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- first nations people come from an oral storytelling place, and i mean that in a good way, right? we talk, and we talk, and we talk, and we talk, and we talk. we look, and we watch, and we watch, and we watch, and we feel, and we feel, and we feel, and we listen. we listen, and so that is key. - ♪ step ♪ ♪ step ♪ ♪ step ♪ [bright hip-hop music] ♪ to hell with the man ♪ ♪ i'ma always be a homeboy ♪ ♪ lightning and thunder strike every time i go for it ♪ ♪ i'm so fly, must be a dna thing ♪ ♪ her booty, big butt ♪ ♪ you should see it in a g string ♪ a lot of people,

from university students to high school students to elementary school students have come up to me and said that my music really, uh, impacted their lives. - ♪ i'm riding like there's no time left ♪ ♪ close my eyes, and i hold my breath ♪ ♪ this rap of ages is so in my clef ♪ ♪ rattle off raps till i behold my death ♪ so hip-hop culture was created by people who didn't have a whole lot, but were able to make something from nothing, and i think, uh, in the reserves across canada, uh, and also in the inner cities and the urban center, i think many of our young people are trying to do the same thing, is we're trying to make something from nothing. [hip-hop music] ♪ - is important, uh, for iw because it gives us a voice. um, we were silenced for so many years, and you know, and we get to say what we want when we rap. - ♪ we're still here ♪ we' still here ♪ ♪ missing brother, missing mother ♪ ♪ misng dauters ♪

♪ay iagai no can water♪ ut we stl here ♪ we' still he ♪ like, listened-to genre now, and to hear your story, or to hear your reflection in something is so powerful. - ♪ the best city is my home ♪ ♪ told my mama that i gotta do this all up on my own ♪ ♪ met a legend in the studio and he said that i'm dope ♪ - hip-hop music among indigenous artists in canada has been heavily influenced by performers in the united states speaking out and reflecting on conditions of poverty, discrimination, crime, and violence in their communities. among canada's first nation hip-hop musicians, hip-hop has more recently become a way of responding to and articulating pressing problems both on and off reserves. - hip-hop, uh, can help us to cope with the injustices that are going on in the world against indigenous people,

and knowing that you are not the only one that feels like this is happening, and it's not all in your head, helps us to heal. it empowers us, and it gives us a sense of belonging, and it-- it plants the seed, you know, that will get us through the next day. - hip-hop resonates with indigenous young people, um, because many of us are displaced from our culture. um, hip-hop was a culture created in the inner city in new york by people who were living the same reality, who were living a diasporic reality displaced from their cultures, so african-american, puerto rican, latino youth living in the city with-- you know, under harsh conditions uh, looking for a way to express themselves. - diving more into hip-hop and seeing that the marginalized people were using it as a vehicle to spread change and awareness-- i feel like that's what had the most impact on me,

and i see that young people these days are starting to do the same. how hip-hop started to speak on the racial discrimination happening in the united states, to speak on the oppression that is happening to the people of color-- we as indigenous peoples face the same issues here in canada. it's just not televised. you just don't see it on the media. you just don't see us in your tv shows. you don't see us, you don't hear us on the radio. we're very invisible here in canada. - now, get ready. dakota bear on co-op radio, 100.5 cfro "when spirit whispers." - ♪ you playing judge and jury ♪ i feei'm undesiege ♪ ♪ ♪ cpters ovturn bur the ge ♪ ♪ author my desty ♪ ♪e justant to lee differ♪ our lis ♪

