Switched on Pop - Snotty Nose Rez Kids on hip hop and Indigenous protest

Episode Date: November 16, 2021

Merging hip hop and Indigenous culture, rap duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids are creating a sound that goes hard for a cause. On tracks like “War Club” with DJ Shub, Yung Trybez and Young D connect Indigenous protests to the Black Lives Matter movement, and on “Boujee Natives,” Snotty Nose Rez Kids celebrate traditional culture through a modern lens. But as much as this music has a message, it also bangs, and SNRK’s new album After Life runs the gamut of emotions; from tackling police brutality on “Red Sky at Night” to celebrating their community on “Wild Boy.” Their first tour since COVID brought them to Los Angeles, where Nate talked to the band repping the Haisla Nation about pipeline protests, reclaiming the term “savage,” and how the hell the Disney movie Pocahontas ever got greenlit. Songs Discussed Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Red Sky At Night, War Club, Creator Made An Animal, Sink or Swim, Boujee Natives, Wild Boy, Northern Lights, Something Else Megan Thee Stallion - Savage Jay Z and Kanye West - Otis Kendrick Lamar - Alright Check out a playlist of our favorite SNRK tracks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. Recently, I encountered a band that stopped me in my tracks. Merging the traditions of hip-hop and indigenous music, the rap duo, Snoddy-Nose Res Kids,

hailing from the Heismahsla people of what's now. British Columbia make a sound that's not quite like anything I've ever heard. On tracks like War Club with DJ Shub, they connect indigenous struggle to the Black Lives Matter movement. There's beauty and unity. Indigenous sovereignty, black liberation, we go coast and coast on me, this the formation, this revolution will be live and they call it knives.

The next seven generations on my relations. And on boozy natives, snotty-nose res kids celebrate traditional. traditional culture through a modern lens. As much as this music has a message, it also bangs. And Snoddy Knows Res Kids' new album, Afterlife, runs the gamut of emotions from tackling police brutality on Red Sky at night. Love, love, please help me. There's a killer on the loose trying to scalp me. We're safe in the streets from the people of the police, so that system put in place where they're wealthy.

To celebrating their community on Wild Boy. Their first row, my streets, coppers shield, gold teeth, spear it out, no sleep, buckwits, a beast. Their first tour since COVID brought them to Los Angeles, where I got to catch them at the Moroccan lounge and speak to them at their hotel lobby the next morning. Here's my conversation with snotty nose res kids. Could I ask you guys to introduce yourselves? Hey, what's good? My name's Darren Metz. I go by the name of young D.

Yeah, my name's Young Tribes, and I'm the other half of Snodino's Res kids out of Vancouver, BC. Welcome, y'all. Thanks so much for joining us. I would like to maybe start just talking about Nottie Nose Res Kids. Where did that come from? Snotti Knows Res Kids kind of like, it's always been like a part of who we were. And, you know, as indigenous people, like, we are very proud of our identity. You know, the Snoddy Knows comes from having freedom to roam around your community at a very young age

and just have a safe place to be yourself. And, you know, Res kids, obviously, you know, like we're from reservations. And, you know, like, we rep our Res, even though we're, like, city boys now. But, you know, like, we always carry that. That's where we're from. We're from the Res.

So, Sonny knows Res Kids. We just, like, carry that everywhere we go. And it also lets you know who we are without us having to explain who we are. I'd love to talk about one of your earlier tracks just to kind of introduce your sound a little bit. It's a song that you guys crushed last night

called Creator Made an Animal. Could you tell us the meaning of that title Creator Made an Animal? Yeah, I think it was back when we were making a trap line and there was a lot of kind of like animosity and like a lot of people look down on Native people for holding up pipelines that were going across our territories, and more in particular, West Suitson Territory, up in, like, northwest British Columbia.

