Aboriginal hip-hop connection studied

Sudbury University professor Karyn Recollet is currently finishing up a book that looks at the connection between Aboriginal culture and hip-hop music.
In an interview with CBC Radio, Recollet explains that she first took notice of the connection after hearing an Aboriginal hip-hop group called Ceremony. A song by one member of the group in particular stood out to Recollet. Chris Sutherland, also known as Shibastik, had a song about his grandparents, which made Recollet think of her own grandfather.
Recollet explained she realized many Aboriginal artists were producing hip-hop across Canada.
“It’s about storytelling,” she said. “It’s an art form that carries on the beat. When you think of how our songs, dances, were carried out, it was always through that drumbeat.”

Thunder Bay hip-hop company They Media have just wrapped up their first tour, having teamed up with Vancouver-based hip-hop group KIDS for a few shows across northwestern Ontario.
“It’s good to make new fans,” Tony McGuire said. McGuire is a producer and director of They Media.
Preme Palosaari, a member of Fort William First Nation, is one of the artists on the label who went on tour.
“We gained a lot of experience,” Palosaari said of They’s time on the tour.
Palosaari started off with hip-hop music at 16-years old in 2002, shortly after his father passed away.
“It was an outlet to me, to be able to express myself and to tell my stories,” Palosaari explained. “It made me feel better.”

When it comes to Aboriginal artists creating hip-hop music, McGuire explained that it isn’t hard for Aboriginals to grab onto “the ideological framework” of hip-hop and use it as a form of expression.
“I think of urban culture and how Black people are, and I hate to use the cliché, oppressed,” McGuire said. “And they are, they were. Aboriginals are the new Black people of Canada. It’s not hard to see how Aboriginals especially would adapt to hip-hop.”

KIDS member Jacob Evolved said that the story of hip-hop is “struggle-based.”
“In Canada, there’s a large Aboriginal voice that wants to share its story of struggle. It’s rooted in the country’s history,” Evolved said. “Hip-hop as a culture is just rooted in struggle, so those two elements play into why it’s so prevalent today in Aboriginal artists. It’s a suitable match.”

Palosaari said that these days, Aboriginal cultures and values are seemingly swept under the rug with the people he talks to about them.
“They don’t know a lot about us, what’s important to us,” Palosaari said. “(Hip-hop) gives us a voice. It’s empowering.”
Though artists like Palosaari, and Shibastik, often use hip-hop as a way to express themselves, and to tell stories about their culture or speak on issues that are important, there are some Aboriginal hip-hop artists out there who speak on different subjects, such as gun violence and drugs.
“The influence of some American rap definitely made a lot of rappers try to emulate it and be ‘hardcore’ when they might not even live that lifestyle,” Palosaari said.
McGuire said he once listened to a song from an individual in the North who mentioned a gun that wasn’t even available in Canada.
Palosaari said he thinks artists who rap about the same things some American rappers do may be trying to gain a form of acceptance. “We are all about realism, we talk about real life events, real stories,” he said of They Media.


“I think a lot of lost souls definitely want to use hip-hop as a voice,” McGuire said. “Shibastik is the only guy who has bridged his culture and his music. He actually lives like that, he goes out and hunts partridges – he lives on the land.”
They Media have more upcoming shows planned, and are currently working on a few projects to be released in the near future.
“I’m trying to make a career out of it (hip-hop) now,” Palosaari said. “It’s a job for me and I work hard at it every day.”