Def-I has gone blue
Hip-hop turns 50 in 2023. ICT looks at some of the Indigenous artists across the nation who have been impacted by the music.
Kalle Benallie
ICT
Christopher A. Mike-Bidtah, or known professionally as Def-I, has been into hip-hop since he was in middle school in the late 90s and early 2000s. He would try to rap, make beats, breakdance and pop.
“It inspired me to feel self-confidence and it gave me a huge platform to be able to speak and express myself in a positive way whether through dance, beat making, rhyme writing, creative writing, poetry,” Def-I, Diné, said. “Just creating the drums, combining percussion over poetry to create rap was huge inspiration for me too because it kind of made me feel empowered as a youth.”
Def-I’s performance styles vary from hip-hop, spoken work and contemporary Native American acoustic. He released his new album “Blue Hour” on Aug. 25. His release comes after winning Hip Hop Single of the Year at the 3rd Annual International Indigenous Hip Hop Award Show for his song “Mamas” Ft. Jessie Davis.
Some of his favorite Native artists in the hip hop community are B-Boy Remind from the Style Elements Crew, A$h the Hunter, DJ Element and more. Other rappers who inspired him are Percee P, Kool Keith and Masta Ace.
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He said he struggled fitting in because he did not grow up in a primarily traditional Diné household but his late grandfather helped to introduce him to his cultural heritage. There he saw the similarities between hip-hop and his culture.
“I feel like I had a lot of callings in a lot of ways. Hip-hop is yes from the east coast, based and born in the Bronx, Manhattan, and a lot of places out there, but I also believe even before hip-hop was coined the word hip-hop, it was all of our cultural heritages have been practicing dance, art, beat making, or drums through ceremony for so so long,” he said.
Hip hop artist Def-i, Diné. (Photo by Joshua Mike-Bidtah)
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Def-I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but moved to Shiprock, New Mexico for a few years. There, he met a poetry teacher in high school from the Bronx who Def-I said believed in him and gave students the opportunity to perform on stages to breakdance and do poetry slams.
“The root of hip-hop stretched all the way out to Shiprock, New Mexico and there low and behold there were a lot of b-boys (people who break or breakdance) and people in the dance community who I ended up meeting,” he said.
Def-I added how hip-hop was an alternative positive route that allowed people to do more than just graduate, go to college, join the military or learn a trade. He said it let him become an entrepreneur and have a business platform.
Today he does educational engagements and workshops for youths and adults, he provides motivational speaking on character building, substance abuse prevention, entrepreneurship, creative development, youth empowerment and goal setting. His workshops focus on creative writing, recording, beat making, performing and artist development.
He hopes for more breakthroughs especially in the mainstream media. He also hopes Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs own their music and their intellectual property.
“It’s important for us as Indigenous artists to own our own music so that we can monetize more and make the best out of whatever outcomes that we have in music and hip hop,” he said.
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