And the pipelines coming through their community, right? Like, coming through the trap lines. So, like, we put together the album called Trapline. And it kind of explained who we were, like Darren said, without having to explain it, you know. Like, we make almost, like, kind of like, we run on trap beats, Atlanta Sound. and we thought, like, what better way to pay homage to, like, rap and ourselves than to call the album Trapland. And Creator Made an Animal was just kind of like that.

You know, like, back in the day, there was a phrase that said, kill the Indians, save the man. And we were called Savages. And I got Savage tattooed on my neck right now, and I wrapped that to the fullest. So, like, obviously, like, everyone praises God. We praise Creator. With that, it was like, yo, we just let that savage come out in us.

And we just thought the song would have been perfect for that. Like, you know, Creator made an animal. It's pretty hard. 500 years, my people been humble. 500 years, we dealt with the struggle. 500 more years for all of my youngest, for 500 years, we've been drumming and drumming, Geronimo back. You mentioned your use of the term savage. It's something that, you know, you could hear in a track like Megan the Stalian.

right, savage. And that's part of the sound of hip-hop. But I feel like when y'all use that word, it has a different significance. Yeah, could you speak to what that word means for y'all? It's growing up, that's what we were called. Like, we weren't even considered human. They were like, oh, they're savages. We need to teach them the ways of to make them like us, to make them more Christian-like,

So, like, yeah, it's a hip-hop term, but for us, it kind of, it's not. Like, we're fucking reclaiming that shit, you know what I mean? Like, we grew up getting called savages and, you know, like, dirty Indian and stuff like that, you know what I mean? And right down to kids movies when you watch like Pocahontas, you know what I mean? Like, savages, savages, barely even human. Like, I don't know who the hell greenlit that movie. But that's how far it goes. And when you watch movies like that as a kid, like that.

goes in your subconscious, right? And so as we grew older, it's like, fuck that, let's reclaim that. And for me, you know, like Darren said, like, when we were kids, like, I remember, like, playing against, I think it was a netball game. And we were in, like, primary school, like, elementary.

And we played this Catholic school. And we whipped their asses, yo, like, destroyed them. And at the end, you know, like, they started chanting that song from Pocahontas. Savages, savages, barely even humans. And that, yeah, like, that's how it was. Disney movies, Looney Tunes, just all the cartoons that we loved growing up. For people that aren't indigenous, it taught them to hate natives.

And that's what it was designed to do. Because, like, people did not like native people. We just were a nuisance to society. We're in the way. You know what I mean? And that's how indigenous people are looked at across, like, the world. There was a moment at the show that, really stuck out when you kind of have a quotation or reference to Kendrick Lamar's song,

All right. All right is a drum off white. Is your braids done tight? And we going to be all right. All eyes on me like a naughty human being. Look, we're going to be all right. I got savage on my chest like Supreme. Yeah. And that song is an amazing track. And it's also become like a kind of a protest anthem for Black Lives Matter. And you address that in other songs as well. Like in war club, you talk about black liberation and intersectionality. So I'd love if you could tell us a little bit about what hip hop means to you, not just as a sound,

but as a political kind of music. Like we've just been silenced for so long and a lot of indigenous people just gradually move towards hip hop because they're really, they're more similar than people think when it comes to hip hop culture and indigenous culture. Like hip hop, you have the anthems culture, MC, well, we have our storytellers.

You have the DJ, we have our drummers, you have the graffiti artists, we have our carvers, we have our beaters, we have our painters, you have the B-boys and the B-girls, we have our dancers. You know what I mean? Like they're very fucking parallel. And yeah, like when it comes to like, you know, we gonna be all right and like Black liberation and indigenous sovereignty, hip hop originally started as like the voice of the oppressed, right? Way back in the 70s, even up until now. And when it comes to us, you know, everybody nowadays has all fucking day long to comment on Instagram and Facebook and troll you and try to get under your skin.

But for us, it's just like we're going to use these records to talk our shit. Instead of sitting here arguing with you face to face, you're going to sit down and listen to what the fuck I'm going to say for the next three, four minutes. And then tell me your opinion. Here our story before you fucking, but I didn't do this. Why should I? You know, like, like, no, shut the fuck up and listen. You know what I mean? You know, like Darren said, we have our storytellers.

