Columnist: Alan Lechusza | American Corrispondent for Animikii News in California
On March 24th, 2013, a video from the Six Nations rapper ''Josh Hill'' aka "Chief" catches global attention via the internet. Hill, up to this point in his career, appears to have been working incognito. He was awared "Best Rap or Hip-Hop Video" at the 10th Annual Canadian Aboriginal Music Award show in Toronto, Canada (November 11, 2008). Following that period, Hill's work disappears from the indigenous/native hip-hop radar. With the release of "Smoke Signals" (March 2013), Hill joins forces with long time hip-hop star "Snoop Dogg" and is advanced into the global pop arena. However, this collaboration presents itself presents itself short on substance and high on abuse.
The video portrays an arsenal of stereotypical representations of native/indigenous culture. Non-native women are hypersexualized in scanty clad in "Indian dress". The intensity of verbal, physical and spiritual representation toward native women articulated within the video is a textbook of Misogyny. The incorporation of the Cannunpa, the sacred pipe, which is, according to the video, packed with illegal substance rings beyond the limits of culturally insensitivity. To include such a sacred and protected cultural item illistrates the poor choice and levels of disrespect maintained within this work. The disgraceful mention of native hair, the distortion of the native shield/mandala and the stereotypical native tattoo further add insult to injury.
The video casts a dishonorable gaze back upon recent pop culture displays of native/indigenous cultures. Jamaroqui, Victoria Secret, Paul Frank and The Gap are only a select few that have in the past few years continued to put native/indigenous cultures on display for public consumption. The mode of operation, however, stems from the Wild West shows of the late 19th century. Native/indigenous peoples from across the Wester hemisphere during this period were incarcerated and toured to be gawked and mocked at by non-native audiences for the economic profit of a growing EuroAmerican market. The idea of "playing indian" was to become a venture capitalist campaign that remains to be profitable.
It is Implausible that any native man, in the late 20th/21st century, would have the audacity to showcase such an impure representations of native/indigenous cultures. To do so openly and with a sense of "cultural pride" is further unfathomable. It does go without saying however, that these collected images are put on display for non-native digestion through the impure lens of a man who calls himself "Chief". Given that these racist stereotypes would come from a man who is, in fact, still playing indian.
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