Earlier this year RPM tagged Crystal Jfrom the Nuxalk Nation as one to watch. Since then this young artist has released her debut album, the dance, pop and R&B laced Love, and we've got the first track to get you hooked.
Singing since the age of five Crystal J discovered R&B and hip-hop in her teens and currently calls Bella Coola her home. Take this song at its word and you'll know that Crystal is filled with dedication, strength and talent. Or just get up and dance. Either way, Crystal is an exciting new voice!
New video from Nuxalk/Cayuga femcee JB The First Lady produced by Hannah C Productions for her track If You Want It You Got It.
JB The First Lady is back at it again with another video, this time for her track If You Want It You Got It. Produced by Hannah C Productions, this video features Nuxalk Nation adoptees Dani and Lizzy. Another great video from JB The First Lady and Hannah C Productions, who also produced videos for Kinnie Starr.
Here's a list of six Indigenous music Video Blogs available on the web for your viewing pleasure.
Video blogs or 'v-logs' have been around for a few years and as the popularity of video platforms like YouTube and Vimeo grow, artists and regular people alike have this medium of v-logging to express themselves.
More and more indigenous music artists are making v-log entries for their networks and video channels. Artists such as Wab Kinew, Inez, Kinnie Starr, Don Amero, Kasp and now JB The First Lady are all using this new form of media to keep content fresh and express themselves in a digital format.
Wab Kinew chooses to use his v-log for an experience of cultural education with his "Anishinaabemowin Word of the Day" series on his YouTube channel entitled anishinabemowin.
Inez's v-log brings you updates from on the road and also some family moments at home on her YouTube v-log series InezTV on her channel InezMusic.
Kinnie Starr's series of v-logs is more based on comedy with her "The Hardest Part About Being On Tour" series of videos, which are about the stresses of being a touring musician on her YouTube channel MusicKinnieStarr.
Don Amero's v-logs are more informational to his fan base with personal updates and promotion as well as his newest addition, a version of the MTV show Cribs, where he showcases his own digs in a fun video on his YouTube channel Donamero.
Kasp has one of the more populated v-log series covering promotions and news from on the road featured on his YouTube channel named kiqwilly.
And the latest Indigenous musician to hit us up with a v-log is JB The First Lady with her series debut entitled "Bathroom Diaries". In her first instalments she introduces her v-log series and features her friend Crystal J for a beatbox backed cover of an India Arie track on her YouTube channeljbthefirstlady.
Don Amero's Crib:
Got a V-log you want to share with us? Or do you know of an Indigenous music v-log you love?Comment below and share!
The Potlatch Music blog has brought together a great compilation of west coast potlatch videos from a large group of nations within the 'Potlatch Coast'.
Just across our desk here today at RPM.fm, the Potlatch Music blog is a new blog site that compiles a large number of amazing potlatch videos from nations like the Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Nisga'a, Kwakwaka'wakw and Coast Salish peoples.
The potlatch is a ceremonial gift-giving festival that has been practiced since time immemorial on the northwest coast of Canada and the United States. In 1884, the potlatch ceremony was banned in Canada and became a criminal act until the 1950's when it started to make a resurgence in the northwest coast Indigenous cultures.
Now thriving within this resurgence, videos and other media have been circulating on the internet and the culture grows as the population of Indigenous nations grow as well. Like the powwow videos that hit YouTube on the Sunday night of the powwow, potlatch videos are showing the strong energy of co-creation through music and culture in these ceremonies.
A lot has changed in societ'y since the early to mid 1900's when Indigenous cultures were illegal and Indigenous people couldn't gather in more than a group of three without intervention of the authorities. Now Indigenous people can enjoy their gatherings as well as invite their loved ones remotely through the comfort of the internet.
The Potlatch Music blog features videos old and new, some from archival footage and more from the newer potlatches of today.
Here's a video from the 2010 Hobiyee Nisga'a New Year celebration's Chiefs entrance:
Hychga to Manik for letting us know about this blog site.
Do you have an Indigenous music blog or website you'd like to share?
Drop us a line at info@rpm.fm or leave us a comment below.
Nuxalk/Six Nations artist Jerilyn Webster, aka JB the First Lady, is “the cutest hip-hop emcee ever”. She’s also a co-founder of the First Ladies Crew – a group of 11 women all doing hip-hop – and the executive director of KAYA – Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association. RPM talked with JB about the labeling of Indigenous music, rapping for elders and the gig that set her on her musical path.
RPM: What were the musical influences that brought you to making music?
JB: Growing up in a single parent home we didn’t have a TV or anything and we moved a lot. All we had was AM clock radio and so I listened to oldies, like the 50’s and 60’s Motown era stuff. That’s when I first got into music. Then being in an urban setting, Lauren Hill is definitely the person who made me want to create music. Seeing her as a woman and not only rapping but singing and songwriting, and seeing how she was able to express herself in all of those forms, and speak so confidently. In the Native community, I remember exactly when I got y really inspired. It was at the Vancouver Friendship Centre and it was this really cool event called Tribal Wisdom.