And First Nations culture, especially, like, in North America, I can't speak for everybody. I can only speak for ours. But, like, we are people of an oral tradition. There's nothing written. There's nothing set in script. So for us, like, being able to speak, being able to speak in mind, being able to tell the story of the last generation, passes down to the next, that's our job. That's what we need to do. So, like, for us, we used hip hop as an avenue to express ourselves and to be able to tell our story. And, you know,

like, me and Darren take this shit seriously. And I think that in this society, in this day and age, hip hop is the perfect way to do it and to pave the way for the next generation coming up after us. Let's dig into some tracks from your most recent album. Maybe we can talk a little bit bit about something else. Actually, would y'all be down to kind of read the chorus of the song? Okay, so... Granny speak Heisla Kalala. So Heisla Kalah is the language of our nation, the Heisla Nation.

So my grand is like our grandparents. A lot of them grew up speaking Heisler. You know, and for a lot of them, Heisla was their first language before English came, right? But my grand in this case, she grew up in an English-speaking house, but learned how to speak Heisla just playing on the playground with her cousins, and they learned English from her, so I thought that was pretty cool. Baba Heisla Kugwakyu-Wak. Baba and Heisla, that means, that's short for Babu-O, and that means Grandpa.

So I'm saying my grandpa is also Heisla, and Kukwak-I-Wak is a nation. that's like on tip of Vancouver Island, southwest BC. So my bob is both. And my boo is Diddy Dot, so. Whitefee's Diddy Dot. She's Newtronoth. And Diddy Dot is one of the nations out there. It's West Coast Island.

And me, I'm a little Hayyoka. So I first heard that word is when we're watching the last dance. And it was like, they're explaining Dennis Rodman. and like they were like bonding over like indigenous culture and Phil Jackson's yeah in this tribe you're what they call the Hayoka like you're you're a backwards walking person you're a little out of the normal

so I'm saying like yeah my granny's this my baba's this granny's this my boo is this and me I'm a little out there we march the street like Marty Gras say a little brink up see come side we march the street like Marty Gras That's pretty self-examatory. It comes to, like, you know, blockades, protests.

We march the street like Mardi Gras. You do it often, too. Say le vie, come see, come so. I'd throw a little French in there. It's life, like this, like that. War your baby, yuck-su-yuk. So yuck-su-yuk is a from our saying that we used on our last album, trap line.

That means you bad. Yeah. You know what I mean? And, like, not bad in a way. And, like, you know, steal something. but like you bad as in you standing at the front line like you bad as yeah like you're the knowledge holder you're the language keeper you know like yucks yeah yeah long hair don't care come rock with us so long hair don't care has been our theme since like 2017 ever since we started growing air and yeah man something else this uh that came from uh the last presidential election categorizing the polls yeah categorizing the polls and like this ethnic background was certain certain percent. This ethnic background was certain percent.

Hispanic, black, white, Asian. And then instead of saying, like, indigenous, it said something else. We're like, okay. But, you know, just, like, indigenous people, like, the way we are is we got, like, a certain sense of humor. You know what I mean? And, like, instead of being outraged, like, indigenous TikTok and Twitter, they just flipped it and made so many fucking hilarious jokes. funny-ass memes and shit

And we're just like Man we got to make a song I'm something else That's the way that like Indigenous humor is You know we have so much shit to be mad at And so when stuff like this happens You just got to make the best of it

And just laugh at it, you know? Maria, you have a podcast now And you need to start acting like it What's the first step as a podcaster? Well, you have to ask lots of questions I'm Maria Sharpova And I'm hosting a new podcast called Pretty Tough. Every week, I'm sitting down with trailblazing women at the top of their

game to discuss ambition, work ethic, and the ups and downs that come on the path to achieving greatness. I have a few pretty tough questions for you. Okay. Ready? Ready. Do not sugarcoat something for me. No, no, no. We'll dive into their stories and get valuable insights from top executives, actors, entrepreneurs, and other individuals who have inspired me so much in my own journey. Pretty tough is your front row seat to the women who have demonstrated the power in being unapologetic in their pursuits. I hope you'll join us. New episodes drop Wednesdays on YouTube or in your favorite podcast app. When I listen to your music, one of my favorite aspects and a sound that I feel like is really connected to hip-hop and especially old-school hip-hop is the way you two trade off vocals.

