Snotty Nose Rez Kids are a Vancouver-based hip-hop duo who use their music to explore their Indigenous identities, dismantle stereotypes and misconceptions, and shed light on the ongoing impacts of colonialism. Darren “Young D” Metz and Quinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce grew up down the street from each other in the Haisla Nation of British Columbia’s Kitamaat Village. After high school, when Metz pursued an audio engineering program, they began recording together for one of his class assignments. In 2016, they officially formed Snotty Nose Rez Kids, and the following year they self-released their self-titled debut and its follow-up, The Average Savage, which was short-listed for the 2018 Polaris Prize and nominated for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album at the Indigenous Music Awards.
Snotty Nose Rez Kids signed to Sony in 2023, which afforded them more resources and studio time to stretch out and experiment on their fifth full-length (they’ve estimated they made more than 50 demos before paring down the record’s final tracks). Red Future embodies a spirit of Indigenous futurism, and its imaginative, beat-heavy songs, which feature guest spots from a who’s who of contemporary Indigenous artists, including Calgary rapper Drezus and Australian electro-soul duo Electric Fields, share visions of liberation, sovereignty, and self-determination. As Nyce raps on “Peaches” (which features a powerful verse from feminist rapper Princess Nokia), “Dis ain’t ’bout the money, the fame, or awards / We for the children like child support / I’m rez to the bone, straight from the source / I been on fire, I come with the torch.” Snotty Nose Rez Kids embrace the duality of maintaining centuries-old traditions in a modern world on the lighthearted “BBE” (an abbreviation for “big braid energy”), while the dark, gritty “Devil’s Club,” featuring Apsaalooke Nation singer-songwriter Rezcoast Grizz, plays off the name of a spike-covered shrub (used for ceremonial and medicinal purposes in many Indigenous communities) to create a metaphor for being dangerously self-contained. “We’ve always said, ‘Tell your story the way you want it to be told, and the universe will gravitate towards it,’” Metz said in a 2021 video interview for SOCANmusic. So far, they’ve been right on the mark.
Snotty Nose Rez Kids Travis Thompson opens. Fri 11/22, 7 PM, Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland, $37.08, $30.90 in advance, all ages