Tribal Wisdom was invented by young people in the Native Youth movement that was happening at that time here in BC and the performers there were Skeena Reece, Kinnie Starr, Ostwelve and Manik1derful. We had moved almost every year across Canada to different cities, and in these others areas, I didn’t really acknowledge or have any awareness that I was first nations, Indigenous here to Canada. But when I came to Vancouver it was culture shock in the sense that people acknowledged - in a negative way - the colour of my skin and the culture that I came from. When I was at Tribal Wisdom, when I saw the pride, expression, how they felt about their current situation here in BC and about racism - and just being on stage and rocking the show and having so much crowd control I was just like “one day I want to do that and one day I want to inspire young people”. Ever since then I’ve supported all of those artists and they’ve inspired me to make my certain genre of music, to capture the moments and how I’m feeling in my environment. I owe a lot to those people.
RPM: You’ve done some shows throughout the province and throughout the country, what has that been like for you?
JB: For the last three years I’ve been able to do at least three shows a month all the way from community events to annual general meetings to club shows to youth conferences. I’m in different environments all the time. This one show up in Bella Bella BC at a women’s conference, it was all mostly women elders and, you know, it’s elders – you don’t want to try to make them rock too hard. But it was really interesting though because I got to connect with them. One of my songs called Dear Diary is about this one girl’s story that I worked with here in Vancouver and it’s about suicide. I did that song for them and some of the elders started to cry because they heard my story and they heard my message of this young girl. That was such a good experience for me because these stories of young Aboriginal women and the state of Aboriginal women here in BC and across Canada, are very negative at this moment. For me to be able to speak someone’s story makes me feel good, but also gets it out there, and we don’t get lots of coverage of that kind of thing.
Just recently in March I did a show at the Gathering of Voices youth conference in Prince Rupert. There was 1,500 youth and it was so so amazing. The young people just ate it up and they were excited to see myself and Rapsure Risen - a group from the Sto:lo nation - rocking that stage. 1,500 youth with their hands in the air - I felt like I had achieved exactly what I wanted when I first saw those artists at Tribal Wisdom.
RPM: What thoughts do you have on the labeling of Indigenous music?
JB: As Aboriginal people we’re already so in so many boxes - status, non-status, on reserve, off reserve, Metis, Inuit - so it kind of gets really fuzzy when there’s labeling like that of Aboriginal music as well. But at least we’re acknowledged as Aboriginal people because there’s some Indigenous people - like in Japan, the Ainu people - who no one acknowledges as Indigenous people. So some kinds of labeling is good and some kinds of labeling is bad. It’s a double edge sword in a sense.
RPM: What kind of advice do you have for upcoming artists?
JB: Invest in yourself. Surround yourself with people who value you. Value your performance fee, value your music. And how you value your music is by registering your songs with SOCAN and putting a bar code your album. Look at your music as projects - you have your writing, your recording session, the production of your cd, the promotion of your cd, and then booking your shows. Those are all mini projects within themselves, and once you can break those down, it won’t seem so overwhelming. Believe in yourself and know that sometimes you’re not going to believe in yourself and that’s just part of the process.
RPM: Anything else you’d like to share with the world of Indigenous music culture?
JB: Just be yourself and don’t try t be someone that you’re not. There are so many pressures to be a certain way, or a certain look. Who like really taught me about that is Hellnback, from Team Rezoffical. He was like “I’m a chubby Indian guy and I got a Much Music and a Juno nomination” – and he was just being himself and sharing his experience and what he knows. That brought a lot confidence to me - I just want to be as authentic as possible. I just try to practice that every day, in my life and in my music.
JB recently released her second album Get Ready Get Steady. Here's the video for the title track:
Rapsure Risin’ – The Lights Go Out
Discreet Da Chosen 1 – Ma Letter
JB The First Lady – Get Ready Get Steady
K.A.S.P. – On A Roll
Kristi Lane Sinclair – Last Song
Optikz – Gifted
Manik – Commercial Drive
M’Girl – Eyes Wide Open
Ry Moran – Dreams Of Grey
Urban Buffaloes – Regret Nothing
There's no way we could ever fit all West Coast Indigenous music videos in one playlist, so stay tuned for more playlists from the RPM YouTube Channel.
What videos would you like to see featured on our YouTube channel and playlists?
Send us your video picks on our Get Involved page and Suggest An Artist.
RPM Records
Revolutions Per Minute is a global new music platform, record label, and boutique agency for Indigenous music culture. RPM’s mission is to build a visionary community of Indigenous artists and to introduce Indigenous music to new audiences across Turtle Island and around the world. Our main site, RPM.fm, has featured the work of more than 500 Indigenous artists and shared their music across our social networks of more than 275,000 followers.
RPM Records is the first of its kind: a label for contemporary, cross-genre Indigenous music, run by Indigenous people. Selected by The FADER as one of “5 New Canadian Record Labels The Entire World Should Know”, RPM Records artists include Ziibiwan, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Exquisite Ghost, and Mob Bounce.
