Some might say Eekwol is a veteran of the Canadian hip hop scene. She began her career with the group Innersoulflow, consisting of her brother and five cousins, in the late 90s, and then later branched out on her own.
In a recent interview with VICE’s Noisey, the artist spoke about her years in music, her newest album, the strangeness of categorizing music particularly by race and about creativity.
“I love hip-hop," Eekwol said. “I love the culture. It’s always spoke to me since I was young. It was never because I was Indigenous or a female … How do you possibly adjudicate a pow wow album with a hip-hop album? You just can’t. It seems kind of contrived."
Her latest album Good Kill was released this past summer and features a mighty song called “Ghost.” She said the track was in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“I happened to go to one of the events that was happening in Saskatoon. I was asked to perform,” Eekwol said.
“Hearing those stories first-hand from residential school survivors really affected me," she added. "I took it home. I couldn’t sleep. I asked myself, ‘How can this be real life?’ My reaction was to write about it, envisioning I was one of those parents. I have two little ones of my own. I imagined getting them taken away from me and how that would feel.”
Check out the full interview here and have a listen to “Ghosts” below:
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