And it's so exciting to listen to. I would love if you could take us through the process of, like, writing a song and how you choreograph. Because it's very virtuastic the way you hand these vocals back and forth. Like, maybe you could break down how that happens when you're writing together. The idea of it kind of came from Watch the Throne. You know, there was a pass track, got to have it. Otis. Yeah, he is chilling.

What more can I say? We're killing them. We're huge Jay-Z and Kanye fans. And obviously, like, it's been going way back in the hip-hop, you know, like Method Man, Red Man. Like, people have been doing it. But, like, when it comes to us, I think, like, the way that me and Darren do it

is, like, we just sit down and we just go bar for bar or four bars, four bars, like, and just go back and forth. And we write together. Two projects go on The Average, we wrote a song called Northern Lights. And we're like, yo, let's try. and do that like J and Ye thing.

And on North Carolina, it took us, And on Northern Lights, it took us how long do you, like, three different sessions, writing sessions to get it right? And then, but once it happened, it just clicked, you know? And we also do it again on sink or swim. on our latest project. And I think that the difference between us back then and us now is we're way more in sync.

And we're just like, we just like feed off each other, like, it's just easy. Yeah. You just mentioned sync or swim, and your performance of that song was definitely one of the most climactic moments of the show. You have everyone create a mosh pit, and you really just get, people just start getting pretty heify. What does that feel like after?

a year plus in lockdown to have that moment, that release of energy. Like, what does that feel like and what does it mean for y'all? It's hell of dope to have it back. But the only thing that's missing is us being in the middle. You know, because it's hard to do it with COVID and we don't want to risk anything on this tour. But, yo, pre-COVID, bro, we were in there. We were in there with them. We weren't on stage.

It was like, before we started, like, hey, you, I'll open a. open up, open up, and we hop, and we're fucking dead in there, and we tell the crowd, you know, knock us on our fucking ass. Let's go. That's how it was. That's how it was. But I wish the states could have seen that part of us, but, you know, next time. Yeah, next time. Do you feel like there's a, it's not only this musical experience at the show, but there's also like this community. That's kind of what I was feeling last night. I was like, this feels different than going to, you know, a lot of bands.

Like, there's this energy, this people seeing each other in the crowd. What does that mean to you all? I feel like for us, like, tribe called Red really set the bar for, like, indigenous people coming together and, like, partying together and having a good time on a night out. Obviously, with, like, native people, like, there's the stigma that makes people think that we're, like, addicted to drugs, liquor, alcoholics, all this shit.

But it's not like that. And Tribe Called Red really set the standard for us for when it comes to, like, partying and, like, just, like, celebrating ourselves on a night out and, like, witnessing, like, history. You know, and that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to make history here. And I feel like when it comes to us in our live shows,

we really put that into, like, we really pride ourselves on that. So we try to, like, put on the best show that we possibly can every single night. And we do that for our community, for our people. I feel like a moment that speaks to what you were just talking about is when you kind of bring it down and you talk about the reality of where you're at and where people are at, the, you talk about the toll on people's mental health, experiencing a global pandemic. You know what I mean?

Throughout this time, that it takes a toll on your mental health, your emotional health, your spiritual health. It's important to take care of that shit, fam, you just can't ignore it forever. No, the soon forever comes to doing that. You know what I mean? What made you decide to include that message in the show? Me personally, like, sometimes throughout the pandemic where I just struggled with my mental health, man.