♪ we don't nt have toorry ♪ tl me♪ thiss sage th i've t intohe bow it's a medicine that my uncle picked from--from the prairies where i'm from. i cover my hands over the smoke. it cleanses my hands. [sniffs] i put it over my mind so it can help me have a strong mind, my mouth, so i can speak impactful words, my ears, so i can hear the good things in the world, and my heart, so i can walk in a good way. - canadian indigenous hip-hop not only has roots in the work of black and latino musicians in the united states, but draws on tribal traditions and culture as well as a source of inspiration. culture and tradition also provide a way of addressing personal traumas su as alcohol and drug abuse, a process some hip-hop artists such as dakota bear view as a healing journey. - as soon as i decided

to walk on my healing journey, to let go of the alcohol and the partying and things that were holding me back, that's when i was able to connect with my culture. i respect my culture way too much to go into a sweat lodge after a night of drinking or try to connect myself with it. so music was the way of expressing myself, and walking on a healing path is what took me back into my culture, but now i'm using music as a way-- a part of my healing journey to reciprocate that back to the young people. so maybe if we could just go around the room and, uh, just say your name and let me know who you are. - ray, and i'm 17 years old. - 17? - uh, my name's kegan, and i'm 19. - okay. i've been using music for quite some time, and so i think that i would like to maybe start this session off by showing you one of my music videos. ♪ i was so young when you ran away

♪ hped on aus and ihink you wenthat-a-wa♪ ♪ ♪ i spe my ildhd believing ♪ thai was threason for my ma drinki ♪ ♪ and so todayi'm gonn be talking abo healing and healing through trauma. born on the... the west side of saskatoon, and that's where there's a lot of, like, high poverty rates and there's a lot of, um-- there's a lot of addictions, and, uh, there's a lot of-- there's a lot of things that take place there that my mom wanted to try and move us away from, and so she moved us out of there, and, uh, she had a lot of hardships trying to raise us because it was, like, me and my younger brother. um, she was battling with some addictions. um, there was a lot of, like, drinking and stuff that was going on in our house. ♪ think that i'm doing and i got the key ♪ - part of dakota bear's healing journey is to use onli intes

wi indenous yoh bear's acro canada,ney whoften live in isolad commities, wi i toalk aboutbear's his personal traumas. - sometis i geconnecd d thto indenous yohs. th are in rthern cada, and every time i do these sessions online, i'm hoping to empower and inspire them. i have different topics that i'll touch on, depending on the commuty's nee. - time to rise. put your hands up. time to rise. come on! ti to rise!come on. ♪'m out of e gate and i'feeling thdoubt ♪ ♪ i'm out of the gate and i'm making a sound ♪ ♪ i'mut of the te d i know is about ♪ - dakota bear's line ssions with indigenous students take place in a context whereas a reflectionnally of all that was wrong with how first nations people were and are treated. - to me, i tnk schools are not the place for indigenous engagement.

i think there's so many systems where indigenous people experience racism, and not only did i experience racism in the school system, but my son, who's 11 years old, has experienced racism in his classroom. where there's not a safe place, it's important for us to create our own safety places because there's not enough places where indigenous people feel safe, and it's not, like, a safety issue where, like, i-- "oh, my gosh, i'm so scared. i don't feel safe." it's just more like cultural safety. indigenous people need to tell indigenous stories. indigenous people need to create the narratives for themselves, and they need to be the teachers. i don't think non-indigenous people can fully represent

or understand our stories, so it's important for us to create that space for indigenous voices to come through, and if the teacher is non-indigenous, to bring an indigenous person in and tell that story. - i went on a youth tour earlier last year. we went to over eight schools. there was indigenous youth that were showing up to these schools, and when they heard my song "lullaby," th when theheardg up theyame up tme"ls, anthey expssed to toear my sry. it w en they ard thatoming from somody thatooked ke e toear my sry. it w that powerfu because often, wiin the schoosystem, often within the universities, education system, you have somebody teaching you your history that doesn't look like you. ♪ cops have been cuffing me up for no reason ♪ ♪ sometim i'm losg ♪ iget hardo believin ♪ ♪ part ofe even

