hip hop and powwow dance
Washington, D.C.; Edmonton, Alberta; and Los Angeles
Photos courtesy of artists
The trio of Miss Chief Rocka, CreeAsian, and Artson are all leaders in the growing community of Native American artists combining hip hop with traditional art forms to create a vibrant 21st-century indigeneity. While hip hop culture emerged in the early 1970s as a manifestation of African American and Latino cultures in the South Bronx, its proud and resilient voice speaks to communities around the globe, with localized forms appearing every day. In many Indigenous communities, the younger generation of artists find resonance with hip hop on shared experiences and social struggles. Masterfully blending the fancy footwork of powwow dances and acrobatic moves of breakdancing with infectious thumping hip hop beats and resounding Native drumming, Tradition-ILL will treat Richmond audiences to an eye-opening experience of rhythm, movement, and color.
At the forefront of this collaboration is D.C.-area b-girl and powwow dancer Angela Gladeau, better known as Miss Chief Rocka. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, but relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2020, Miss Chief Rocka is of Cree and Greek descent. She began powwow dancing at age six and later fell in love with hip hop while dancing with the Indigenous dance crew the Red Power Squad. A hoop dancer and shawl dancer, she has built a career performing and teaching nationally and internationally, starting as a dancer for the HalluciNation (formerly A Tribe Called Red) and performing with artists as diverse as Grandmaster Flash, Lido Pimienta, and A Tribe Called Quest. Her work has earned her countless awards, from a 2004 Nellie Carson Aboriginal Youth Award to a 2024 award from the American Craft Council. She was a member of the Culture Caucus at the Kennedy Center, working alongside other D.C. artists and community leaders to advise on culturally relevant programming in the area. Angela is a filmmaker and fashion designer in addition to her dance work.
B-boy and DJ CreeAsian (born Matthew Wood) also hails from Edmonton, where he was recently honored as the city’s 2021 Indigenous Artist in Residence. Of both Cree and Vietnamese heritage, CreeAsian grew up participating in powwow culture with his mother. When he discovered hip hop as a teen, he recalls, “It was very similar to what I had learned in my own culture, similar to powwow. And the more I learned about it, the more it challenged me to learn more about my heritage, my culture … and me being mixed race, I never felt I belonged anywhere. [Hip hop] made me feel I didn’t need to blend into these other places that people had molded for you.” Today CreeAsian performs both traditional grass dance and breakdance for Indigenous hip hop artists like the HalluciNation, and teaches dance in schools.
The MC and rapper known as Artson was born Arturo Hernandez in El Paso, Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles, where he also performs with his wife, the artist She-Röze. Descended from the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) people of Mexico, Artson takes the endurance of the Tarahumara, who are known for their long-distance running, as an inspiration. As a youth, he discovered emceeing and now says, “Hip hop saved my life, there’s no question.” He is the winner of multiple Native American Music (NAMMY) and International Indigenous Hip Hop Awards. Artson explains that he views Indigenous hip hop as an extension of traditional culture into the present day: “Graffiti is like the ancient petroglyphs, DJing and breakin’ are like the fire and the circle we used to dance around, and the MCs are the chanters telling the modern-day story.”