And, like, it's, I'm thankful for, like, my family that I have, you know, and my support group, like, support group. Like, just like my, the people that support me, you know what I mean? And, like, and that's why, like, we made songs, like, change in after dark for life after, you know? It's just like, yo, like, we go through it too. And it's a because, like, especially when it comes to men, we're just taught to, like, bottle it up. Like, men don't cry, you know what I mean? And when you have that mentality, then you get to fucking late 20s, early 30s, you don't know how to communicate. You don't know how to, you know, and then you just end up, like, trying to drown it with a bottle or something.

You know what I mean? And, like, so mental health is probably my biggest takeaway from this pandemic. And it's like, I know, like, if we're going through it, there's definitely other people out there in the world that are going through it too, you know? So we just wanted that, take that time. Like, we just want to take the time in that show or that part of the show just to, like, just to be real, just to be vulnerable. You know what I mean? It's like, hey, we're going through it too.

And, yeah, we try to let people know that, like, self-love is the best love, you know? Like, and during our shows, like, for us, it was always hard, like, growing up, like, how, we were taught to hit ourselves from a young age. And I mean, growing up, it was always, you're pretty cool for an Indian. You're pretty dope for a native, like that kind of shit. Like that didn't really, like, I didn't understand it growing up, you know? So for us, like, we're in a new time.

And I think I have a line in one of my songs that says something about, I love myself what's gotten into me, you know, like that, something like that. And it wasn't until like the last 10 years that we started to actually be like proud of who we are and where we come from. So we make sure that we stress that in shows. We tell the crowd, we love you guys. We love ourselves. The light that I see in you guys is what I see in myself.

I love you like I love myself. And I make sure that I stress that because self-love is the best love. Is there one line, one rhyme that comes to mind for each of you when you think of this new album and what you're trying to say, what you're trying to communicate? like if I just had you kind of free associate, like what would be the first rhyme that comes into your head

when you think about this project in this moment? As of right now, my moment, my rhyme. I'll say like if you doubt yourself, you doubt your ancestors. Here I go. Heavy blessing you ignore becomes a curse. I've been putting in this work shit. I'm just praying that it works. Fall on seven, get a bait.

It's smudged off after. Because when you doubt yourself, you doubt your ancestors, for real. Not a rhyme, but a line. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think for me it's like, it probably comes from if I died today. And like, if I died a day, you better pour one out for me. Over the last little while, like, yo, we lost a lot of people during this pandemic, right? So, like, I just want to be remembered for the goodness, like, that we bring into the world.

And, like, when my time comes, I want to know that I left my mark and, like, made an impact on people's lives. So like that song's really important to me. Thank you all so much for talking with us. Hell yeah. No, it's been an honor, man. Since we're kids, man, it's always been a dream of ours to be out here in L.A., especially doing what we do. And, yeah, it's just like dreams come true, man.

That's all I'm going to say. Dreams come true, you just got to grind. You just got to grind, man. Thank you all so much. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate you, bro. Yeah. Switched-on-pop is produced by me, Nate Sloan, and my partner, Charlie Harding.

Our engineer is Brandon McFarland, our editors, Jolie Myers, illustrations by Iris Gottlieb, social media by Abby Barr. Executive producers are Nashat, Kurwa, and Hana Rosen. We're proud members of Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network. You can get more of our show anywhere you listen to podcasts or our website, Switchedonpop.com. If you're digging the show, reach out to us on Instagram and Twitter. Twitter. We love to hear what you're listening to, what you're thinking about, what you're burning questions about pop art. Inevitably, they are going to be the topic of our next show. So hit us up,

and you can always email us at contact at switchonpop.com. We've got a killer playlist of our favorite snotty nose res kids tracks on our Spotify, and we'll have a link to that in our show notes. And otherwise, stay tuned because next Tuesday we'll have a piping hot, fresh new episode for you. And until then, it only remains for me to say thank you for listening.