Porcupine Season 1 Episode 9

Hip-Hop and Reconciliation

With: Crook the Kid

You can listen to the episode by clicking the “play” button in the audio player above or by downloading it in Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google, or your favorite podcast platform.

Help new listeners discover Porcupine by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Have a question, comment or suggestion? Get in touch by email, on Twitter or in the comments below. 

  37:28

     Guests

  • Crook The Kid

       In This Episode

    Hosts

  • Merrell-Ann Phare
  • Michael Miltenberger

     Related Tags

About This Episode

Rapper Crook The Kid, also known as Dylan Jones talks with Merrell-Ann and Michael about his music, music in general, and how it connects to reconciliation. He talks about growing up, writing down lyrics as a teenager, and how he knew this is the career he wanted. and shares lyrics relevant to reconciliation. 

About Our Guest

Crook The Kid, born Dylan Jones, hails from Fort Good Hope, a subarctic community of about 400 people in northern Northwest Territories, 500 kilometres north of Yellowknife and about 10 kilometres below the Arctic Circle. 

Jones’s journey from the Arctic Circle to Bluesfest began in 2017 when Ottawa’s Erin Benjamin, president and chief executive of the Canadian Live Music Association, travelled to Yellowknife to mentor young artists, and was matched with Crook The Kid. Blown away by his craft and his story, she arranged for him to spend time in Ottawa around the time of Westfest, where he connected with the Ottawa Indigenous rapper, Cody Coyote. 

Jones began writing as a way to process his upbringing. “Growing up in a shack essentially with almost nothing, being on the land, I channelled it into music,” he said, “And it helped me in a situation where there wasn’t anybody to talk to about a really aggressive upbringing. With that, I told my story and decided I felt better, and when I started to show other friends, they really latched on to it

Read Dylan’s Whole Story in the Ottawa Citizen

Crook The Kid Says:

>> (16:51): Where I’m from, your home is a horizon. The streets are paved with stone, riddled with violence. Where I’m from your life is what you make it. And you can have what you want long as you take it. 

>> (20:14): I feel that reconciliation is the ability to stop talking when another group is and allow them to speak their voice and live their truth, regardless of how it may affect your emotion.

>> (35:45): There was a lot of people who were just encountering their own hardships and there was a lot of parents and a lot of people still caught in the midst of really overcoming the, whether it be residential school or whether it be addiction or whether it be this, or it was a very tumultuous time in the history of Fort Good Hope. 

I feel like people, if they listen to it, they’re not listening for fancy production values or what effect I used on my voice or anything. I feel like, well, I hope that they’re listening to the story. 

In This Episode

Other Ways to Enjoy Hip-Hop and Reconciliation

Episode 10 Transcript

How To Help

You can listen to the episode by clicking the “play” button in the audio player above or by downloading it in Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google, or your favorite podcast platform.

Help new listeners discover Porcupine by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Have a question, comment or suggestion? Get in touch by email, on Twitter or in the comments below. 

Episode 0: Meet the Hosts – Merrell-Ann Phare and Michael Miltenberger

Episode 1: CLI Elders Explain Reconciliation with Stan McKay, Garry McLean, and Rodney Burns

Episode 2: Northern Reality and Reconciliation with Tony Penikett – Part 1

Episode 3: Northern Reality and Reconciliation with Tony Penikett – Part 2

Episode 4: Water and Reconciliation – CWRA Live Taping

Episode 5: The Role of Indigenous Taxation in Reconciliation with Manny Jules

Episode 6: Indigenous Economics and Reconciliation with Andre Le Dressay

Episode 7: Sports and Reconciliation with Patti-Kay Hamilton

Episode 8: Indigenous Law, Consent and Reconciliation with Bruce McIvor

Episode 9: Hip Hop and Reconciliation with Crook the Kid

Episode 10: The Importance of Treaty Land Entitlement with Laren Bill

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