A NEW CYCLE
Indigenous hip-hop artist Dakota Bear works to reclaim his heritage and give back to his community
“I didn’t really fit in, growing up on the east side,” says 25-year-old Dakota Bear. “It’s tough when you’re First Nations and your peers already have a certain view.”
Bear, an Indigenous hip-hop artist who goes by the stage name Dakk’one, was born and raised in Saskatoon before ending up in Vancouver to pursue his music.
Music started off as a way for Bear to express himself in his youth. He was a big fan of Eminem’s style and the movie 8 Mile that was based on Eminem’s life, and started writing his own poetry and raps that reflected his upbringing.
It wasn’t until recently that he decided to try to use his music to reflect his Indigenous heritage.
“I was just making music of what I was going through,” he said. “Before, I didn’t know. I wasn’t really interested in knowing my bloodline ... now it makes me feel a sense of purpose.”
When Bear was a child living with his single mother in Saskatoon, he said his mother made a choice to move to what she considered a safer part of the city, on the east side, around the Sutherland and Erindale areas. Bear said he was one of a very small number of Indigenous children in his elementary school.
Bear said he never really had the opportunity to connect to his Indigenous roots as a child or a teenager. He said his uncles were his idols when he was growing up, but he’d never had the opportunity to speak to an elder who could teach him more about his culture.
That all changed in the last year when Bear met a couple who was assisting his ill grandmother with traditional healing. After meeting those elders, Bear started learning and immersing himself in a culture he’d never embraced.
Now, he’s learning Cree and helping teach it to his young daughter. He’s been given a reference point for some of his feelings and frustrations as a child. And he’s taking back a piece of his life that he missed out on.
Bear called it a massive “growth period” in his life — and his music shows those changes.
“It’s up to me to decide — am I going to carry these traditions? Am I going to keep them alive? Or am I going to let them die?” he said.
“I’m going to learn ... and I’m going to teach these kids. I’m going to have to do that. It’s my responsibility.”
With a new focus in his life, Bear is doing his best to give something back to the community. He helped organize a hip-hop event in Vancouver to raise money for an Indigenous cultural summer camp. He’s trying to organize funding for a Cree-language children’s book. His visit to friends and family in Saskatoon is a quick stopover on a trip to Prince Albert where he’s performing a show and giving school supplies to Indigenous youth in that community.
Bear said he never met any prominent Indigenous speakers or role models when he was in school. By giving back to the community and supporting young people, Bear said he hopes he can be that for the next generation.
He referred to it as “dismantle, rebuild, restore” — dismantling the old mindsets, rebuilding Indigenous communities and restoring traditions.
And despite not getting to understand his culture until he was an adult, Bear is trying his best to embrace his heritage — and is using his platform as a musician to make changes.
“There was a cycle that was created, and our language and our culture was lost in that cycle,” he said. “It’s time to create a new cycle.”