WE UP, a documentary produced by the Anchorage Museum, profiles the rising stars of Circumpolar Indigenous hip-hop. (2018)
Indigenous Artists Put Their Own Spin on Radical Self-Expression
Forty years after hip-hop culture was born in the South Bronx district of New York City, its foundational creative forms, or “four elements,” are taking on new life with indigenous artists of the Circumpolar North.
These rappers, breakdancers, graffiti artists and turn-tablists (DJs) hail from places throughout Arctic nations, from reindeer herding villages in northern Finland and Norway, to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, to communities large and small in Northern Canada and Alaska.
Though separated by long distances, they are unified by common elements and recurring themes: connections to ancestral land, defense of hunting and fishing rights, loss of language, climate change and the continuing aftermath of colonization.
By grafting indigenous languages, rhythms, movements and storytelling traditions onto styles designed for reinvention, these indigenous artists are putting their own spin on the radical self-expression, celebration of home, and keen social commentary that hip-hop represents.
What draws people of the north and indigenous cultures to hip-hop is self-expression. Being and showing who we are. Living in the northern regions, it’s hard to express ourselves beyond our communities, because we’re so far away, and isolated, and we don’t ‘fit in’ with the mass population. We go through things they have no idea about. And so with hip-hop, we’re able to take how we feel about things and express them, through graffiti, through rapping, through dancing, and through DJing, and through dancing. Many indigenous cultures treasure the art of movement. They have tribal dances and movements, and that’s where a lot of breakdancing moves stem from, is that sense of a tribal beat and tribal movement.
– Bgirl SnapOne, aka Brianna Pritchard
WE UP, a documentary produced by the Anchorage Museum, profiles the rising stars of Circumpolar Indigenous hip-hop, exploring shared themes in their work, including decolonization, language revitalization, community, and spiritual connections to homeland. The film also documents the Circumpolar Hip-Hop Collab, a groundbreaking main-stage performance at the 2018 Riddu, Riđđu Indigenous peoples' festival in Olmmáivággi, Norway.
Spreading the Influence of Circumpolar Hip-Hop
The film is the core of a project to highlight the work of Alaska Native hip-hop artists, and to help forge collaborative links between northern indigenous hip-hop artists in Alaska and other places.
“Hip-hop came out of the South Bronx in the 1970s during a time of great economic and social turmoil,” says Aaron Leggett, Anchorage Museum curator of Alaska history and culture. “As a musical art form, hip-hop told stories of hope mixed with exciting new sounds. Indigenous cultures in the north have a long and rich storytelling tradition, so it makes sense that this music would ultimately inspire people from places about as far removed as you can get from an urban New York landscape.”
The images and sound are intentionally unvarnished. Chatter between interview subjects and filmmakers is audible, along with the buzzing of mosquitoes and the river rapids outside a sauna. In one clip, the camera operator and Pritchard collide. The background noise and missteps will be edited out of the final film. They are kept here for a candid presentation of the filmmaking process.
WE UP Spotify playlist
Click to Enlarge
Yarsem
B-Girl SnapOne
Bishop Dot Lake Crew
Bishop Slice
Bishop Slice - Grandmother's Cabin Steps
Bishop Slice in downtown Fairbanks
Bishop Slice in his Grandmother's Cabin
Kimojax Live
Kimojax at Nuuk Nordisk Kulturfestival
Kimojax
Tarrak
Amoc
Anna
Acknowledgements
Long the lingua franca of marginalized youth, the defiant yet joyful roots of hiphop, has spread to the far northern reaches of the world. The artists of WE UP thrum with energy - each different from the next, but all seriously solid. They create sweet beats. They deliver funny, incisive lyrics in several languages, including indigenous tongues. They perform powerful dance and make sweeping graffiti. Hot hip-hop from the cool high latitudes.
"If I compare the languages, English is more like a punchline language,
the Finnish language is more into the political side only,
and the Sami is where my heart and soul comes out.”
— Ailu Valle (Northern Sámi)
WE UP represents the Anchorage Museum’s dedication to groundbreaking investigations of the contemporary and future North. It was created with generous support from the Alaska Humanities Forum; Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc.; The CIRI Foundation; The Surdna Foundation; and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
