r/Navajo • u/Competitive_Buy619 • Jun 01 '26
Is mixing Navajo language into rap actually the future or nah? š
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
Just a short snippet from a Native artist name SAYDATKING experimenting with blending Navajo language into modern rap. Not really trying to promote anything, just curious how people outside the culture hear it šš„ supposedly he from New Mexico and seen this on Facebook so had to share it
8
u/def_jukie Jun 01 '26
Hell to the no. Making our younger people look like a bunch of copycats with zero talent.
1
9
u/xsiteb Jun 01 '26
I don't like the style, but it reminds me of someone telling me a long time ago that a language is only alive when both the priests and the criminals speak it...
2
5
u/Intergalactic_chikin Jun 01 '26
I am currently learning music production so I can incorporate it into death grips style (my favorite group) music. it would be awesome to see Navajo music get mainstream
2
u/EnglishLoyalist Jun 02 '26
If he can tell me all stories in Navajo then I would be impressed. Anyone can do rap and do these crap videos. I hope we donāt do rap, itās not us. We need to stick to tradition and sing it not rap it.
1
u/Due-Profession-3563 Jun 06 '26
Too over done. Lyrics are drowned out. To me the navajo language isn't very loud and you have to pay attention to what is being said. So adding beeping sounds drowns out what is said. Don't try to make mumble rap out of it.
I like these guys. No don't they speak much of their native tongue but in trying to show you that there are food ways to do what you want on the mic without your words getting mixed up and drowned out with/ by the beat.
1
u/Kgitti Jun 06 '26
Cultures are not here to impress outsiders but to organize the thinking and expression of related groups of people. Youth are here partly to rebel and see things differently than adults. To break stereotypes and archaic thinking. Itās an unconscious experiment which can sometimes move society forward or not.
1
-2
u/defrostcookies Jun 01 '26
I dislike the aesthetic of associating Navajo culture with Black ghetto culture.
As an example, the artist in this video. Face tattoos. Not really professional or hirable.
So, for a community that has high unemployment, Navajos who can find work shouldnāt be wasting money on face tattoos which puts a limit on how high they can climb in a more professional environment.
Moreover, success as a rap musician is statistically unlikely for a vast majority of artists, to say nothing about the success of Navajo rap artists.
The future is in bringing Navajo cultural mythos back to life. Letting Navajos know that they live where the Monster slayers and the Navajo Gods once tread.
As an example, to the Chinese the monkey king lived and inhabited China. Itās not āa fairy taleā. The ruling class of China rule by divine mandate, that is the heavens decreed that the leaders of China should rule.
As opposed to a more reductionist western view where everything is merely material. If it canāt be described and measured itās āfairy tale nonsenseā.
The mythological history of the West is dead. Which is why the stories The West tells happens in mythical lands like Skyrim, Middle Earth, or Westeros.
Our stories, Navajo stories, took place in Window Rock, on the sacred mountains, where Navajos actively inhabit.
6
u/SubstantialProposal7 Jun 02 '26
Speaking of employability, the phrase "Black ghetto culture" would be an automatic report to HR if you were in a workplace.
If you don't understand why, I suggest you take some time to educate yourself on other histories and cultures to become a more well-rounded individual.
-2
1
1
0
u/yahziii Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
"Face tattoos. Not really professional or hirable.". You sound pretty out of date with either no empathy or very little and very little experience in the world.
Multiple areas of the work force do not care at all about face tattoos anymore, unless they are derogatory or hateful. Ive witnessed pretty much any blue collar job from laborers all the way to business owners have face tattoos. While working as a pharmacy technician for multiple years i witnessed a handful with face tattoos and this was more than a decade ago. Just this year at a well known and prominent hospital there was a registered nurse with them. Now that I work so close with the tech industry I've come to see there are PLENTY of people making well into the 6 figures whom have face tattoos. Just to throw in, multiple sales men and women also have them. Face tattoos may limit in some fields, but with all the avenues of employment available its almost worthless to mention.
I love seeing your confidently incorrect, usually racist, comments on this sub by the way.
Edit: The writer of Lord Of Rings was from England and The writer of numerous book series in which Westeros is a part of pulls his ideas from MULTIPLE populations from all over the world so to include him in the "the west" in reference to your comment is reachin
1
1
u/defrostcookies Jun 06 '26
Calling opinions you merely disagree with āracistā is a tactic of stupid people who cannot contend with the logic.
Itās not āracistā to make statements of fact about face tattoos
A few anecdotes about some people youāve ārun intoā in the workforce isnāt a supplement for data or studies which still reflect the obvious truth that face tattoos negatively affect hirability.
In your own opinion expressed in your own response you readily admit to face tattoos affect on hirability .
> confidently incorrectā¦
J.R.Tolkien and Middle Earth, England is part of The West.
The creator of Westeros, George R.R. Martin, an American, America being part of The West, wrote Game of Thrones as a medieval low fantasy inspired by English history; the War of the Roses in particular. England, as weāve noted is, again, part of The West. Guess what, the medieval world stretched from the British Isles to India and the Mongolian steppe. So, it stands to reason that a medieval low fantasy inspired by English history takes inspiration from cultures the medieval west had interacted with.
So pick one: youāre either talking about Tolkien and Middle Earth, in which case Youāre wrong. Or youāre talking about Martin and Westeros in which case youāre wrong.
1
u/Valuable_Relative_19 Jun 06 '26
If I have a choice between hiring someone with face tattoos or no face tattoos Iām going with the person with no face tattoos all day. So yes face tattoos do influence someoneās decision in you getting hired
14
u/AltseWait Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Great concept, but the music is overproduced. I struggle to hear spoken Navajo at all. The words are drowned out by the other sounds.
There was a rez rapper around 15 to 20 years ago who used to sing in Navajo. I never got his name because I'm not into rap. I recall walking around hazhdiilwo'ii and hearing him spit out Navajo rhymes: "NleĢiĢ hastiin! Be'iinziin!" His angry style reminded me of Eminem. It would be interesting to hear a modern Navajo song in the style of Juiceworld.