♪ feelike a rt of meeaving ♪ i'mearing mheart my slv♪ ♪ wt more dyou want♪ wthat'sching posed to a 30-minute class, there's a lot of things that you're gonna take away from that 30-minute class, but there's also a lot of things that you're going to learn in that three-minute song. so if you're able to do both, then you're having double the impact on these youth. - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ ♪ killing myself and seeing my smell ♪ both: ♪ killing myself ♪ - ♪ run from them, i'm too wild ♪ ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ i used to be a really rough kid, always fighting, always angry, always mad at the world. i was, uh, in and out of jail a lot

from the age of 17, 16, and, um, i have a ten-year-old daughter now and, uh, i missed a couple of her birthdays due to being incarcerated. and, um, i started making music to try to get away from that crowd, and music has kept me-- kept me safe and kept me out of--out of jail. - ♪ said i just do what i please, [...] ♪ ♪ beedoing me♪ ♪ turned myself into a brand name in two years ♪ - mbers ofll day music faly, a w about 50miles hih fromancouvercanada, like the friend kota bea us and copeith the allenges d relay e despai theyacedrowi up. like the friend kota bea us - ♪ spent and a prty penny. ♪enges one ofhe thing i writabout mo is... like the friend kota bea us letting people know anthat it's okay to feel. it's okay to talk about those emotions that you're feeling, and being a male, um, a native male, it's hard to talk about feelings

because we were never taught to feel. we were taught to hide and run. - ♪ come up game heavy, i been getting to it steady ♪ ♪ timing's everything ♪ ♪ and i been feeling like i'm ready ♪ ♪ nights up in the studio with henny ♪ ♪ there's been too many ♪ ♪ couldn't count the hours i clocked in ♪ ♪ there's been too many ♪ - performing for a live audience is, uh... it's, um, undescribable, really. it's--it's just, uh-- it makes me feel free. ♪ ♪ it makes me feel like people aren't judging me based on my looks or my appearance, but they're enjoying my music, and seeing all their faces out in the crowd is--it's really uplifting. - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ ♪ killing myself. seeing my smell ♪ ♪ feeling myself, but for them i'm too wild ♪ - ♪ i just wanna be me ♪ ♪ they say i'm too ♪ - a lot of alcohol, a lot of domestic violence, was around me, and it, like, messed me up as a kid.

i just shut down, and, like, it was-- i grew up like that. affected me, like, hard. i'm the only family member out of all my family that has never dealt with sexual abuse in my entire family. the drug problem is uncon-- it's so bad. like, 60% of the reserve is, like, on meth, like, alone, and it's just sad. like, even my own sister. my sister was heavy into that, and now she's getting clean, but it's just-- i hate that drug so much. it just took over. it's taking over, like, everybody, like, the community, and it's--it's sickening. - ♪ cry so hard but i don't know why ♪ ♪ i give you all my time ♪ ♪ every night i write, damn right ♪ ♪ i won't ever fall behind ♪ ♪ i go through every day ♪ ♪ pretending that it's fine, it's fine ♪ ♪ but on the rails, man ♪ ♪ feels just like i'm losing my mind ♪ my mom is fighting with the courts because she was sterilized. when, like, she was in the hospital,

the doctors took advantage of her when she was, like, just going in for a miscarriage, gave her drugs, and made her sign a form which she doesn't even remember signing. so we're--she's fighting with the courts to try, like, uh--'cause that's just--you can't-- i don't know. like, just, it was a thing to control the population. i don't, like--it was wrong, and it's just-- that should be brought to light. ♪ ♪ - ♪ i need you to see all the work that i put in ♪ ♪ i'm close to the edge and i'm losing my footing ♪ ♪ i'm losing my head and i know that i shouldn't ♪ ♪ i gotta be strong ♪ ♪ promise my uncle we buy the big yard ♪ - i would like to do something for my community like what dakota bear's doing here for his, like, in vancouver, and, like, it's a big influence on me, and i'd like to do the same. - dakota bear is the voice that we all wish we had. there's stuff that goes on up here that we wish we can say, and dakota says it. he's not scared of backlash. he's--he's as real as they get. - ♪ we just want to live our lives ♪ ♪e don't nt to he to wor ♪ ♪ tell mecan you lp me?

