♪ electronic beats mixed with flute ♪ (Speaking in Navajo) Greetings, my family and my people.
Welcome to Albuquerque, on occupied Tewa lands.
My name's Raven.
My name is Anne.
We're gonna show you around a few of our favorite spots to dance.
♪ electronic beats mixed with flute ♪ [Raven] Our dance, it's a mixture between indigenous cultures and hip-hop culture.
People don't know that those two things are so closely intermingled together.
♪ electronic beats mixed with flute ♪ ♪ upbeat hip hop beats ♪ ♪ tribal drum beat ♪ [Anne] Albuquerque is a collecting point for rural people all over New Mexico.
♪ tribal drum beat with vocal samples ♪ People from different tribes, different pueblos, different cultural backgrounds.
♪ drum beat continues ♪ And part of what's special is the hip-hop community.
♪ electronic beats ♪ We are at Breakin' Hearts 2020.
(MC and crowd cheers in the background) ♪ hypnotic electronic beats ♪ [Raven] My dance crew is Foundations of Freedom, founded in the early 2000's by Randy L. Barton, Cloud Face, and I think a couple other OGs.
[Randy] Foundations of Freedom started around 2001, and it's a collective of many crews from New Mexico and Arizona, from border towns.
Hip-hop is built from oppression.
You deal with racism, like, really, really bad, you know.
All you're really seeing is the energy from oppression exploding.
I'd rather explode than implode, 'cause if you implode, that's suicide.
♪ electronic beats mixed with flute ♪ [Anne] I am Jicarilla Apache.
I was traditionally raised on a reservation.
My culture is intrinsically connected to dance.
You're encouraged to get up there and move.
I started powwow dancing as a young girl.
I have a strong connection to my land, a strong connection to my people, and a strong connection to my culture.
♪ electronic beats continue ♪ We connected at a jam, and the excitement that I felt, the spark of creativity, hit something so deep within me.
[Raven] We are able to talk without using words.
We keep pushing each other to go farther, or [Anne] lifting each other up.
[Raven] We lift each other up.
♪ hypnotic electronic track with tribal drums ♪ [Anne] As a dancer, I listen.
That's a big part of being indigenous is being open to the story of the world around you.
♪ hypnotic electronic track with tribal drums ♪ [Raven] I come from Gallup, New Mexico.
I'm half Diné, I'm claimed by DibéBzhíní Black Sheep clan, and I'm also German as well.
That comes from my mother's side.
Being a part of hip-hop culture helped me connect those worlds together and reconnect with my indigenous roots.
♪ hypnotic electronic track with steady percussion ♪ [Anne] They hold space for you to be the most that you can be within a dance space, so I allow myself to go to these crazy almost spiritual places when I dance.
♪ rhythmic chimes ♪ Randy is something of an icon in Southwest hip-hop culture because he's honoring the ancient, the ancestors, while embodying the future.
[Raven] Like Sacred Cypher, one of the events that he's created.
♪ steady beating of the drum ♪ ♪ singing and chanting ♪ [Randy] Sacred Cypher, it had all the original elements of hip-hop.
Growing up, you know, all our ceremonies involved a drum, chanting.
♪ drumming and chanting continues ♪ The DJing is the drumming.
The MCing is the chanting.
The graffiti art is the petroglyphs, and the dancing, you know, never trust a spiritual leader who cannot dance.
[Raven] We're all energetically connected, and that's where our idea of community comes from.
♪ drumming and chanting continues ♪ ♪ steady tribal drumming ♪ [Randy] That's what I love about hip-hop.
Everything is alive.
You take it to the floor, these things that hold you down don't hold you down anymore.
You know, it's like, and that's why you see the angry spirit fighting back, 'cause it's fighting to get free.
♪ rhythmic drum music ♪
