Seattle and New York City.

DailyKOS has a great set of images posted up in NY and Seattle: Pine Ridge Poster Project Up & Running [DailyKOS]

It's inspiring to see non-Indigenous artists working in support of Indigenous struggles—and a street art campaign like this one seems to be a perfect way to inform and educate the public, while building community amongst those dedicated to justice, freedom, and the liberation of our peoples.

As Huey quotes in his introductory video:

The last chaper in any successful genocide is the one in which the oppressor can remove their hands and say, "My god, what are these people doing to themselves. They're killing each other. They're killing themselves."

Honor the Treaties is an art project to counter this dominant, genocidal narrative by inspiring, re-educating and empowering people to learn more about the ongoing colonization of Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island and beyond.

Have you seen Honor the Treaties posters in your city or community? Post links to photos, images, and articles in the comments below.

Here's Aaron Huey talking about the inspiration behind the project and where it's headed:

Pine Ridge Poster Campiagn-by Aaron Huey-Emphas.is from Emphas.is on Vimeo.

See other recent coverage of the project:

Honor the Treaties [The Stranger] Honor the Treaties: Street Art Pushes for Accountability [Native American Legal Update]

SPOTLIGHT: Blackfire, Diné/Navajo Punk Rockers

Declared "fireball punk-rock" by the Godfather of Punk Joey Ramone, Navajo Punk band Blackfire serve traditions with fiery fury.

Jeneda, Clayson and Klee Benally are the sister and brothers punk-rock collective, Blackfire, from the Black Mesa in the Navajo Nation. Holding strong in their family unit, Blackfire has grown and gained international acclaim and a large grassroots following by staying true to their roots and traditions in music and Indigenous culture.

Blackfire's hard-driving sounds are accented with socio-political messages and sometimes mixed with traditional Navajo musical stylings. Their message speaks strongly to the genocide, eco-cide, government oppression, displacement of Indigenous peoples and other socially conscious struggles against violence and in support of human rights. Through their impassioned politically-driven sound, Blackfire translates high-energy into a fiery fury of intellectual, spiritual and musical medicine.

The family trio have been touring the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe since 1989, and at times have combined performances with their traditional family dance group "The Jones Benally Family". Blackfire was the first Native American group to be invited to play on the Vans Warped Tour and in 2007, they released their double-CD entitled [Silence] Is A Weapon, which was produced by Ed Stasium, who has produced high profile acts like The Ramones, Living Color and the Talking Heads.

While touring the world with major festivals, appearing on tribute albums to Punk legends the Ramones, Blackfire remains true to their message and roots by only playing all-ages venues at festivals, clubs and concerts. They also spend time with youth doing lectures, workshops and school residencies promoting respect for all cultures.

Their musical activism branches out into the world by touching audiences in Europe and beyond, but also in the fight for recognition of issues within their own homeland. Most recently the band has used their reverence to bring attention to the expansion of an artificial ski facility on a sacred mountain near Flagstaff, Arizona in which the 13 tribes in the area hold sacred. After the supreme court denied an appeal to two lawsuits against the Arizona Snowbowl's artificial snowmaking, Blackfire still holds their ground in bringing light to the situation on their sacred grounds that they and their ancestors have used for generations for ceremony and medicine gathering.

Proving that music is about more than money, power and fame, Blackfire shows us that we can make a difference if we choose to fight and bring the fire to system. For more about Blackfire's fight to save the sacred peaks, check out this article at Truthout.org

Check out more about Blackfire on their website.

This is the video for their song "Overwhelming" from their last album (Silence) Is A Weapon

SPOTLIGHT: Aztlan Underground

The conscious, Indigenous, rock-infused, hip-hop music of Aztlan Underground is still bringing musical medicine to audiences after more than two decades.

An institution in their own right, Aztlan Underground has been instrumental in influencing a new generation of musicians and free-thinkers. Their work within the community proves their dedication to their word, work and statement as a real, conscious, intellectual musical movement in this world of fashion, commercialism and industry standards for the last two decades.

Aztlan Underground has played with amazing conscious groups like Dead Prez and Rage Against the Machine and continue to rock crowds and communities around the country and globe. With songs like the anthem "My Blood is Red" and "Decolonize", Aztlan Underground smashes through the expectations of what a rock band should be and keeps their self-determination on the frontline of their tools for conscious expression.

Their sound comes from a mesh of different musical backgrounds mostly reigning from the Punk and Thrash metal scene in Los Angeles. Mixed with some Hiphop and Traditional instruments, they have achieved an unforgettable sound that keeps everyone on edge til the last song is played and the eagle down settles.

Growing up within poverty and a violent society, Aztlan Underground has turned these societal ills around and projected this energy into a form of music and collective movement that has reached out to Indigenous people around the world. Using elements of their own culture like the traditional instruments and native language of Nahuatl, their music and philosophies have become the theme music of a generation and fuel to a fire of freedom and expression.

If you're on the path to decolonization and self-determination, Aztlan Underground is a definite must for your playlists. They will make you rethink, reframe then repatriate your eardrums and pledge allegiance to the ancestors and musical spirits for the coming of such a group.

To see more about Aztlan Underground check out the links below:

Aztlan Underground Website

Aztlan Underground's YouTube channel