Native Urban Playlist

Powwow step is the sound to know right now: powwow drumming and singing laid over dubstep-tempo beats, around 140 BPM. Shub says it grew out of the grass dance songs he heard growing up in Fort Erie. The Electric Pow Wow Tour stopped at The Dance Cave in Toronto in October, with Shub co-headlining alongside Vancouver's Handsome Tiger, and the Toronto show was sold on scratch routines and live turntable work rather than plain playback. Shub's Heritage albums fold the drumming into drill, trip-hop and IDM, while Drezus's "Nagamo" brings big beats and guest verses to hip hop, a sound one review sets beside Post Malone's "Cover My Shoulders."

This month the WorldWidePop playlist added nothing, so the Native Urban page is four videos deep and worth reading as a set. Stella Standingbear leads it, with a live band take on "Blessings" and the "Mmhmm" remix with Paul Wall, which Shub called "a big step forward" for Indigenous artists working with big names. Shub's "Rise" with Aysanabee and Drezus sits next to Drezus's "Smudge Bowl." Together they show both sides of the scene: powwow-rooted rhythm and rap with room for bigger features.

Commenters say they are listening from Canada, Thailand and Mexico. To keep digging, try INDIGENOUSTV's New Music Friday playlist, which adds songs weekly, including Shub's "Long Way Down" and "Victorious," and Earwander's list of Canadian Indigenous hip hop names such as Kelly Fraser, Shibastik and Eekwol.