“We are all relatable, no matter what culture.”
REPRESENTING FOR THEIR CULTURE AS MEMBERS OF THE HAISLA FIRST NATION TRIBE while remaining true to their inner vision is what gives Snotty Nose Rez Kids Darren “Young D” Metz and Quinton “Yung Trybes” Nyce the drive to keep going.
The Indigenous hip-hop duo have come a long way from recording tracks on cheap desktop equipment in the Kitamaat Village reserve in Northern B.C. They’ve since dropped two albums and a number of singles that have gained enough recognition to take their movement outside of the Rez. Their second studio album, The Average Savage, was recently named to the short list for the Polaris Music Prize, and almost a year after its release, SNRK will perform at the gala ceremony.
The Average Savage sends a strong message of integrity, honour and protection of land and culture; it’s an album made to empower and instil pride into Indigenous youth, a community that is underrepresented in hip-hop. They call the project their “little precious,” but were pleasantly shocked to find out it resonated further than they could have imagined. “We never thought that this album would be this special for other people,” Young D says. “We knew it was special, but never expected the short list.”
In May, the pair put out a video for their single “The Warriors,” a politically charged resistance song made specifically for Tiny House Warriors’ battle against the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Yung Trybez explains the importance of using his voice to protect the land and water that has sustained his family for generations. “I connect land and identity as one. Being a warrior to me means standing up for something that can’t stand up for itself.” He goes on to say that keeping the land pure and keeping true to self and spirit is the very definition of being a warrior.
Gearing up to drop their third album, Rez Bangers & KoolaPops, the Rez Kids channel different sides of their personalities — sides that are “not so serious,” Young D says, while explaining that this project will be unlike any- thing they’ve released in the past. Rez Bangers & KoolaPops will be “completely different from The Average Savage,” they say, and will include
“I connect land and identity as one. Being a warrior means standing up for something that can’t stand up for itself.”
a plethora of features, all Canadian, but from different cultural backgrounds.
The duo insist that the point of this album is to display them “having fun with it” — making music that represents the Rez, but also shows that “we are all relatable,” says Young D, “no matter what culture.”
Rez Bangers & KoolaPops is set to drop in October and will feature female rap crew the Sorority, Japanese-Trinidadian artist Brevner and Indo-Canadian duo Cartel Madras.