Litefoot reflects on the impact of hip-hop
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
Cherokee citizen Gary Paul Davis, known professionally as “Litefoot,” said the struggle was real when he began his career in hip-hop as an Indigenous rapper in the early 90s.
The actor, filmmaker and rap artist said he was offered a major record deal early in his career but the label didn’t want him to talk about his culture in his music. He turned it down and decided to create Red Vinyl Records and worked two full time jobs to fund it into success.
“Red Vinyl wasn’t just about me, it was to create a launch pad for other up-and-coming Indigenous musicians, others who like me, had the door shut in their faces,” Litefoot said in an email.
He said rap back then was thought to be a passing fad and had a lot of negativity attached to it. Some in hip-hop pulled no punches, using the art form and the culture as a no-holds-barred way of showcasing the troubles of their lives. Often those messages have been met with fear or disdain in the mainstream. When N.W.A. came “Straight Outta Compton” in 1988 with loud, brash tales of police abuse and gang life, radio stations recoiled.
Hip-Hop was mainly done by Black artists, and law enforcement have had a contentious relationship over the years, each eyeing the other with suspicion. There’s been cause for some of it. In some forms of hip-hop the ties between rappers and criminal figures were real, and the violence that spiraled out, as in high-profile deaths like that of Tupac Shakur in 1996, The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, sometimes got very bloody. But in a country where Black people are often looked at with suspicion by authority, there have also been plenty of stereotypes about hip-hop and criminality.
Litefoot said the limited technology, lack of social media, and mainstream media clouded the perceptions of hip-hop, including the Native community. He said when he first started booking his tours on reservations across Indian Country, and mentioned that he was a rapper, there was immediate skepticism.
“I think as Native people — we had, in some ways, pigeon-holed ourselves into what we believed our own image to be. Rap and hip-hop was not seen as something that Indigenous people did.
“The people who I was talking with on reservations across the country had never heard of a Native rapper let alone a Native rapper touring to reservation,” Litefoot said. “They hadn’t heard my music and the pro-Indigenous, pro-culture messages that I was spreading in my albums and in my performances. So, I had to really educate and advocate for not just myself and my music, but for hip-hop in general.”
For nearly two decades he traveled to reservations advocating and touring his music. He eventually had bigger tours with tour buses, an all Indigenous crew and other aspiring rappers on the road.
“There is no question in my mind that the 20 years that I spent relentlessly touring across Indian Country, consistently releasing rap albums on my record label, and promoting other Indigenous rappers from the U.S. and Canada had a real impact on youth across Indian Country and cementing rap on reservations everywhere,” Litefoot said.
His music garnered him multiple Native American Music Awards.
Gary Paul Davis or "Litefoot," Cherokee, at the Native American Music Awards. (Photo courtesy of Litefoot)
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He believes hip-hop has a large influence in Indigenous communities and artists because no matter how far you’re located the words and music can be relatable.
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“Seeing the way hip-hop was being used by other communities made me realize my talents could be put to use to express myself and create more awareness about the struggles we face as Indigenous people. I had so much I needed and wanted to get out,” he said.
He said hip-hop can contemporize Indigenous culture and art like dancing and artists who can tap into the contemporary graffiti style, an integral element in hip-hop culture.
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Litefoot describes how hip-hop gave him a voice and a platform to share stories and evoke emotion. Then rap allowed him to impactfully put lyrics and music together rather than just writing words down onto a page.
“Hip-hop provided me with an outlet to share my thoughts with the world. To give voice to our struggles as well as our triumphs as Indigenous people. To reclaim our narrative with my music and undo the falsities that perpetuate ignorance,” he said.
Litefoot, Cherokee, performing in front of an audience (Photo courtesy of Litefoot)
Litefoot’s favorite, but not all, rappers range from: Sugar Hill Gang, KRS-One, the Fat Boys, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Rakim, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Poor Righteous Teachers, Wu-Tang Clan, Das EFX, NWA, DJ Quik, Public Enemy, Chuck D, Queen Latifah, Run DMC, the Notorious B.I.G., Nas, the Fugees, Common, Talib Kweli and Mos Def.
If Litefoot could name his all-time favorite rapper, it would have to be Jay-Z.
“He is an inspiration to me on many levels. I’ve met him and had the opportunity to record at his studio and be around his people for lengthy periods of time. I learned so much and have a lot of respect for him as an artist, as a businessman and as a human being,” he said.
Litefoot said music is powerful, a medicine for Indigenous people and it can be used to “express ourselves to the world and reclaim so many of the false narratives surrounding our Indigenous people.”
And it can be used to “express pain, work through generational trauma, as well as entertain and story tell – something we have been doing since time immemorial.”
He hopes to see Indigenous youth continue to express themselves through music and rap. As well as to see all Native artists find success and for Native artistry to be further legitimized in the music industry.
“But, just as importantly, I hope all of our artists, especially those who express themselves in rap and with hip-hop, proudly blend their Indigeneity into their music and art and never let the world intimidate, stifle, dilute or oppress the beauty of their spirit,” Litefoot said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
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