Discussion Board Response 1: What are the sonic, stylistic, and thematic features of Indigenous Canadian rap music?
Sonic and Styles used in Canadian hip hop
According to the journal, All the Eagles and the Ravens in the House Say Yeah, the Caribbean is the main group in the Canadian hip hop generation, therefore, their music has a mixed accent of both Jamaica and Bahamian languages. The hip hop is mainly rapped in Caribbean English. There is a use of musical instruments like drums turntables and saxophone. Canadian hip hop has used both reggae and rock music to come up with a new genre of music. As seen in the documentaries, rap is the main part of Canadian hip hop. Rap includes freestyle rap, spoken word, and poetry.
Thematic features of the Canadian hip hop
Racial discrimination
According to the article, The Beat of Boyle Street, Red Eagle complains that the blacks in Canada are not treated like the other citizens. The police blame the black citizen whenever there is a crime in the country. There are frequent attacks from the police. The blacks face hardship due to violence from the police and police brutality. Rappers and emcees like Red Eagle are using their art to fight against the injustices done to black citizens. In the documentary, First Out Here, the Rich kid is explaining how the blacks are not respected. He advises the other rappers to use their art to embrace love and unity. In the documentary, we see various groups of black people in protests carrying banners and posters with messages against racism. The old woman explains how she was slapped for speaking her language. The black kids are abused and bullied in school.
Violence
According to the documentaries, there is violence in the urban life of Canadian hip hop. Types of violence experienced include sexual violence, emotional and psychological violence as well as physical violence. We see several narrations of suicide attempts, which are proof of emotional and psychological violence. The police versus the blacks in the streets is another violence. The rappers explain how the police don’t respect them, the blacks are treated like animals. The black rappers are poetically spreading the gospel of change so that this violence can stop.
Poverty and heritage
From the documentary, we see how poverty is a great challenge to the indigenous people of Canada. The rappers are explaining why the kids are staying without their parents. Most kids ran away and settled in the streets because life back at home was not good due to poverty. They settled in the streets since the street life was not that harsh as they could get food and support from fellow street siblings. Influence by the old rappers, the kids grew up to start rapping and some became good rappers and are earning from rap. We see rappers trying to give back to the community. They buy some essential needs and donate to the street kids. Rappers are cooking in the street just to offer food to the less fortunate members of society. Rappers are also using art to enable continuity of their culture and history. The rappers recognize their origin and they use music to educate the new generation about their history. This brings unity among the indigenous community members in Canada.
Love and urban life
Like in hip hop in other regions Canadian hip hop is concentrated in street life. From the documentary, First Out Here, we see the rappers’ life in the streets. The rappers are using music to earn income and support the less fortunate indigenous people. They are campaigning for love and unity. They believe they can get the love they want among themselves. Most rappers are staying in the streets without their parents who probably died or run away due to poverty.