One of the messages from Monday that I really appreciated was the response of Marcus Frejo (“Quese IMC”) of Culture Shock Camp to questions about what makes native hip hop distinctive. “I’ll be straight with you,” he said, “why’s it gotta be Native hip hop?” He’s right. Admittedly, I thought of Native American hip hop as different from what I bump from my speakers, but after listening to more and more tracks and after the concert on Monday, I see that Native hip hop is a style of the genre, not a separate entity. Quese IMC, his brother Bryan (DJ Shock B), and Shorty are all about the same thing which is banding together and confronting the taxing experience of growing up as a Native American in a land that tried to be rid of them. This message and concept is a more specific thread of the minority experience as a whole in this country. No matter for whom, hip hop serves as a platform for discussing wrongs in society.
Shorty’s music video for the song, “Trouble,” had a significant impact on me. The beginning is typical, with him rolling out of a garage in a nice car, but he speaks to the struggles and obstacles he and his people experience. Shorty then displays images of Natives in traditional dress with serious, solemn expressions as the bluesy sample, “When you got trouble,” plays in the background. The emotions the sample evokes paired with the images of beautiful, yet some saddened Natives sends the message that it hasn’t been easy for these people.
The second verse is hopeful, but depressing as Shorty explains how he tried set a new precedent for the youth on the reservation, but his efforts failed him as he lost his loved ones to drugs introduced by invasive non-Native Americans. Again, this is another example of minority communities afflicted by substances that are arguably controllable by the dominant, wealthy culture. Shorty addresses Natives specifically, but he could be speaking to any minority group in America.
As Emily pointed out in her post, one of the differences between Native hip hop and the more popular Black, as well as White and Latino hip hop is that just like Native culture, the message is positive, natural, constructive, and it comes off as a redolent, nonviolent war cry as opposed to some of the more aggressive, hate-filled bashing that can happen within the genre. It’s not to say that Shorty has not rapped about more mainstream hip hop topics or that non-Native hip hop is less positive or conscious, but on the whole, it seems that the influences of elders and the wisdom of the ancient culture has dropped knowledge and understanding on Native hip hoppers that is a bit different from the rest.
"This message and concept is a more specific thread of the minority experience as a whole in this country"
ReplyDeleteReal talk. I thought the same thing.
I'm pissed that I missed Shorty's performance but I feel like he wa a bit more "raw" with it - which is my preference. Elders definitely influence this as well; they usually want you to be more passionate due to them looking back on their lives and wanting to see their little ones do better than them. It's a beautiful progressive loop; that seems to be literally "thinning," seeing how Native American presence is not only small within the [mainstream] hip-hop world but actually in the world.
What can we do?
His performance was great. He touched many of us with his lyrics. I agree elders definitely try to encourage their younger ones to do better than they did since the want then to do there best. Not only do the natives want they young ones to do better but most of society wants their children to do better than what they did. Their are many things that can be done but it will take time. First we can protest what is seen in t.v at certain hours like it used to be adult t.v would be seen at night. Movies can be more limited in what they put on because some movies that are pg-13 should be rated R. In general media has to change because they are exposing the youth to something that isn't real.
ReplyDelete