♪t don't em like u been in a hry ♪ ♪ iust wannbe me i just nna feelree ♪ ♪ owing upi've usemusic as aay to t out a wayo...exprs myself hoi wa, and as i started growing older and changing, becoming more aware, becoming more connected, so did my music, and so you can see a shift in my music, more recently becoming more political, becoming more direct in my messaging. something more has to be done than just writing a song about it. can't just treat the indigenous peoples like we've been treated. you can't dehumanize us without us comin and demaing justic-

not askingor justice but demanding justice. what's up, everybody? we're out here, man, in hastings. we got ida manuel. she printed up some t-shirts. want to show some love and respect to tiny house warriors. we're out here giving back to the community, helping the people out with a little bit of clothing and spreading awareness on what's happening up north. they're blocking the tmx, so shout out. sending out much love to everybody. tiny house. - tiny house warriors-- we're secwepemc. and, uh, we are building ten tiny houses in opposition to the trans mountain pipeline.

- for us to build our tiny houses on wheels gives us the freedom to move across our lands in monitoring exactly what trans mountain activities are. protecting our sacred waters and our lands is of the utmost importance. our communities... - these acts of resistance comes in many different forms, so i'll say it in a song, i'll say it in a verse, but i'll also come to your institution and i'll say it to your face, because the indigenous people have warrior blood, and we defend not only the indigenous people, but the people around us. you know, we're protectors of the land. we're protectors of the people. - here's a tiny house warriors indigenous woman reclaiming and blocking the pipeline on our traditional territories. so we want to just give that, show some love. - thank you. can i give you a hug? - yes, of course. - thank you. - okay, one, two, three. - warriors, warriors.

all: tiny house warriors! - yeah! - indigenous people-- we make up for 5% of the world's population, yet we protect 80% of the earth's biodiversity. 80%. so to put that into perspective, you can see that it's really the indigenous peoples that are defending their lands and protecting their lands resisting from the western and dominant views of life and going back to the indigenous ways of life, which is holistic, which is connection to the earth, to the ground, to each other, to the sun... [speaking native language] to the sky, to the wind, to the water, to the ground. we connect ourselves with these things as indigenous people, and if we were to let go of that, then wt's going to fill that void? where's the world heading right now? what's dominant in the world?

and us as indigenous peoples-- we're resisting that to go back to the earth, go back to the land, to defend not only who we are as indigenous peoples, but to defend the land of which we come from, and i think that's why it's so important that we find out who we are, what's our identity, what's the language that we speak. - ♪ the message is clear ♪ ♪ they wanted us to disappear ♪ ♪ut we'retill her♪ ♪he messa is clea♪ indigenous people are facingn ♪ a lot of challenges,we' r and sometimes we end up in bad places like the downtown east side, and because of that, we get thrown off of our track. you know? we lose purpose and hope. - ♪ but we're still here, we're still here ♪ ♪ we're still here ♪ ♪ missing brother, missing mother ♪ ♪ missing daughters ♪ ♪ say it again, no clean water ♪ ♪ but we're still here ♪ ♪ we're still here ♪

as indigenous people, we don't own the land. we... our whole culture comes from the land, so our language, our ceremonies, our regalia-- everything about our culture comes from the land. so when you displace indigenous people from their land, then that's where there's a breakdown. activists, like, have said how we treat the land is how our people are being treated. - many indigenous hip-hop artists trace their tribal heritage to strong ties to a natural environment, which is now threatened by industrial development, yet a history of many indigenous youth reflects being taken away and fostered out to white residential homes in order to make them less native. this history, along with movement away from reserves to cities to seek employment, has created challenges to finding and feeling comfortable with their indigenous identities.

