Snotty Nose Rez Kids stay true to themselves, sign with new label, launch tour

The Snotty Nose Rez Kids will be setting out on a North American tour in a few weeks, which will take them from their home province of B.C. to cities in the U.S. and Canada.

Darren "Young D" Metz and Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce, who are Haisla and come from Kitamaat Village, signed with Sony Music Entertainment Canada in September.

"We knew that as long as we stayed true to ourselves and we just keep putting in the work, it's going to pay off," Metz said.

"It feels like we've been grinding non-stop."

The group makes rap and hip-hop music because it simply is "who we are."

"Our whole career has just been a journey of finding ourselves," Metz said.

"The music within itself is healing to us; it helped us get over a lot of trauma we've had growing up."

Nyce said the group was taught to look for the positives in situations and they reflect those values in their music.

"With every album that we make, if it has a dark song, we uplift them right after that or try and uplift them by the end of the song to let them know it's going to be all right," Nyce said.

The group released I'm Good HBU? in late 2022 and its music video for Damn Right won the 2023 Prism Prize. (submitted by Sony Music Entertainment Canada)

Making an impact and bringing others up with them is something the Snotty Nose Rez Kids has always aimed to do with their work.

"We knew that, for every record that we make, if this makes us genuinely happy or excited it would impact some kid that was going through the same thing that we went through ... and it's going to make them heal," Metz said.

"Regardless of what award we win in the future, the biggest award for us would be the next generation or two down the line to say 'I was raised on Snotty Nose Rez Kids. That's the kind of thing that money can't buy."

Artists on the rise

Nyce said one thing the group is never shy of is "finding artists that are better than us."

"It gives people an opportunity to look at someone that's doing it like us, and do it better than us," Nyce said.

"I just want to be a stepping stone for the next generation to come up after us and be greater than us."

Eekwol, also known as Lindsay Knight, is from Muskoday First Nation in Saskatchewan and has opened for Snotty Nose Rez Kids in the past. She also hopes to inspire youth.

"To me, having a kid come up and say 'You're awesome. Your music is very inspiring.' That to me is worth a mansion," she said.

"It's more than any kind of of accolades or awards or money that I could receive is to hear when a young Indigenous kid comes up and says, 'You're dope.'"

Also on Snotty Nose Rez Kids's radar and on their playlists are Indigenous artists Nimkish and Boogey the Beat.

Boogey the Beat has collaborated with Snotty Nose Rez Kids on several tracks, including their most recent single, I Got Paid Today. (Photo by Dillan Lavallee)

Boogey the Beat, also known as Les Boulanger, released his own album earlier this year. He has produced and collaborated on tracks with not only Snotty Nose Rez Kids, but Halluci Nation and DJ Shub. He worked on Snotty Nose Rez Kids's most recent single I Got Paid Today.

The tour kicks off Nov. 28 in Omaha, Neb.