- we got first nations people out there who are not ready to embrace their indian self, right? and they don't--it's like-- you know when yohave to go work out, right, and you gotta get in shape before you work out? well, being first nations in canada is a lot like that for us, right? um, because we've either been fostered out into white families all over the country or adopted out to one white family or put in a juvenile detention center, we're not comfortable with being indian. some of us don't even know what kind of indian we are. i'm... [speaking native language] i--which means proud to be indian, proud, powerful people. the name in itself makes me feel good just to say it. so, um, there's a lot of lost souls out there who are indigenous people, and sometimes it helps to have someone program you and show you how to be indian,

right, or first nations, or indigenous. - me to rise puyour hands up. time to rise. come on! time to se! co on! ♪'m out of e gate and i'm eling the ubt ♪ ♪ i'm out of the gate and i'm making a sound ♪ i'm outf the gate and i ♪ ♪ i'm o of the ga and ♪e and i'm making a sound ♪ hip-hop is a place--for me, it was actually a place where it connected me to my own culture because i lived in urban settings all of my life, i never lived on reserve for too long, and i wasn't connected to my culture, and when i was able to connect with hip-hop, first it was through graffiti, so through the visual art, and then it was through b-boying anb-girling, ani loved at dance element, and then, um, youth workers they had at the friendship center--

they had a free studio for younaboriginalouth, and itas called the knowledgeable aboriginal youth association, and the youth worker says, "youave a strong voice. yoneed to-- to write a verse," and my first verse, was able to go three sho on aborigil day, which is june 21st, was able and it was so-- i was not good. but... the youth worker saw the strength in me and saw that i had something to say, so all of these elements were showing me of my own ancestral knowledge within myself that i could be connected to my own culture. ♪ we're still here ♪ missi brother♪ ssing moer ♪ misng daughrs ♪ ♪ sayt agai nolean wer ♪ ♪ we'retill her♪e ♪ ♪ the mesge is clea♪♪ thewa♪ ♪ b we're sll here

- i' notic that a t ofirst natns youth are taking responsibility tto right these wrongs. they are consciously writg about how messed up thin are. inead of, like, falling into that trap of being misogynist or racist, they actually embraced the tone of hip-hop and used it to talk about the loss of land, the loss of language, and how that all relates and how the missing and murdered women are still going missing, and how does that relate to the land, and they're able to do it in such a way that it just pulls you in, it just has this vibe. - while many hip-hop indigenous artists are drawing attention to the struggles first naons peop face, a particular concern is the contied disappearance d murder indigous we

♪ the mt unprotted girl♪ the mt unprotted girl♪ d murder indigous we is e girl whcreated and s fell om the s ♪♪ e♪ cranein the s e nat coected to. ♪ d my visn, my al, e♪ cris so thats e nat my great-granddaughters, or my granddaughters, don't have to worry about be-- going missing, that they don't have to be worried that they have too much money and they'll be criminalized at a bank, or that they could walk freely and express themselves in the way that they're-- theyave beeneant tbe and to bon the ld, anthat yng people and to bon the ld, will have access to clean water, and that they won't be taken away frotheir parents. so this is the thing that there's a sense of urgency, so that's why i make the music that i make,

so that one day, we don't have to advocate for all of these things. - though many indigenous hip-hop artists address long-term grievances in the lyrics of their music, some continue to showcase a gangster lifestyle and the portrayal of women in negative ways. - there's a-- there's a lot of native rappers that are doing negative stuff like gangster, native gangster rap, you know? talking about selling drugs and, you know, trying to-- to push that lifestyle on our youth, in our communities. we don't need that. you know, that's-- that's not gonna-- that's not gonna do anything beneficial. just, you know, promoting, you know, the gangster lifestyle, and you're bringing down your communities-- you know, then, you know, it's not doing-- it's not doing any good for anybody. i mean, like, you know, young native kids, young native girls don't need to be hearing native rappers you know, using-- using the b word or referencing, you know, native females,